The adage “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is one that resonates with me. I enjoy having at least one hearty and/or decadent breakfast per week; Sunday is typically that one day. While I’ve had many wonderful morning meals through my travel, breakfast is not one I usually go out of my way to write about…until now.
While in town visiting the folks for my mother’s birthday, I discovered a petite neighborhood bistro I thought Mom would love…Amuse Bouche. This relatively remote bistro is located in the western part of Surprise, Arizona in a somewhat nondescript strip mall—just the type of restaurant I like to seek out. What amazes me is how far foodies will travel when they learn of an epicurean local restaurant, which is what’s been happening ever since Amuse Bouche was featured in the New York Times, Arizona Republic and PBS’s “Check Please.”
My plan was to take the folks to dinner, but as I soon learned, Amuse Bouche only serves breakfast on Sunday. (Mom’s birthday). Given that my folks love dining out, and the relative proximity to their home, I was surprised that they had never heard of, or been to, Amuse Bouche. This added to my delight, as I know how much my folks enjoy trying new places.
As we arrived, we had to make our way through a deluge of people waiting outside for a table…thankfully I had made reservations. As we entered the diminutive setting we had a feeling of being in an authentic French bistro. 
If you’ve been to Europe, you know that the dining affair is often an intimate and communal experience, with tables close together and bistros all a buzz. The aroma of cinnamon, freshly brewed coffee and other breakfast scents filled the air, which created a delightful degree of anticipation for our forthcoming meal.
We started our breakfast out with some fresh and hot beignets, which, if you’re not familiar, are basically square fried dough balls sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar. We enjoyed our beignets with some wonderful French roasted coffee.
We then shared the following items:
♦ Smoked salmon eggs Benedict – poached eggs over toasted English muffin, wild smoked salmon with hollandaise sauce served with seasoned country potatoes.
♦ Belgian Waffle - with fresh strawberries, bananas, vanilla whipped cream and brown sugar cinnamon syrup.
♦ Corned Beef Hash Benedict – homemade fresh corned beef with onions, red bell peppers, and potatoes served with toast, two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.
♦ Quiche Lorraine – with bacon and Swiss cheese accompanied with country potatoes.
The meal was simply scrumptious and the overall dining experience authentic, which was certainly an unexpected “surprise” given the geographic location. As I indicated, when it comes to good food, no distance is too far for those who appreciate a culinary experience that is backed by passion, experience and execution.
The word “gourmet” is often an abused superlative, such as “Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches.” Refreshingly, Amuse Bouche Gourmet Bistro delivers its expectation of the word.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of dining at Amuse Bouche, please share your experience with my readers and me.
Amuse Bouche Gourmet Bistro & Catering Contact info:
Restaurant Phone: 623-322-881
Catering Phone: 623-680-7280
Email: info@AmuseBouche.biz
Website: AmuseBouce.biz
Address: 17058 West Bell Road, Suite 104
Surprise, AZ 85374
The moment you step inside Vogue, a sense of culinary optimism stirs your taste buds with excitement. The ambiance is warm and inviting with a local cosmopolitan feel. The décor is stylish and sophisticated without being pretentious.
To start off, we both ordered a glass of red wine from the broad menu. We enjoyed our wine with a classic French hors-d’œuvre of escargot, which was simply delicious. The delicate Burgundian Escargot was baked in a puff pastry with herb and garlic infused butter.
As we relaxed by the warmth of the fire we had to try one more appetizer that seemed perfect for the cool evening…French onion soup, another French classic. I’m not a “French onion soup” connoisseur, but this was fantastic. Unlike what I’m used to with a piece of French bread atop the soup, this seemed to have a thin layer of croissant-type pastry with perhaps some Gruyere cheese.
Hawaiian Snapper with roasted fennel, Minnesota wild rice medley in a lemon-caper sauce.
The passion and care this culinary power couple has for the restaurant business is clearly evident. We visited Vogue on a Wednesday evening and the place was nearly packed, so I would suggest making reservations to assure a seat at this wonderful dining establishment.
Address: 15411 West Waddell Road, Suite 108
I’ve had an opportunity to dine at this intimate and vibrant establishment a couple of times now. My most recent trip included the following menu items:
The nouveaux “farm-to-table” movement has never been more evident than in Walla Walla. As a matter of fact, earlier this year “
If you find yourself in the charming town of Walla Walla, do yourself a favor and stop by 
Today with all the social media outlets and review sites, I find it hard to believe that mediocrity continues to prevail in the culinary landscape. I have a great deal of travel, dining and cooking experience, so if anyone knows the meaning of “gourmet,” it’s me! I can tell you that unequivocally Jimmy John’s (JJ’s), the “gourmet” sandwich chain sweeping the nation, is the antithesis of gourmet! I get so irritated when I get suckered into a dining experience with marketing terms like “gourmet,” and then learn that it’s anything but!
aning tables and he told me I needed to ask someone at the counter. “Really,” I thought. I walked up to the countered and asked for some Splenda (I know, it’s kind of a chick thing, but I’m trying to watch my figure) and the gal gave me several packets of the pink crap and said, “this is all we have.”
While we were eating our sandwiches I was looking for a napkin…these too were not supplied with the meal, nor available at the table. I had asked a gentleman bussing a table next to us where the napkins were, fully expecting that he’d get some for us since they were clearly forgotten by the staff. “At the counter he said.” Yet another trip to the counter in order obtain what you’d think as a self-evident utensil.
For the first course we had Sous vide Sockeye Salmon, heirloom tomatoes, pickled cantaloupe, fresh chervil, meyer lemon cilantro sorbet, preserved mango foam. This starter dish was so fresh and delicious. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it again. This creation made my “
While dining for breakfast…I couldn’t resist trying the cottage cheese pancakes with warm real maple syrup. The pancakes were out of this world good. I know it may not sound like a good combination, but trust me…it works! As a child I was exposed to the Mennonite religion on my maternal side–the family often made cottage cheese fritters, which I always enjoyed…so the pancakes infused with moist curds wasn’t a big risk.
The pizza I ordered was the “The French Quarter,” which had smoking goose tasso, duck fat roasted Yukon gold potatoes, corn, red onion and manchego & mozzarella. Without a doubt the pizza at Finch’s is a worthy inclusion to my top-10 list.
Next Course: Smoked lake trout crude, summer vegetable escadeche, wild watercress with a lemon dill aioli.
Before our Charlottesville restaurant tour even began, we visited the weekly 
5) Just a block away we hit “
15) The
