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welcome Christmas brunch at Java Point Café

We typically go to Benicia for brunch at least once during the winter because is a great selection of restaurants along First Street. But why we always go there when it's coldest and windiest (the city has a shoreline on the Carquinez Strait), I don't know. For our welcome brunch for our Christmas visitors, we opted to drive to Benicia again. I suggested an Italian restaurant that Val and I immensely enjoyed, called Bella Siena, but Mommy opted for a more Filipino fare. So we took our seats at Java Point Café, described as Benicia's best-kept hole-in-the-wall secret. It would have been nice to dine al fresco but the weather was too cold so we pushed three tables together and got ourselves ready for some really cozy, homegrown goodness. 

Soon, our brunch arrived: generous plates of tapsilog, omelettes, and sandwiches. Val is familiar with Filipino food already (after all, he's been in the Philippines for more than 10 years) so he felt right at home with the options. My vegetable omelette (along with some potatoes) was particularly delicious and filling. I would have wanted to walk off my full tummy first but the elders found it too cold outside to explore the area. 

(I had intentionally parked the car two blocks away to get me to walk—I needed the exercise—and to allow Daddy to park right in front of the restaurant. The elders didn't have to walk far as a result. But someone wasn't happy to walk the two blocks to and from the car.)


Brunch was a great way to start the day because we were going shopping right after! I conceded that it was okay to skip the walk in Benicia because we'd have hours (literally until the stores closed) of walking around Livermore's Premium Outlets.
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