Fab beignets and breakfast at Trailside Cafe & Coffee House, Monterey (California, USA)

When we were in California a few months ago, we got to meet up with an old friend from my JET days, whom we hadn't seen for almost 8 years! (Going through my old posts from that era brings back such fond memories!) Alex was our next door neighbour in a tiny fishing village for one year, a jovial American who was also in the same intake of JET participants as me. He was contracted to the municipal (i.e. he taught at several elementary and junior high schools in the area) whereas I worked for a senior high school. Unlike most JET participants who joined the programme straight out of college, he was an experienced science teacher already in his 30s, and together we felt somewhat like oldies compared to our fellow JETs. The nearest foreigner to the three of us was at least 15km away, and we often had dinners together, though he was decidedly the more social one who often opened up his apartment for get-togethers and potluck meals with other Noto JETs.

We stopped in Monterey for three days during our road trip up the Californian coast, and I contacted Alex and his wife to see if we could meet up since they lived nearby. This meeting almost didn't happen, because we arrived in Monterey rather late in the evening on the day before Alex and family were to leave on a camping trip (spring break had just started at the time). Thankfully they managed to complete packing for their trip that night, and they suggested meeting up for breakfast the following morning at Trailside Cafe before they had to leave for their camping trip. So what has changed in the past 8 year? He got married (to a lovely girl we met when she came to visit him in Japan for a couple of months) and have two kids, who get along brilliantly with our own two rascals. We had a lovely time with this gorgeous family, who also took the time out to show us part of the gorgeous Monterey coastline on surrey bikes, and got us into the Aquarium as guests on their membership passes before they went on their camping trip. It was so nice to see familiar faces on foreign land.

The small inside dining area at Trailside Cafe:

We already had a small breakfast at our accommodation, so we ordered only ordered small. Alex got a basket of beignets to share, and these were the most divine fried doughs I've ever had, warm and fresh out of the fryer. It was my first time trying a beignet, and what a fabulous introduction it was! I am not a big fan of deep fried foodstuff, but these were ungreasy with a lovely crispy outer crunch into soft pillowy insides.

Beignets - so much better than donuts!

Got one of the kids' menu for the boy, scrambled eggs and a bowl of fruits:

Hubby could not resist ordering the pancakes with berries and maple syrup:

I discovered that the Trailside Cafe in Monterey shut down last month when the lease expired, but the shop has a sister cafe/bar/pub in Carmel Valley, called Trailside Cafe & Beer Garden, where the menu is similar. I imagine the quality is also similar, and maybe that is something we can find out if we ever find ourselves in California again!

Trailside Cafe & Coffee House
550 Wave St
Cannery Row
Monterey, CA 93940
United States