Deals for Meals
Del Mar Scene - July 2009
by David Nelson

Opera Café & Pátisserie
Cuisine: French
Entrée cost: Under $10
Must-try dish: Quiche Lorraine
Menu news: Now serving wine
9254 Scranton Rd., San Diego; 858-458-9050
www.operapatisserie.com

Proprietor and master baker Thierry Cahez, a native of Strasbourg, France, learned how to bake croissants and pastries fine enough to please the finicky guests at the Plaza Athenee and other internationally renowned hotels in Paris. His new café, a bit south of Del Mar in Sorrento Mesa (and just a stone’s throw from I-805), is spacious and colorfully decorated with the widest palette of colors in the pastry case. The café serves breakfast and lunch Monday-Saturday and an expanded dinner menu on Fridays only. But it is well worth the trip for fluffy quiche Lorraine, suave eggs Benedict sided with Yukon gold potatoes and fresh fruit, salads, plump sandwiches, and daily specialties like wonderfully aromatic boeuf bourguignon. The temptations in the pastry case range from the airiest possible croissants to perfectly crisp macaroons, mousse-filled chocolate bombes, and rectangular tarts brimming with glazed fresh fruits.

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