A Trip Down to Irvine to Old Vine Cafe

On a random weekend, I went with my sister and her friends to Irvine for a shopping spree. While we were there, we also had lunch at the Old Vine Cafe. It was pretty packed when we got there, and had to wait about half an hour to get seated. But upon entering, I was almost immediately captivated by the atmosphere. As pictured above, their menus are stapled onto canvas paintings. How interesting! In fact, looking around, I noticed that each canvas menu had a different painting.

I took a little longer than usual deciding what to order, because there were just so many options. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go the delectably sweet route, or something more heavy and savory. But finally, I reached a decision and ordered the Southern Brunch-- it offered both savory and sweet on the same plate!

Southern Brunch at the Old Vine Cafe.

The dish I ordered consisted of two eggs, a fried green tomato (bottom right), house made scrapple (top right), and a biscuit with apple butter. Yum! When the plate first arrived, I had forgotten what I had ordered, and I thought that the portion pictured on the top left in the image above was actually mashed potatoes... But no, it was just a very satisfying biscuit. Although I thought that the dish wasn't going to be very filling by the looks of it, I was already stuffed by the time I ate through half of it. The scrapple was very interesting to me, as I've never had it before, but I liked it's flavorful mushy yet crunchy consistency. The fried green tomato also caught my attention. Although it tasted fresh and juicy on the inside, it was fried and crunchy on the outside.

I also tried some of my sister's dish, which was the Omelet España, recommended by our server.

Omelet España at the Old Vine Cafe.

The omelet consisted of Prosciutto, artichoke, bell peppers, Shiitake mushrooms, and cheese. Similar to their fried tomato, I loved that they came up with original combinations of ingredients for their dishes. The outcome was delicious too.

I'm surprised I haven't discovered this gem of a restaurant throughout my two years in school in Irvine, but I'm glad that I finally did. I can't wait to take my friends here and try out their other options from their menu. Some things I will keep in mind however, is to not come when I'm completely starving (because it might take a long time to get seated), and to always bring extra cash because it's located within The Camp-- a plaza that also houses many other cool boutique stores.

Old Vine Cafe

2937 Bristol St, Ste A102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-1411