We got served: March 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bon Vie

Visited on Tuesday, March 13th

Ben's Review
As our first outing with Luke, we obviously went out for Erin to get eggs Benedict, something she was sad to give up during her pregnancy. Erin had heard good things about Bon Vie and since it was in Saint Paul, I agreed to head over while I was off work on paternity leave.

We went to breakfast during the week of oddly warm and sunny March weather in the twin cities and it was awesome. We arrived at Bon Vie around 9am with only a couple tables occupied and a friendly server quickly got us coffee. He was very interested in us having Luke with us, being that he was only a few days old at that point. Luke did well the entire time, just relaxing in his carseat.

The prices at Bon Vie are a little steep. $10 for eggs Benedict is fairly standard, but $9.25 for french toast seems high to me, but I was hankering for some french toast so I went for it.

I’m always surprised by how fast breakfast food comes out, but it makes sense when you figure they have everything prepped back there. Our server returned in what seemed like 4-5 minutes with our food and it looked great. Erin’s eggs did not come with a side ($4.50 for hash browns), and my french toast came with freshly cooked sausage links. My french toast also came with whipped cream (yum), and blueberries, which I quickly pushed aside.

The french toast was indeed excellent, making it nearly worth the $9.25 :) You get three pieces of bread and I could have easily eaten 3-4 more pieces, and I’m not even a breakfast guy. It made me want to go home and look up french toast recipes for home. We both love it though we have never made it at home.

Even though it was a touch pricey, I still think I would go back as the service was top notch and the food was excellent. I also love finding places in Saint Paul to avoid a trip ALL THE WAY to Minneapolis to have breakfast.

Service: Excellent service, our server was genuinely friendly
Food: Our food was great, breakfast is so much better fresh
Drinks: Full selection of coffee drinks, no booze as far as I could tell.
Ambiance: A quiet little cafe, not too many tables, but I bet it can get loud if it’s full.
Convenience: Street parking on Selby usually isn’t an issue, and free, busses available too.

Erin's Review
Back when we started this old blog (over 4 years old now!), I had heard that Bon Vie was regarded by some as the best eggs benedict in the cities. It's kind of shocking that it took me this long to go there, but considering that in the last 3 years, I was pregnant for 1.5 of them and not able to eat eggs benedict due to the undercooked eggs and raw eggs in the hollandaise, I guess it makes sense!

A few times over the course of my pregnancy, we drove by Bon Vie, and I knew I wanted that to be one of the first outings after having Luke. I only managed to wait 1.5 weeks before we took him out - luckily he was a great dining companion and stayed asleep or content the whole time!

I was a bit sad to see that the prices at Bon Vie are on the high side - I just couldn't justify $3 more for a half order of hash browns, although I do love them with eggs benedict to soak up the yolk and hollandaise. This is similar to a few other places where you just get the eggs and nothing else, unless you order it on the side. Obviously eggs benedict is PLENTY filling on it's own, and is probably approximately 1000+ calories the way it is, but a few bites of hash browns are always a welcome addition for me.

I ordered a vanilla latte immediately, and it came out quickly - it wasn't as fancy as the one at Victory 44, but was definitely good, if a bit on the sweet side (and if I'm saying that, that really means it's sweet).

Our food came out quickly, and my eggs benedict were all I had dreamed of - the eggs were beautifully poached, and almost tasted creamy. The hollandaise here is a bit thicker, and very lemony. It reminded me of one of our first We Got Served restaurant visits to Al's Breakfast, but definitely a bit fancier with the presentation. I also had a bite of Ben's french toast which was delicious.