By Ari Cade
Cici’s Cafe Review Los Angeles
Living in Los Angeles means that you either have or will slowly become integrated into the Sunday brunch scene and more specifically, living in the valley means that you generally drive twenty to thirty minutes out to Brentwood or Silverlake to do this. So it’s not a surprise that Cici’s Cafe, an adorable little cafe in the heart of the valley is every growing in popularity.
On any weekend morning, you can drive just a block or two down from the Tarzana Safari Walk on Ventura Blvd. to see a crowd standing outside in a parking lot waiting to be seated. Not willing to wait in the crowd, I took a second to stare at the the sign, “Cici’s Cafe: salt & pepper… sugar & cream” and decided to come back on a Monday for an extremely late brunch around 2:00 pm. I was originally worried about parking, but they happened to have a large parking lot in the back as well as the few spots they have out front.
Luckily it wasn’t nearly as crowded and so it took about five minutes for me to be seated. I spoke to the hostess a bit to ask about the cafe, a family run business that started with two sisters, Cici and Bebe. The menu that was handed to me might as well have been a book, it was about 20 pages long and it was rather overwhelming. The hostess was very sweet and she had no problem pointing out her favorite breakfast option, the Green Tea Tiramisu Pancakes.
It took about twenty minutes for the waitress to arrive with three fluffy Green Tea Pancakes stacked on top of the other soaked in a green tea tiramisu sauce and topped with a dollop of whipped cream and powdered sugar. The pancakes themselves weren’t overwhelmingly sweet nor was it overwhelmingly green tea flavored. The portions were definitely large, maybe twice the size of my face. They were definitely generous in the amount of cream they served and it was very thick and sweet, they definitely used heavy whipping cream or something similar rather than just a can of whipped cream. Overall the pancakes were definitely worth eating, but may have been better as a dessert. I recommend ordering it with an ice tea or coffee.
For a lunch option, I ordered the CIA Melting Club which was brought to me soon after I devoured my last bite of green tea pancake. The sandwich consisted of sliced turkey breast, bacon, tomatoes, arugula, avocado, and swiss cheese with basil pesto on a French baguette. It was served with a side of french fries and two slices of dill pickle.
There may have been too much turkey as it was the dominant taste, although the pesto sauce was definitely a nice touch. The bacon was crisp and wasn’t too oily. The french fries were nice to munch on between bites of the sandwich, but definitely needed salt. In comparison to my breakfast, I would say lunch was rather dull, but to be fair, the pancakes put the bar pretty high up. Cici’s Cafe is definitely somewhere to check out if you’re a sweets fanatic or simply love to get brunch with friends, you’ll always have something new to try there.