Breakfast at Republique - the Continuum

Republique

Breakfast

Finally dragged my butt to Republique.

The bar.

The bakery/register/order counter.

Feels very French.

Tons of seating areas.

Reverse angle.

Brioche french toast, eggs, slab bacon.

Not enough batter or too much bread, take your pick.

Slab bacon doesn't hit as hard as regular thin-sliced crispy bacon.

Good sized tea pot.

Kitchen.

Upstairs seating area.

Rear seating area viewed from upstairs.

Patio was available but had no customers.

The front.

Random Jaguar XJ-S.

Automatic, don't know what else.

Random Jaguar XJ-S.

Random Porsche 928 S4.

Republique, after all these years, is still a very classy, still stylish place to get breakfast. Their pastry counter has lots more competition than it used to, the inside has enough old world European influence to feel a tad like Hogwart's Castle, and the restaurant itself is much larger than I expected. There's the front seating areas (plural), bar, kitchen visible in the middle, a rear dining room, an upper floor that overlooks the rear dining room and (barely) patio, as well as an outdoor patio that was setup but barren of customers when I arrived.

The menu is extensive, especially when combined with the pastry case. You order at the counter with the pastry case, then servers bring food to your number (wherever you decide to sit inside the restaurant). The brioche french toast is thick, fluffy, and well-presented, but so thick that the ratio of batter to bread seems off. The slab bacon got me at the end, but the first half or more it felt decidedly inferior to normal, thinner, properly crispy/meaty bacon strips. The eggs were excellent but that should surprise no one from a French-inspired chef?

Verdict: can see why some love the place. Am not sure if I am actually curious to try more of the menu, or made insufficiently interested to come back due to the price ($60 including a pot of tea, tax, and tip) and the fact that it's a bit inconvenient.