vegan

Every now and then, you eat a restaurant meal that changes the way you think about food and that you need to try to recreate at home. Breakfast last Tuesday in Sonoma at Community Café and Catering is one of those meals.

Community Café was a recommendation from our Sonoma host, William, blogger at the beautiful Simple Hedonisms, Russian River Valley advocate, Sonoma ambassador, a great person to go to for recommendations, and overall great person (and owner of an amazing dog!)

We arrived at Community Café expecting the usual café and breakfast offerings which I was totally fine with. What I found was really creative options that were surprising and absolutely gorgeous.

First, the space at Community Café was very California, light, laid back, airy, and relaxed, like a little bit of vacation in the every day. It would also make a great yoga studio, I won’t lie. Café and yoga, perhaps?

I don’t remember much of what was on the menu because one item immediately caught my eye, and I couldn’t order anything else. Farro, cooked in coconut milk with mango puree, macadamia nuts, and toasted coconut.

Oh my goodness, this was the perfect breakfast. The faro was exponentially better than regular oatmeal, and the coconut milk and mango gave it a tropical flair in addition to a super creamy texture. Macadamia nuts, with their buttery crunch, simply sealed the deal, making this a bowl of paradise.

My husband went in the opposite direction, choosing a fried egg and cheese sandwich with sweet potato perfection fries. I only had a few bites as I was completely enamored with my own bowl, but he cleaned the plate.

The folks at Community Café were incredibly hospitable and warm, checking with us several times to see if we needed anything, offering fresh coffee, a free water bar, and lots of smiles. Definitely a place worth visiting again. . . and again and again.

That is why, when we returned home and I got grocery shopping, that it was must that I try to recreate my breakfast. I could not find faro at Trader Joe’s, so I started with regular Irish oats, two cups, and a can of coconut milk. TJ’s only had light, but I would highly recommend the regular, full fat coconut milk.

Very simply start by cooking two cups of oats in a can of coconut milk on low, stirring often, until the oats are soft. You may need to add a few spoons of hot water; it is definitely a recipe to keep an eye on.

In the meantime, I started to puree some frozen mango with a little bit of water. In a perfect world, I would have thawed it, but I ended up with a gorgeous mango sorbet! It was lovely all on its own. I’ll be pureeing frozen mango and coconut milk for sorbet in the future.

Once the oats were cooked, I topped them with the mango puree and macadamia nuts. Faro really would have been better, but this was still a blissful way to start the day and something I will eat many times over.

I am sure I have asked this before, but have you tried to recreate a restaurant meal? Did it turn out the way you had hoped?