Are you looking for a place that serves the best bacon?! (Akshay’s note: who isn’t?…) Then I have found the place for you: Great Maple. I cannot express how yummy the bacon is (and their other stuff too), but maybe the pictures below will help! When I was in San Diego a few weeks ago, I met up with one of my good friends, Pankhudy, to have brunch and catch-up…over bacon.
I definitely recommend booking a reservation at Great Maple if you plan on arriving before 1pm on a weekend. Parking can be a bit of a challenge too since their lot is pretty small. I shockingly got lucky, but Pankhudy didn’t and she had a bit of a trek.
When we arrived, we had to wait a few minutes. However, they have an adorable coffee/water station out front. Also, the servers come out periodically and hand out samples of fresh baked goods!
Once we were seated, Pankhudy and I ordered the honey mule cocktail. They come out in these adorable bear glasses. It reminded me of the beanie baby named Hope…gosh, I totally just aged myself! (Akshay’s note: what?..) Anyways, it was delicious and basically tastes like a Moscow mule.
I really enjoyed reading through their menu because there were so many options, including an entire section for people who had “healthy” on their mind. Some of the options looked pretty tasty. We ended up splitting the brioche French Toast with maple bacon syrup and the fried goat cheese popovers with mushrooms, squash, spinach, and tomatoes.
Both these items were really tasty; however, my favorite was hands down the French Toast. Since my friend is vegetarian, they provided chopped bacon and bacon maple syrup on the side for me. They had filled the chopped bacon to the top, and I’m not going to lie…I devoured all of it. If you love thick cut, crispy bacon, then you’d probably do the same! As far as the bacon maple syrup goes, I tried a small bite, but it was a little too much for me, so I stuck to the normal syrup. The French toast was soft and melted in your mouth.
I had never had a popover before and was really curious to try it out. While it was delicious, I probably would not order it again…mainly because I’m a carnivore. The side of potatoes were on point though! (Akshay’s note: Didn’t you just say you were a carnivore?..) Glancing at other people’s tables, the scramble melts with grilled bread looked amazing, so that may be what I end up choosing next time.
By the end of the meal, we were SO stuffed. However, I refused to leave without ordering the maple-bacon donuts that everyone raves about. I ended up having it packed, so I could take it to my friend’s house in the evening. Even though we ate it a few hours after it had come out of the oven, it was still SO DAMN GOOD! I split one with my fiancé, and boy do I wish I had brought more (since 3 come in one order).
Anyways, I would recommend Great Maple in a heart beat. The decor is fabulous both indoors and outdoors with an adorable rustic twist. They have other locations in Orange County and Torrance. Check out their website here.
Getting our drinks on with these adorable honey mules
Goat Cheese Popover with roasted potatoes
Brioche French Toast and the crispy bacon
Check out the bacon :). I had an entire bowl of that minus the maple syrup!
I’m not a huge fan of mixing sweet and salty, but these maple bacon donuts are an exception!
