It probably seems pretty weird that I have two “social club” back to back reviews in place this week. It is weird now that I think about it. It’s not really on purpose, either. Just a crazy co-wink-a-dink.
My cousin was in town recently and we played tourist and showed her around town. We took her to a few places and one of them was Bella Vista Social Club and Caffe for breakfast and to check out the pretty views at Torrey Pines.
I’ve previous been here for lunch and I was excited to try out their breakfast goodies.
[french toast croissant / $8.95]
This is Jake’s order. He asked me what my second choice would have been and this is it. You get a choice of either brioche or croissant and he choose the croissant. They pretty much took a croissant, flattened it, and then battered it for french toast. It was deee-lish-ous! It had a nice light, eggy batter on it with nice crispy edges. The bacon could have been a little crispier, but it had a nice flavor. A yummy start to the day, if you ask me!
[nutella crepes / $6.75]
S. ordered the Nutella Crepes. He was going to go with pancakes but Jake and I managed to convinced him to try something new. Luckily he ended up liking it a lot. I got to have a little bit of it and it was quite yummy. I don’t think I couldn’t just have this breakfast though – a bit too sweet for me – but have a few bites was good enough for me.
After breakfast he said, “I’m sort of kind of getting sick of chocolate.”
To which I said, “Does that mean we don’t have to make s’mores anymore then?”
And he replied, “I said KIND OF!”
Heh heh.
[strawberry & basil cream cheese crepes / $6.75]
My cousin got these strawberry and basil cream cheese crepes which sounded very interesting! I didn’t try them so I can’t comment on how it tasted, but I know she really liked them and ate every single bite.
[black truffle & leek quiche / $10.95]
I decided to change things up in my life. And I ordered a quiche! This is not something I’d usually order but the lure of truffles and leeks won me over. It’s a good sized quiche with a buttery, crisp pastry crust. The black truffles and leeks are plentiful. There’s a dollop of goat cheese on top which I slowly took bites of with my quiche. It added a nice, creamy richness to the quiche but I wasn’t able to finish this because it just got to be very rich tasting after a while. Luckily the egginess of this didn’t bug me since it was a different consistency and texture. I really liked it! The salad helped to break up the dish and give me something lighter to munch on in between bites of quiche.
Once we finished with breakfast, my cousin insisted on paying for the meal (she kept trying to pay for stuff but I kept thwarting her!) and we waited for awhile for them to get back to us. Turns out their internet went down and they were unable to do any credit card transactions. They made us wait for another 20 minutes or so before they gave us and said the meal was on the house. I gave them all of the cash I had on me for a tip though!
Bella Vista Social Club & Caffé
2880 Torrey Pines Scenic Dr
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 534-9624
After breakfast we headed over to the glider port to check out the pretty views:
This is looking north up the coast.
Here you can see a couple of people floating above the Torrey Pines golf course.
After checking out Torrey Pines we drove south over to La Jolla Cove so my cousin could see the seals.
The seals weren’t on the beach that day but you could see them all hanging out on a nearby rock. Thanks to my camera’s zoom I can see them, at least.
We also saw lots of these little guys running around in the cliffs!
I feel like he’s posing just for me. “Take my picture before I go back into my hidey hole, Mary.”
La Jolla is so pretty, ain’t it?
While we were walking back to the car and I was climbing up this steep staircase, I spotted this in the sky. I was flabbergasted because I have never seen just a bursty blob of a rainbow in the sky before on a perfectly clear day. I thought maybe my grandpa was saying a little hello to us that day.
Some of my friends had pictures of that weird rainbow and I was so impressed / have never seen anything like it before ! Very pretty.
And yum the crepes and that quiche look so good. I love quiches. Do you normally not like eggy things?
Lastly, random story: Once my friends from Canada were visiting and I took them to see the seals and at first we were like omg the seals are hurt they’re bleeding!! Anddd then we realized they were all ummm, on their time of the month….haha. Kind of gross but funny.
Hi J.S. – The rainbow thing was really pretty and also I never knew rainbows/colors could come through like that! I read it’s because there were water droplets in the clouds or something. I have never seen anything like it before!
I’ve been on a “I don’t like eggs” kick recently but I think I’m starting to get over it. Sometimes food falls out of favor with me and then later I start liking it again (this also happened with me & tomatoes but we are friends again).
Whoa about the seal story! Man… never thought about that before! hahah
Gorgeous views of Torrey PI\ines and La Jolla Mary! Especially the rainbow burst in the clouds – that looks so cool!
Sux about Bella Vista and their faulty system, but at least they comped the food! I would like to try the croissant french toast. : ) Quiche is always a good choice too.
Hi CC – Thank you! Yeah, I loved that rainbow burst – so unusual and so pretty. Yeah, I didn’t mind the wait after they comped it, haha. Luckily we were not in any kind of rush. They did it really reluctantly – I don’t blame them though. They kept trying to call someone to fix it but wasn’t working. I bet they get a backup plan after that!
Admit it. We secretly coax others to order different stuff b/c the different stuff are items *we* want to try too 🙂
I wish there was a crepe place that would STUFF the crepes with whatever ingredients. Bristol Farms used to have a crepe station and I kid you not, the guy would stuff 1/2 a container of nutella in the crepe for me. I miss those days. It’s actually not that hard eating 1/2 a container of nutella in a crepe BTW 🙂
I thought you didn’t like goat cheese? There’s a weird tang to it that’s off putting to me. I would so buy you a box load of truffles when I win the lotto one day.
Your nature pics are simply AMAZING. I literally said ‘holy f*ck’ after seeing the first ocean picture. First reaction of seal pic… ‘smells like poop’. I have NEVER seen a rainbow like that Mary. Your grandpa indeed is waving a beautiful hello up in the sky for you 🙂
Hi Faye – I fully admit that I also want to try the different things! 🙂
Mmm, so much nutella… so good. I should try lunch at Bristol, it’s not toooooo far from work…
I love goat cheese! Maybe you are thinking of CC? I like pretty much all cheeses…
Thanks – I’m glad you like my nature pictures, I’m practicing taking photos of non food things 🙂 isn’t that rainbow thing crazy???
I totally missed this post…although I see it was up during the County Fair…I was kind of busy then. So glad you got to try the Brunch menu-a kind of secret place that isn’t crazy crowded on weekends. With the Glider Port right there, it is a perfect area to take visitors…they think we live this way every day…brunch, ocean, casual!
HI Cathy! It is really nice visiting here on the weekends. It’s nice and the food is pretty good. I’d like to try one of their pastas sometime as well. It is a beautiful spot to take people! Very impressive with the views at the Glider Port.