Amuse Bouche: Bistro offers French panache, gourmet petit déjeuner

The adage “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is one that resonates with me. I enjoy having at least one hearty and/or decadent breakfast per week; Sunday is typically that one day. While I’ve had many wonderful morning meals through my travel, breakfast is not one I usually go out of my way to write about…until now.

While in town visiting the folks for my mother’s birthday, I discovered a petite neighborhood bistro I thought Mom would love…Amuse Bouche. This relatively remote bistro is located in the western part of Surprise, Arizona in a somewhat nondescript strip mall—just the type of restaurant I like to seek out. What amazes me is how far foodies will travel when they learn of an epicurean local restaurant, which is what’s been happening ever since Amuse Bouche was featured in the New York Times, Arizona Republic and PBS’s “Check Please.”

My plan was to take the folks to dinner, but as I soon learned, Amuse Bouche only serves breakfast on Sunday. (Mom’s birthday). Given that my folks love dining out, and the relative proximity to their home, I was surprised that they had never heard of, or been to, Amuse Bouche. This added to my delight, as I know how much my folks enjoy trying new places.

As we arrived, we had to make our way through a deluge of people waiting outside for a table…thankfully I had made reservations. As we entered the diminutive setting we had a feeling of being in an authentic French bistro. If you’ve been to Europe, you know that the dining affair is often an intimate and communal experience, with tables close together and bistros all a buzz. The aroma of cinnamon, freshly brewed coffee and other breakfast scents filled the air, which created a delightful degree of anticipation for our forthcoming meal.

We started our breakfast out with some fresh and hot beignets, which, if you’re not familiar, are basically square fried dough balls sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar. We enjoyed our beignets with some wonderful French roasted coffee.

We then shared the following items:

♦ Smoked salmon eggs Benedict – poached eggs over toasted English muffin, wild smoked salmon with hollandaise sauce served with seasoned country potatoes.

♦ Belgian Waffle – with fresh strawberries, bananas, vanilla whipped cream and brown sugar cinnamon syrup.

♦ Corned Beef Hash Benedict – homemade fresh corned beef with onions, red bell peppers, and potatoes served with toast, two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

♦ Quiche Lorraine – with bacon and Swiss cheese accompanied with country potatoes.

The meal was simply scrumptious and the overall dining experience authentic, which was certainly an unexpected “surprise” given the geographic location. As I indicated, when it comes to good food, no distance is too far for those who appreciate a culinary experience that is backed by passion, experience and execution.

The word “gourmet” is often an abused superlative, such as “Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches.” Refreshingly, Amuse Bouche Gourmet Bistro delivers its expectation of the word.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of dining at Amuse Bouche, please share your experience with my readers and me.