Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Cuisine: American, Breakfast, Mexican
Restaurant Features: Catering, Free Wi-Fi
Location: St Paul (West Side)
Address: 637 South Smith Ave St Paul, MN 651-290-0218
Hours: Mon-Sat  7:00am-2:30pm  Sunday 8:00am-2:oopm
Links: *Capital View Cafe Website * Google Map
Atmosphere: Capital View Cafe is located on Smith Ave, on the “West Side” of St Paul, just a hop-skip-and-jump away from the High Bridge that crosses the Mississippi into downtown St Paul.  The interior of Capital View is the perfect picture of a retro cafe, with a mix of both booths and tables and an orange checkered floor in the back room.
Menu: The many breakfast items at Capital View Cafe include Eggs Any Style, Biscuits and Gravy, Grilled Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheese, Country Fried Steak, Huevos Ranchers, Eggs Benedict, Farmer’s Breakfast, Tex-Mex, Chporizo con Huevos, Breakfast Burritos, Machaca, Cajun Breakfast, and Cajun Benedict.  Many of the Breakfast Specialties can be made into a 1/2 order, the server can tell you which.
Capital View Omelets include Chorizo with Cheddar, Vegetarian, Farmer’s, Fajita and Build-Your-Own.
Breakfast Favorites include Breakfast Quesadillas, Smoked Country Sausage, Chipotle Pork Chili and Eggs, Pork Chop and Eggs, Corned Beef Hash, Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Buttermilk Pancakes, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Blueberry Pancakes, Banana Pecan Pancakes, Cinnamon Swirl French Toast, Buttermilk Waffle, Pocket French Toast, French Toast Fritters, and Belgian Waffle.
Appetizers include Chips and Salsa, French Fries, Battered Onion Rings, and Cheese Nachos with Jalapenos.
Salad options at Capital View Cafe include Garden, Chef, Caesar, Taco, Chinese Chicken and Steak or Chicken Fajita Salad.
Sandwiches and Burgers are served with kettle chips or upgrade to fruit or fries for $1.  Options include Patty Melt, B.L.T., Grilled Cheese, Grilled Ham and Cheese, Grilled Reuben, MOnte Cristo, Philly Steak Sadwich, Sirloin Steak Sandwich, Capital Hill Burger,  Chicken Club, Grilled Chicken Breast, Cajun Style Chicken Breast, Chicken Strip Basket, Grilled Tuna Melt, Cold Sandwich, Mushroom and Swiss Burger, Cajun Burger and Plain Burger.
Mexican Specialties include  Cheese and Onion Enchiladas, Chorizo with Cheese Enchiladas, Beef or Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken or Beef Tacos, Tostadas, Steak or Chicken Fajitas, Chipotle Red Pork Chili, Burrito Especial, and Chimichangas.
Price guide: Breakfast Specialties $6-10 Sandwiches $7-9 Mexican Lunch Specialties $ 7-10
Early Bird Specials: Mon-Fri 7am-9am
  • $3.99 2 Eggs and Toast
  • $4.99 2 Eggs, Potatoes and Toast or 2 Eggs, Meat and Toast
  • $5.99 2 Eggs, 2 Cakes or French Toast, and Meat
  • $6.99 2 Eggs, Meat, Potato, and Toast
What I ordered: I had never been to Capital View Cafe before but had heard great things about their breakfast, so I stopped one morning before work.  The server had many recommendations off the Cafe’s Breakfast Specialties section of the menu, including the Chorizo con Huevos, Cajun Breakfast and Tex-Mex.  They all sounded great but I settled on the Tex-Mex Breakfast  (1/2 order) and a 1/2 order of the Pocket French Toast.The Tex Mex breakfast was a giant portion of shredded hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and  sausage, topped with a flour tortilla, enchilada sauce and melted cheddar cheese.  This was very good!  I couldn’t believe how big this 1/2 portion was, I was only able to eat a fraction of it!  I could choose from breakfast sausage, chorizo or andouille and went with the server’s suggestion of andouille, which is well seasoned and slightly spicy. Great choice!  The enchilada sauce was on the mild side and went great with all the layers of ingredients underneath it.  A very hearty breakfast (for sure!) and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The second breakfast item I got was a 1/2 order of the Pocket French Toast, which came highly recommended by my server.  Oh my, was this delightful! The arrangement itself was very appealing, with fresh strawberries and blueberries topping the french toast, and little kisses of whipped cream here and there.  It was also served with the cutest little dish of warm syrup.  There were two pieces of the French Toast, each with a “pocket” inside filled with melted sweet cream cheese.  The sweetness of the toast and berries and the satisfaction that came with every bite convinced me I was eating dessert for breakfast! I loved every bite I was able to eat.
Service: My server was excellent, very sweet and had the best suggestions for what to order. It was great that she let me know I could get a half-order of just about all breakfast items so that I was able to try two different things.  The food came out in about 5 minutes which was much faster than I expected.  One thing to note is that credit cards are only accepted for over $50, otherwise it is cash only.
Overall Impression: Breakfast served all day? That’s my type of place!! Capital View Cafe has a large selection of breakfast items and the portion sizes are enormous. I will be back soon to work my way through the breakfast menu!

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