food: Aunt Mary's Cafe

Aunt Mary's Cafe

Thursday K had an appointment at Kaiser. She doesn't deal well with medical procedures large or small, so I accompanied her and we planned to get some brunch afterwards as a reward. There are lots of great places in Oakland for breakfast and lunch like Brown Sugar Kitchen, Mama's Royal Cafe (I can't believe I haven't done a writeup of that yet), and others, but we wanted to try some place new. Consulting my map of Oakland restaurants, we decided to finally try Aunt Mary's Cafe in the Temescal.

It features comfort food with a southern twist, with the likes of biscuits, grits and skillet cornbread. There's also a southern bubble and squeak (with the option of substituting tofu for the eggs), basics like pancakes, and a variety of other breakfast dishes. Looking at the lunch and Saturday/Sunday brunch menu shows lots of other yummy-sounding options.

grits waffle

K had the roma tomato, chard and asiago scramble, while I went for the grits waffle (being vegetarian, I passed on the option of adding fried chicken) and a side of fruit. Both were delicious, and the scramble and fruit side were beautiful. The waffle comes with syrup or +$2 for maple syrup, or the choice of blue agave syrup. The waffle was very good, though I'd still give the nod to the cornmeal waffles at BSK which are similar.

The service was great, and the vibe of the space felt good. The walls were decorated with interesting art by East Bay artist Chris Fabbri. Some reviews mention the space can be too loud, but although there was a good crowd when we were there, it didn't seem overly loud to us. The cafe also features a small patio area facing Telegraph. It was a bit too cool yesterday to sit there, but that looks like a lovely spot for future visits.

In short, we both liked it. It's not my favorite Oakland breakfast / brunch spot, but it's got good solid comfort food, a nice vibe, and is an excellent choice when in the Temescal.

Aunt Mary's Cafe