Two Bird Café a great place for food and family
French Toast at Two Bird Cafe Lauren Antone | JR
The quaint Two Bird Café is the epitome of a home-style restaurant. Located in San Geronimo, this cozy eatery adjacent to The Valley Inn offers a wide array of dishes and a comfortable, at-home atmosphere for its guests, many of them locals.
Over the past 15 years, the restaurant has remained popular, keeping its menu fresh and changing. When I sat down for a Sunday morning breakfast, the Café was packed with families, couples and teens as the wait staff moved from one table to the next, presenting the day’s specials on a whiteboard. Unconventional as this method seemed, the guests didn’t seem to mind.
After sitting down in one of the café’s three small dining areas, an attentive and polite waiter was by my side offering me and my companion coffee and juice. The fresh squeezed orange juice (small $3.95, large $5.00) was deliciously sweet and thick with pulp, expensive but a definite for those who have not yet enjoyed it.
Our waiter returned immediately, bringing with him the large breakfast menu and the specials whiteboard. The breakfast prices on the menus ranged from $10.50 to $13.50, but were reasonable in terms of the large portion sizes and high quality of food. One of the waitresses told us much of the restaurant’s produce was grown on the property.
Seasonal dishes like Fresh Trout with a pumpkin seed crust ($12.95) or Miwok Pancakes ($10.50), a dish served with two fluffy pumpkin pancakes and pork-apricot sausage, were made with organic pumpkin and jumped off the specials board. But I was enticed by the French “French” Toast (10.50) with organic, fresh seasonal fruit.
Sitting near the glass doors in the sun-brightened dining room, time seemed to fly. The fireplace crackled and classical music hung in the air, but those sounds were mostly drowned out by the customers’ laughter. The wait staff was impeccable; my glass never went empty and my coffee was refilled twice.
The appeal of the restaurant was undeniable. As one group of customers left, another group filtered in, and everyone seemed to know one another.
Two Bird Café has all the intimate ambiance of an upscale restaurant, but without the longer wait you’d expect. The cook and wait staff had our food to us in less than 15 minutes, as quickly as a diner staff.
My beautiful plate of French toast was topped with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, powdered sugar and simple syrup. I didn’t add maple syrup because the flavor of the French toast was already so sweet. For those with a sweet-tooth, this is your dish. The French bread was crunchy but warm and had a lasting cinnamon taste.
My companion ordered the Eggs Benedict ($11.95) and claimed it was the best she had ever had. The hollandaise sauce was thick and creamy, draping over two poached eggs, two crunchy English muffins and two slices of Canadian bacon that were layered in between. It was served with scrumptious potatoes, perfectly seasoned, and a fruit salad of organic fruit, mostly melon.
“I love the food here,” said Two Bird Café employee and junior Mika Kakin. “The Eggs Benedict is one of my favorites.”
Two Bird Café is open not only for breakfast, but also for brunch, lunch and dinner. It has an extensive lunch and dinner menu, offering salads, sandwiches, burgers, pasta, chicken, fish-of-the-day and more.
According to Kakin, Two Bird Café is a great place to be Friday and Saturday nights because live musicians perform on the stage, located in the bar.
Even though I only sat down for breakfast, the great flavors of the food, coupled with the friendly staff and bright atmosphere, has convinced me to come back for most likely delicous dinner.