Huckleberry

Santa Monica, CA

Huckleberry Bakery in Santa Monica has a huge following and we experienced it first hand on a busy Sunday morning for brunch. We parked in the back of the restaurant where there was already a long line out the back door awaiting their opportunity to order.

When we did finally get to order, we opted for two of their popular classics, the Green eggs and Ham ($12.95), a homemade English muffin topped with prosciutto, sunny side up eggs, pesto and arugula and their Fried Egg Sandwich ($12.95), sunny side up eggs with Neiman Ranch bacon, arugula and gruyere. Both were good solid dishes, but could not compare with the fried egg sandwich at BLD in Hollywood. I preferred the green eggs and ham as the flavorful homemade pesto stood out with the yummy salty prosciutto.

Green Eggs and Ham

Fried Egg Sandwich

We also grabbed the last raspberry tart ($7.50) for dessert. The small tart was piled high with fresh raspberries, atop a small cookie crusted tart base and heavenly vanilla pudding. An excellent but overpriced treat.

Raspberry Tart

We took a few items back to the airport with us to snack on; two donut holes (50 cents each), a slice of blueberry corn meal cake ($5.50), a prosciutto and gruyere croissant ($4.75) and their popular maple bacon biscuit ($3.75). The donut holes were unremarkable, simple denser and heavier than your normal ones. We still prefer fresh ones from Kingpin in Berkeley. My favorite bite from Huckleberry was their blueberry corn meal cake which was an extremely moist corn bread cake with sweetness of the corn and tartness of the blueberries. It’s something I would order again and again if not for the steep price tag. The croissant was rather boring too, small, expensive and doughy, lacking the buttery flakiness I prefer for my croissants. To be fair, it probably would’ve tasted better had it been warmed. The maple bacon biscuit was good, crumbly, tasty and rich, but so dense it wouldn’t work well as a side dish. With bits of bacon, the oversized biscuit would benefit with some gravy since it was rather dry. I’m glad we grabbed up the last one, but wouldn’t get it again.

 Donut hole, blueberry cornmeal cake, maple bacon biscuit, prosciutto croissant 

Overall, brunch was good, but not worth the overwhelming hype or lines it takes to order. If you’re grabbing something in the express line quickly, and can afford the $5 pastries, then Huckleberry does offer some nice fresh items, but we probably wouldn’t come back anytime soon for brunch. Their lunch items seem popular as well, but there are still a handful of places we would go in Santa Monica or dine to BLD before returning to Huckleberry for brunch.

Dessert fridge

Pastries 

Huckleberry Menu

Huckleberry dining area

Rating 5.5/10

August 29, 2010