Bonbon Brunch

This was our second weekend in a row to Bonbon Pastry and Cafe for breakfast/brunch in Ohio City, a bright, bustling patisserie and cafe adjacent to the building that houses Crop Bistro and Penzeys Spices, along Lorain Ave, just off of W 25th St.

Our previous trip took place when only the breakfast menu was available. Bug enjoyed his breakfast nachos with chorizo, eggs, avocado, black beans, peppers, onions, pico de gallo, and cheddar. It was a deceivingly filling platter.

I was impressed with their corned beef hash. The potatoes were crisp, brussels sprouts were not squishy, and there was just the right amount of corned beef and grilled mushrooms for flavor. Hooray for leftover corned beef hash.

Additionally, I almost burnt my tongue on a fried-to-order batch of cinnamon sugar mini-doughnuts with chocolate sauce and mascarpone dip. Who is crazy enough to wait until fresh doughnuts cool off? Hmm, or maybe it was the cup of macchiato?

French dip

With the lunch menu available during this visit, it took only moments to decide upon meals -- Bug got the French dip and I chose the grilled asparagus sandwich. He enjoyed the French dip with gruyere, caramelized onions, and au jus. It's not my thing (the onions). The loaf was wonderfully crusty. His platter also came with am impressive stack of fries. I was enamored with the crispy, tasty slender seasoned potatoes that I probably stole half of them.

Grilled asparagus sandwich

The combination may seem like a difficult jumble to eat; however, the asparagus for the most part cut easily with my teeth. Warm grilled asparagus and meaty mushrooms were enhanced by the oozy-creamy combination of fresh mozzarella and basil pesto. Salad greens and marinated tomatoes provided a cool crunch and piquancy that covered the remaining textural and taste bases. Of course, this wouldn't have worked with tough or dry bread. Loved the crusty baguette.

When entering Bonbon, there is an enticing display of pastries. As the picture shows below, I grabbed the cream-filled choux with dark chocolate and ate more than half...

Eclair

While I adored my sandwich and would like order it on every visit to Bonbon Cafe, I want to try some other dishes like the tofu hash, bubble and squeak, as well as their other pastries. The fries (a barrel of them) alone are enough to return over and over again.

At the time of this post, Bonbon Cafe advertises a breakfast happy hour, where breakfast entrees are $5.00 from 3:00 - 8:00 p.m. Parking, as far as we have seen, is what is available along the street.

- Cassaendra

Bonbon Pastry and Cafe
2549 Lorain Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
Tel: (216) 458-9225