...the bears at banana bean brunch before baseball..

I got a funny feeling that i been here before. Except this time we were meeting up with a friend at the Banana Bean located on Greenlawn before our first Clippers game. A much different vibe than the Whittier location. I liked the interior better -- now if they could transplant this place over to German village. I have acquired an anticipation and excitement for dining at Banana Bean because of its eclectic menu which always introduces some new taste to my palette. This would be my 3rd time there and all previous times I'd tried something new. Betty and I also observed from our last brunch visit the coupled strategy of ordering a sweet item and a savory item for brunch. We were all set to order and I was hankering for one of their special bloody mary's only to learn that Banana Bean does not have a liquor license on Sundays. No worries - I just saved myself $8.00.

Our friend started off with the sweet potato fries. I acted like I was not interested in them when he ordered but when they came out I was the official sweet potato fry groupie. Very yums in tums.


sweet potato fries with mysterious "spicy island" sauce

Betty opted for the Banana Fosters French toast with Berries topped with a Captain Morgan Rum sauce. This was pretty tasty...but there was room for it to be amazing.


bananas foster french toast w/ strawberries topped with rum sauce

I opted for the seafood fare as always that BBC specializes in and ordered the Eggs Del Mar described from their menu as "...2 Poached Eggs atop House–made Creole Cornmeal-Dusted Crab Cakes, Seared Spinach & Roasted Tomato Hollandaise..."


eggs del mar no flash out of focus

eggs del mar w/ flash overexposed...

I wanted to love this meal but it ended up just being pretty good. I'm a true believer that most foods would benefit from a fried egg over it -- so crab cakes with poached eggs were tasty -- but the hollandaise had to be the blandest most uneventful I've ever tried. Imagine my delight thought when I inquired about hot sauce and they had the red El Yucateco. Secretly i was hoping they'd bring out the ya ya sauce that normally accompanies their fried plantains but no complaints here.

At the end of the meal we were all pretty content and looked forward to the promise that the day would bring. Betty and I need to get back to basics at Banana Bean and try their fish tacos which were amazing last time we had them. Word is bean!