A New Weekend Brunch at Brentwood's M Cafe

Is your 2014 already off to a conspicuous start? It's not really your fault; “science” decided to put New Year's day on Wednesday this year, which kinda threw off the whole weekend-party-balance and has made these first few days of 2014 a real wasteland of productivity and lost resolutions. But help is on the way.

M Cafe de Chaya, every Angeleno's favorite “I-don't-know-what-I'm-eating-but-I-heard-it's-good-for-me” joint recently kicked off a new location in Brentwood, and they've ramped up their offerings to include a weekend brunch.

Far from the syrupy sweetness and smoked breakfast sausage links your memory may be jogging to when the b-word gets tossed around, M Cafe's version falls perfectly in line with their macrobiotic ethos. That means cold-pressed juices next to buckwheat pancakes, and kale. So much kale.

Thankfully the new weekend menu, available on Saturdays and Sundays at the Brentwood location, doesn't skew far from the menu items most of us associate with good, hearty morning-after fare. You can still get eggs Benedict, but it's a vegan variety that doesn't rely on eggs to craft its Hollandaise sauce, but is no less rich for its efforts. A slightly heartier version relies on smoked salmon, a slice of ciabatta and plenty of — you guessed it — steamed kale.

There's a breakfast burrito even, though with scrambled tofu, black beans and fresh kale (all tucked into a gluten-fee tortilla, of course) it hardly resembles the wonderful early-morning grease traps that populate most of our 10 best breakfast burritos list. Detoxing juices, bowls of quinoa and a walnut-laced french toast, served with soy butter, round out much of the rest of menu.

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Eschewing dairy, eggs, meat and refined sugar, among other usual brunch essentials, wouldn't seem to make for the best hangover-curing dishes. But M Cafe is out to save you from much more than one single headache; they want to change the way you think about the food you eat, so that by New Year's Day 2015 (on a Thursday?! Come on!), you'll be fitter, happier and better prepared to tackle a whole new year.

And if none of these sensible brunch options catch on with you, Brentwood's new M Cafe can at least brew up a strong cup of coffee to help you ride out your hangover. You can always start your resolution to eat more healthfully next year.

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