Easter Brunch: Special Places In Los Altos And Beyond

Easter Sunday is just a few days away. After church or your neighborhood egg hunt, do you plan to take the family for brunch? Sometimes it's not enough to just find something open.

Patch decided to go a little farther afield, in and beyond Los Altos, to find places doing something a little extra, with a special menu.

Call ahead for reservations, since Easter brunch, like Mother's Day, books up fast. The Open Table is open for reservations all the time, of course. One tip, if that doesn't work, from the Cabaña Hotel: Don't forget to call, since some restaurants may be able to open up slots that Open Table doesn't know about, such as outdoor seating.

If the Sunday brunch restaurant scene is a bit much, don't forget churches have often hosted a traditional pancake breakfast. If yours doesn't, others do, and don't be shy. Remember that Easter is traditionally the time that churches are especially welcoming of new faces.

ARYA GLOBAL CUISINE

19930 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, (408) 996-9606

If live music and Mediterranean food sound festive, Arya Global Cuisine offers an Easter feast, consisting of a four-course, plated brunch. This includes appetizers or breakfast items, salads or soup. The entrees to choose from include salmon, chicken, pasta, beef, lamb. There is a dessert. Beverages include Champagne, orange juice, soft drinks, hot tea, coffee. Brunch begins at 11:30 a.m. with live music by Pasquale Esposito. Price is $39 for adults, and $19 for children 4-12.

BISTRO 4290 at CROWNE PLAZA CABAÑA  HOTEL

4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, (650) 857-0787

The Bistro 4290, inside the Crowne Plaza Cabaña Hotel, will serve a Champagne Easter Brunch this Sunday, with everything you could ever want, made special to order. Choose from waffles, omelets, salads, entrées, desserts and the famous carving station—plenty of delicious food to accompany that heavenly—and bottomless—glass of champagne.

The adult price is actually lower than in previous years: $40 per adult, $32 for seniors, and $20 for kids, ages 6-12. Children 5 and under are free.

BUMBLE

145 1st Street, Los Altos, (650) 383-5340

Kids, kids, kids! There are special Easter Sunday activities in the playroom for children, from a "night-bright" movie called "Hop" and egg-dying kits to purchase (staff will guide the egg-decorating efforts). Meanwhile parents can avail themselves of the regular menu items that include scrambled eggs, grass-fed beef burgers, mango chutney chicken sandwiches or salad, Chef Marc's French Dip sandwich and more.

CALIFORNIA CAFÉ

700 Welch Rd., Palo Alto, (650) 325-2233

Looking for a place that’s kid-friendly? California Café will host its Easter Sunday Brunch, with a cornucopia of more "yum" than you or the young one could ever imagine. Chef Todd Yamanaka has planned a bountiful spread, and we've attached the menu here. There is a cold food station with everything from house-cured salmon and chicken lettuce cups with soy-sesame dressing, yogurt and assorted pastries. The hot food station has omelets made to order, bacon and chicken-apple sausage, scrambled eggs, French toast and seared salmon. There is also a slow-roasted prime rib and honey-baked ham and more. The dessert buffet with butterscotch bread pudding, panna cotta, seasonal fruit tarts and Red Velvet cake. Your brunch ticket includes a drink such as a mimosa or sangria. For the kids, California Café will pull out its famous “knee-high buffet” with eggs, bacon, chicken-apple sausage, French toast, chicken fingers, fruit, mixed greens, raspberry bars, Jello and cookies. Sounds like a truly delicious way to celebrate Easter!

The price is $42 per adult, and $15 per child, for all you can eat. There is still availability, a restaurant staff member said Wednesday.

LAKESIDE CAFÉ

3160 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View (650) 965-1745

Enjoy the tranquility of the waterfront with brunch at Shoreline Park's Lakeside Café in Mountain View. The café will serve Brunch this weekend, which includes seasonal items and real French pastries, to go along with the restaurant's regular breakfast and lunch menus. With the patio now open, it's a great way to enjoy a spring repast by the water. If you really want toenjoy the outdoors, buy a picnic basket filled with chocolate strawberries and Champagne, or perhaps a bottle of wine with fine cheeses and fresh fruit or some Italian panini. 

PARK PLACE at THE CYPRESS HOTEL

10050 S. de Anza Blvd., Cupertino, (408) 873-1000

Park Place's annual "decadent" Easter Brunch Buffet, including a carving station with prime rib, an omelet bar featuring everything from Dungeness crab to Eggs Benedict, and lighter fare from Cobb Salad to fruit plates. The finale includes a towering chocolate fountain, served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The price is $36 for adults, $18 for children under 12, and kids 3 and under eat free. The Easter Bunny himself will come by for free photos with the kids from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

THREE DEGREES RESTAURANT at the TOLL HOUSE HOTEL

140 S Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, (408) 395-7070

Chef Eduardo Maccoto has sumptuous spread offered from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at this Los Gatos restaurant, including an unusual breakfast fare like a French Toast Casserole, to an omelet station and boar's head smoked bacon. From the lunch-y side of the board is a balsamic glazed chicken breast with orange reduction, a carver's table and all kinds of sides, including wonderful renditions of scalloped potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Click here for the full menu. Price is $49.95 for adults and $22.95 for childen 6 to 12 years old. Younger children are free.