Haute Cakes: Small Newport Cafe Earns Big Reputation

* It’s Sunday, and there are so many crepes and omelets from which to choose. Here’s a sampler of Sunday Brunch destinations in Orange County, culled from recent stories. Other reviews can be accessed at https://www.calendarlive.com/go/discover/

*

Haute Cakes Caffe is a small eatery with a big following. Though word of its reputation has spread beyond its Westcliff Plaza area location in Newport Beach, the cafe has been primarily a neighborhood favorite for 10 years. The crowds of regulars that gather for lunch and breakfast are proof of its popularity.

The name of this restaurant is appropriate because its food is so cutting edge that it could almost be called haute cuisine. If the meals were simply faddish, Haute Cakes could be dismissed as just another hot hangout. But the cafe offers deliciously innovative twists on basic sandwiches, salads and pastas. Breakfast, served every morning beginning at 7, is a collection of egg dishes, hot cakes, waffles and fresh pastries, the latter sold from the bakery case and prepared daily by Haute Cake’s pastry chef, Cherie Faulds.

Among the many pastries are rustic berry pies, creme brulees, brioche, cookies and a wonderful lemon gallette, a scrumptious pie with raspberries on the flakiest crust I’ve ever tasted. These treats alone would make a terrific brunch.

But you don’t want to miss the inventive treatments of scrambled eggs--with asparagus, leeks, caramelized onions and feta, for instance--or the brioche French toast, bruschetta-and-egg and pancake combinations.

The specials on any given day are also must-haves. Try the lemon or orange ricotta hot cakes if they are offered; or the huevos benedictos, a Latin-style eggs Benedict made of a masa corn crust topped with poached eggs, smoked chicken or turkey and chipotle hollandaise; or the lemon and thyme potato gratin topped with poached eggs; or the crab cakes topped with poached eggs and mango salsa.

An item to avoid is the cafe’s signature buttermilk “haute” cakes, which were bland and not as exciting as nearly every other dish available. Besides, if lemon or orange ricotta cakes are offered, why would anyone choose buttermilk cakes?

Haute Cakes is the ideal place to take a casual crowd of adults, kids and dogs. The outdoor tables can be arranged to fit a group. And because orders are taken at a counter with meals brought to the table, groups can stay as long as they want without offending waiters trolling for tips.

Haute Cakes Caffe, 1807 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach, (949) 642-4114. Breakfast Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; Saturday, 7-11:45 a.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Prices range from $3.25 to $7.95.

* A new Sunday Brunch review will run next Sunday in the Orange County Calendar.