Cafe Chardonnay

Still Delicious After 27 Years

What do you get when 10 ladies get together for lunch at an old favorite for some and new restaurant for others? A great time, of course.

Café Chardonnay has been satisfying diners for 27 years. Owners Frank and Gigi Eucalitto have found the right balance between delicious food and a lovely atmosphere with a terrific wine selection to boot.

I have loved eating here throughout the years and have extremely fond memories of Samuel’s baby shower that my dear friends hosted for me 7½ years ago.

As is always the case with a Road Trips For Food, everyone ordered what she wanted for lunch and I took care of ordering the desserts. One of my friends had to leave before dessert (yes, she is still my friend!) so I ordered 6 of the 8 dessert options.

As dessert after dessert dish came out, Jessica asked where the Carrot Cake was. I explained that I figured a Carrot Cake was a Carrot Cake and that I had not ordered it. After being properly reminded how foolish that decision was, a slice of carrot cake was brought over.

This was a great decision because Café Chardonnay’s Carrot Cake strikes the perfect balance of moistness, nuttiness and creaminess. Not to mention deliciousness!

The Banoffee Pie was a terrific twist of toffee mixed into the crust with a very healthy amount of bananas on top, which I am sure supplied my daily dose of potassium.

Naturally, the chocolate selections were coveted at the table. The Truffle Cake is similar to a molten chocolate cake and was abounding in gooeyness. The Chocolate Cream Pie had a lovely twist with both almonds and macadamia nuts processed into the crust.

Although I must admit ‘favorites’ is being used very loosely here since we did favor so many of the desserts, two other favorites were the Almond Joy Tart and Peanut Butter Cream Pie. The Almond Joy was just like the candy bar, but all grown up and the Peanut Butter Cream Pie was as smooth and creamy as a perfect mousse.

The final dessert ordered was the Apple Pie with Cinnamon Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce. I must confess that this was the pie for which I have the fondest memories and have a difficult time passing up, no matter how full I may be. I love apples loaded with cinnamon and Pastry Chef Desi delivered. We did notice that something was not quite right with the crust, but with years of history eating their apple pie, I have no doubt this was a fluke and still highly recommend giving Café Chardonnay’s apple pie a try.

The icing on the cake, metaphorically, was the wonderful service we received. Manager Karen Biancho could not have been lovelier as she filled me in on the ins and outs of the restaurant. I knew our server, Melissa, from another restaurant and I was thrilled when she walked over to our table.

When I posted my ‘day of’ reminder about the RTFF on Facebook, Jessica’s husband commented that it should be renamed a Bike Trip For Food, because the restaurant is literally around the corner for just about all 10 of us. True as this is, I am thrilled that my RTFF’s cover restaurants both near and far.

Even though Café Chardonnay is very close to where I live, it is worth even a longer drive. I hope you turn your next outing into your very own RTFF to this restaurant. It will not disappoint.