Every Sunday at Eclipse Chocolat they offer a Chocolate Brunch. There are a variety of different menu items to choice from, most infused with chocolate (or another sweet) in some subtle way. I’ve been wanting to visit and have brunch here for quite awhile and one Sunday morning I was finally able to drop in for a visit.
I already love Eclipse Chocolat and their crazy good ganache cupcakes so I was really curious about their other non-sweet food items. Funny enough, I haven’t ever just had their chocolate yet, either. Whenever I go in, I stare at their assortment of truffles but in the end I get a cupcake and feel too guilty to get anything else. One of these days, man.
I started off my Sunday brunch with some hot tea. I decided on the Vanilla Bean Black Tea ($2.50). I totally love their cups and dishes here at Eclipse and I loved the set up for the tea. You get a clear bag with tea in it and a little holder to suspend it on top of your cup. The flavors and aromas of this tea are so inviting. It was flavorful and strong enough that I didn’t need to add anything to the tea (I do sometimes like to add sugar and milk to my tea). In addition to this flavor, they also offered Green Passion, Jasmine Pear, Earl Grey, Fuji Apple, Orange-Ginger Mint and Hibiscus Breeze. They also have drinking chocolates (or mochas) if you’re not into tea which are also really good.
You can pick 3 items for a flat price of $12 or get 4 items for $16. There are 3 sections of items which are also individually priced if you want an even smaller meal. Above are two of my choices. One item from the “Main” menu, the Spinach Parmesan Quiche and another from the “Intro” menu, Cocoa Glazed Bacon.
The quiche came in a crunchy puff pastry crust and a chile burnt caramel hollandaise sauce. The quiche was creamy and quite good in it’s puff pastry shell. The sauce was light and the sweet flavor of the sauce doesn’t really make you cringe, it’s a much more subtle infused flavor within the sauce. It complimented the quiche quite well.
Here’s a close up of my cocoa-glazed bacon. It kind of looks like it’s been burnt, doesn’t it? It hasn’t, that’s just the cocoa making its mark on the bacon. The flavor here again is subtle but noticeable. The cocoa gives the smoky bacon a bit of sweetness to it, in the same way that maple bacon does. I have always loved to dip my bacon into maple syrup when eating it so it was a similar taste to that. The salty and the sweet combination all together in one piece – so good! Again, it’s not too overwhelming or overdone – Eclipse is very good at having just the right amount of flavors to tickle your senses.
My last item was again from the “Intro” menu: Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits. These have cheddar and chives in them and are quite simple. They’re a crunchy little biscuit, not like a fluffy kneaded biscuits, but I think more of a drop biscuit. It had a crunchy crumbly exterior and was nice and warm on the inside with a good amount of cheese and chives present throughout the biscuit. I did like these, but since I had recently had the biscuits from Urban Solace before this outing, it was a little bit of a letdown. Sorry, biscuits, I didn’t mean to compare you!
The biscuits came with this awesome orange peel vanilla bean butter. I love that you can see the little flakes of vanilla bean in the butter – it’s a very subtle but still there flavor that was excellent on the biscuits. I also got a little dollop on the other plate since it came with a little triangle of toast.
If you’re looking for a different kind of experience for Sunday Brunch, you should check out Eclipse Chocolat. It’s a lovely little shop where you can chill out for a bit, enjoy some good food and relax.
Eclipse Chocolat
2121 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92104
619.578.2984
Wow, I’ve been meaning to visit Eclipse for a long time but now you’ve given me a good reason to get on that soon!
I need to treat myself this this decadent brunch. It looks so good.
Cocoa bacon is where it’s at.
hi mary,
great post with mouthwatering pix!
did you go to brunch last week? bert and i were there for brunch last sunday around 11:45’ish. i had the quiche as well but with the pepperjack sausage. my husband had the cocoa-bacon with the three eggs (with sausage, potatoe and the chocolate bacon).for dessert bert had the cinnamon roll while i had the shortcake with blackberry sauce. the price is pretty good considering the quality. the portion was just right as well.
i am so behind in my posts!!!!!
happy easter!
Hi CC – Nah, I went like a month ago. That should tell you how behind I am in my posts! I do like that the portion size here is just right – no leftovers! Happy Easter!
that would have been cool to have bumped into each other there! i’m 2 weeks behind. behind on vacation, i went somewhere diff’t almost everyday.
I’m starting to blog out of order because I think I’m going to do all Mexican restaurants next week in my small attempt to do something for Cinco de Mayo. I just need more hours during the day… too bad I like sleeping!