Love Bites Café, Saugerties, NY

A few weeks back, Keepitcoming Love and I found ourselves in the Hudson Valley for an auction with some fantastic friends, P and D, and had spent a fantastic evening with them. When morning came, we had to get back, but figured we'd poke around Saugerties and get a bite to eat before returning home.

The Love Bites Café was unanimously recommended, a tiny restaurant evocative of a funky New York studio kitchen, and we sat down to find a rather unique and interesting menu. Though the two of us were decidedly in breakfast mode (and the wild boar provided temptation unleashed), I was definitely aching for something sweet, while Love ordered a savory dish, deciding on a modified Eggs Benedict with herbed hollandaise sauce on top of zucchini and corn cakes. I chose a carrot coconut french toast with lemon zest butter and syrup.As we listened to an eclectic mix of music, most notably Richard Cheese's "Summertime," we drank a good, strong coffee that was hot and fresh and went well with breakfast. Our plates came and were both very large and interestingly shaped, Love's accompanied by a green salad. The eggs with corn cakes were really indulgent, with a bright yellow yolk that spilled out onto the plate and was mopped up by the corn cakes. The entire bite, which was admittedly difficult to consume with a fork, was delicious and salty, yielding a wide range of textures from the soft eggs to the creamy, fresh tang of the sauce, to the crispiness of the corn and zucchini cakes. With the salad, which I did not try, it was a savory and delightful composition.My french toast was a smashing surprise. I expected a compote of carrots and coconut, or perhaps a coating, but instead, I received french toast made out of carrot and coconut bread. This created a dense and tender quickbread that I soaked in syrup and lemon butter. Three thick pieces of bread made for an incredibly tasty and interesting flavor, and filled me up very quickly.The only criticism I had for the french toast was that there wasn't really a detectable coconutty flavor, but it might have been present in the texture of the bread more than the taste. Still very crunchy and delicious. I liked that it wasn't an overly sweet dish, and instead relied on the more natural flavors of the vegetables and fruits to sweeten it. This restaurant was a real gem, and was wild and willin' in all its aspects.