Luke L.
Yelp
The Cottage La Jolla is an extremely popular brunch restaurant in La Jolla Village. This spot was renamed 'The Cottage' in 1986 and became a full-service restaurant in 1992. Former employee Jason Peaslee purchased the restaurant in 2018 and now there's a second location in Encinitas.
[Parking]: There's free 90-minute street parking available. Finding a spot wasn't too difficult at 7:30 AM on Saturday, but by the time I left at 8:30 AM there weren't many available spots left.
[Amenities]: The restaurant was already 50% full at 7:30 AM, but there was no wait. This is a dog-friendly cafe with plenty of outdoor patio seats.
[Menu]: The obvious popular dish to order is the Eggs La Jolla Benedict (breakfast menu) - a dish that has remained on the menu since 1992. Other popular dishes include Stuffed French Toast (breakfast menu), Eggs Benedict (breakfast menu), Capellini Crabcakes (lunch menu), Crab Cake Melt (lunch menu), etc.
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Eggs La Jolla Benedict (Poached eggs, Canadian bacon, balsamic mushrooms, spinach, roasted tomato, hollandaise, over an english muffin - $19): It took about 20 minutes to come out of the kitchen, but I can see why it is a popular dish. Bacon was good and the mushrooms had a slight vinegary taste. The roasted tomato added a nice touch. There was also a slice of pineapple which gave the dish a hint of sourness aftertaste. I ended the meal by dipping the unseasoned potatoes in ketchup. The potato side was just okay and didn't have too much flavor. Both hot sauces (DadBod Kombucha Hot Sauce and Ring of Fire Original Habanero Hot Sauce) tasted just alright.
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Overall this is a typical brunch spot with a cozy Southern California coastal vibe that also serves some savory egg benedicts.