Please don't take my French toast

Ormond Beach Observer
News

I found the perfectly portioned breakfast dessert and someone needs to pinky swear it’s here to stay.

I don’t know about you, but there really isn’t anything better than a warm cup of coffee, the smell of bacon and a stack of French toast. Well, not a huge snack. Anything larger than four slices is going to leave me in a breakfast coma for the rest of the day.

But usually, that’s what comes to my table when I treat myself to my favorite breakfast treat. Sometimes the stack is so high and so heavy with sugar and syrup that my waiter or waitress is struggling to lift it up. That may be a slight exaggeration but you get my point.

Well Ormond Beach, gone are the days of fat French Toast slices. I’ve found the perfect size right down West Granada Boulevard at Mango Sun Café.

Not only do the café’s strawberry and banana French toast slices look Instagram-worthy, but the taste will send you to breakfast heaven and help you land safely on the ground so you have the energy to do more than just sleep for the rest of the day.

I introduced my friend Hope to the Mango this week and she scarfed down her French toast like she hadn’t eaten in three days. After a hearty breakfast she even helped me unload some furniture into my house. So you dear readers now know I’m not alone in this.

As we left the restaurant, I turned sadly to my right to see the status of the new Peach Valley Café that will soon open in the same plaza. As a fan of the Peach I’m all for a second location in Ormond Beach. Our beachside restaurant is practically impossible to get into on a Saturday or Sunday morning, which, if you haven’t heard, is prime breakfast-eating time.

But this new Peach and I have already gotten off to on the wrong foot. You see it’s replacing my original OB gem, The Dish. A tapas-style restaurant that made pigging out almost an art.

Though I haven’t lived in the city a year yet, I had already designated The Dish to be my go-to place to impress all my Ormond-foreign friends. My little “hey you don’t have this in your town” restaurant that would eventually convince all my hometown pals and family to move near me. That was the plan at least.

And besides that, it also held some special memories. It might have been the first time I ever impressed my Puerto Rican boyfriend by knowing was tapas were. My best friend Avery and I talked about her wedding plans over some heavenly mac and cheese (I know I compare a lot of food to heaven; I’m working on it). And it was the first place I hung out with my new Ormond Beach/Palm Coast friends. Some real Kodak moments happened at a beautiful place where ordering three different meals was welcomed, not judged.

Though I can’t do anything to resurrect my favorite spot, maybe I can make a call to my city to keep the Mango in mind when you’re eating over at the Peach. The Peach will always have 30-minute wait times and plenty of business, but will it ever have omelets named after the street it’s located on?

When it opens, I’ll be sure to eat at Peach Valley Café. Especially since it’s five minutes from my house. But I’ll also make sure to give Mango Sun Café the love it deserves and I hope you do to. I can’t afford to lose another one of my OB gems.