Taylor’s Took Me Down…Twice

Man, i’m getting full again just from looking at these photos. The photos look innocent enough. The place itself looked innocent enough. Taylor’s Cafe is a charming, cozy little cafe tucked away in a shopping center in the beautiful eastern phoenix neighborhood of arcadia at the base of camelback mountain. its a bright, cheery & colorful neighborhood eatery serving a lot of the wealthy and well-to-do a wide variety or breakfasts and lunches. Little did i know it would be the scene of a culinary ass-whooping bestowed upon myself. i severely underestimated what taylor’s cafe was capable of serving up. Not the easiest place to find. like i mentioned its tucked away in a decent sized shopping center, set back off the street and with not so great signage leading the way. it’s worth seeking out though if you’re very hungry and have a few bucks to drop on a good, solid breakfast. Taylor’s cafe certainly wasn’t the cheapest breakfast i’ve had, but given the neighborhood it’s in and the clientele they pull in, i guess that’s somewhat expected. If it makes you feel any better though, it was one of the largest breakfasts, and easily the largest bloody mary, i’ve ever had…so while the prices are a bit high i felt as though i was getting what i paid for both in quantity and in quality.  The service was a bit shaky, especially considering how slow and quiet of a morning it appeared to be in the cafe. Upon walking in and going to the hostess stand, we stood for a bit before finally getting seated. Then, once we were seated, it seemed as though the wait staff were confused as to whom was supposed to be working our table. It all got figured out after a little time, but they need either some more motivated waiters or a better system of the existing ones.

My weekend breakfast drink of choice obviously is a bloody mary, so that decision took zero time to decide. The food however was a tougher choice given the size of the menu and how many of those things sounded delicious. The lunch menu consisting of salads, sandwiches, burgers, wraps & flatbread pizzas seemed never ending! i made the first, and possibly most important, decision of the day and decided to stick with breakfast. the bloody mary was decent. had good flavor, though i wish it was a bit thicker and a bit spicier. like i said though, it was BIG, coming in one of those huge glasses normally reserved for a tall cold draft beer. for the first time in my life, i could not finish my bloody mary! i felt so….low, so defeated. though if you could see the enormity of the VERY filling and NOT light breakfast in front of me at the time you’d understand why i never did get to finish my XXXL bloody mary. i’m pretty sure an entire family of pigs must have lost their lives to create my breakfast, the western crepe. start out with 2 crepes absolutely stuffed with crispy bacon, ham and sausage, top those 2 crepes with 2 fried eggs which are then topped with hollandaise sauce and sliced avocado. i have never seen so much pig stuffed into a crepe in my life. the potatoes were somewhat underwhelming, but the rest of the meal was absolutely delicious. Rich, hearty, filling and extremely unhealthy….but delicious nonetheless. Much like the family size bloody mary, i don’t think i came close to finishing all the food on my plate. i LOVE bacon, but even this was bordering on ridiculous. Julie and i could have easily shared just what i ordered and both have been satisfied.I walked out of Taylors Cafe hurting, and spent half of the day feeling absolutely stuffed and regretting how much i ate. When there’s that much bacon and deliciousness in front of me though i just cannot resist!!

Would i go back? Yes, i definitely think we’ll be back. Julie, while she enjoyed her eggs florentine omelette, didn’t seemed blown away by what she ordered so i’m guessing she’d choose something different next time around. The menu was rather large with lots of salads and sandwiches that all sounded, and looked good judging by quick peeks at our surrounding tables. I on the other hand loved my breakfast, there just happened to be an ungodly amount of it. I’d have trouble ordering something different if we went back. Either way, looking forward to trip #2 to Taylor’s Cafe. Note to self…do not go to Taylor’s Cafe unless i’m REALLY hungry.

Taylor’s Cafe Interior

Eggs Florentine Omelette - spinach, fat free ricotta cheese and diced chicken breast

Western Crepe - 2 crepes stuffed with bacon, ham and sausage topped with 2 fried eggs which is topped with hollandaise sauce and sliced avocado, served with potatoes

Bloody Mary