You have to go to Everyday Eatery.

Yeah, I know — I love every restaurant I review. Sue me, Irvine has great food.

I was going to love Everyday Eatery no matter what. But this Kiwi-owned brunch café is on another level. It’s picturesque, of course — millennial-pink walls, cute little succulents and preciously garnished foodstuffs are definitely part of the experience — but there’s real substance to it.

A friendly, wan employee encouraged me to take photos for Instagram so I would get the word out about this place. A good suggestion — it made my food-reviewer photography seem a little less obnoxious. I was also not the only person in the place who was spending long amounts of time taking photos of her food from every angle — in fact, there were several tables of people doing the same exact thing.

Everyday Eatery (Bret Kavanaugh)

I couldn’t go with Ryan, so I dragged my boyfriend along. Despite a few food restrictions, he’s usually pretty game for anything. This also looked like the sort of place that would have an enlightened hipster menu with plenty of milk substitutes — which it did. 

We settled into a corner booth by the window where we got a good view of the outside. Like most restaurants in Irvine, it borders the parking lot, but we did get to people-watch. Everyday Eatery is fast-casual, so it’s best to grab your favorite seat and let the other person go up to order. It was my turn to pay for the date, so I told him to go ham (figuratively) and order whatever he wanted. We got the housemade granola bowl, kale and sweet potato macro bowl, kombucha, and hibiscus iced tea.

The hibiscus iced tea was great and very refreshing — flavorful, with no added sweetness needed.(Its dark pink color also looks great in photos.) The pale pink kombucha (the flavor was “Bloom”, from  brewer Fermensch) is a credit to its category — better than the stuff I make at home. It’s flavored with blueberries, lavender and chamomile, but no one flavor overwhelms. 

While we were waiting for our bowls, we spent more time admiring the décor — the pastel pink espresso machine, the fuzzy throw pillows, the plants — and chatted with Nasim, the owner. She’s a New Zealander who moved here with her half-Kiwi husband, and in the great tradition of those from “down undah”, she decided to open the best breakfast place on the block.

Everyday Eatery (Bret Kavanaugh)

(Side note: Between the Australian folks who run Outpost Kitchen and that really good tiny pie place, and Nasim here at Everyday Eatery, this is becoming a real trend. Should we be worried?)

She’s friendly, chipper and funny, and I certainly hope her business succeeds. Everyday Eatery is brand new, and still has a sign up that says “SOFT OPENING.” That new. However, if it weren’t for the sign, I truly wouldn’t have guessed. The service is great, and everything ran smoothly and looked delicious.

It tasted delicious, too. Our food arrived relatively quickly, and we were captivated from the moment we saw it. Once I took a few dozen pictures of everything, it was time to dig in … and the world stopped at that first bite of granola.

Firm, sweet bananas. Strawberries so ripe they were dripping with juice. Almond milk. Delicious Everyday Eatery granola that was mercifully free of cinnamon and full of black sesame seeds. Please, just get the granola bowl. You’ll see what I mean.

Everyday Eatery (Bret Kavanaugh)

Really. I don’t mean to be the type of person who waxes poetic about granola, but I guess I’ve become that. This breakfast bowl will make you do the same thing. Order at your own risk.

The macro bowl was just as good. With some sort of creamy, unidentifiable green salad dressing, black lentils, quinoa, kale, sweet potatoes and little wisps of sprouted vegetation, this one is a culinary winner. It was warming, homey and perfect for winter, without being heavy. I was full and satisfied, but didn’t feel overfed. The portions were generous without being excessive.

While my boyfriend and I scraped the last remnants out of the bowl, we got a text from a friend: Did we want to get lunch? Everyday Eatery is open until 4 p.m., so we sent him the address and told him to run over. I figured it might take an hour or so, but Nasim and her employees weren’t rushing us, and I had a good book I wanted to finish, so I figured I would just stick around.

I scanned the menu for an item or two I could snack on while trying to finish Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (which I also highly recommend). There was a small section with wellness drinks, and after a chat with the guy at the counter I felt tempted to order two. I wouldn’t typically do that, but hey, food reviewing is work. I felt like I could justify the expense.

On his recommendation, I ordered the matcha green tea latte and the turmeric rose latte.

Everyday Eatery (Bret Kavanaugh)

My friends, trust me when I say this — that turmeric latte is a must-get. I don’t actually like turmeric, and I only ever eat it because it’s a powerful anti-inflammatory. I did not expect to love this drink, but I did. The rose syrup and milk completely cancelled out the turmeric’s bitterness, resulting in one of the best drinks I have ever tasted. As much as I love Coffee Tomo (and I really, really do), this drink tops their offerings. It’s a close race, but this is a superlative drink.

I’m sure that, at this point, you’re clear on what I think of Everyday Eatery. Please go. Bring your friends. Bring your family when they’re visiting from out of town — trust me, they’ll be suitably impressed. Bring someone here for your first date. Bring someone here for hangover brunch. Nasim has built an extraordinary restaurant, and I want to see it prosper.

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