Gypsy Cafe
162 N. Main St., Sebastopol, CA
http://gypsy-cafe.com/menu.php 
Review date: March 2012

We are always on the lookout for great little breakfast places. We're especially partial to places that serve breakfast all day long, as we like to have it at the civilized hour of around 11 a.m.

Gypsy Cafe has all the right credentials, with a chef (John Littlewood) who is classically trained with a good reputation. The menu is interesting, with several lunch items intriguing enough to pull me away from the breakfast I had intended to have.

The orange juice was fresh-squeezed, always a good thing. The decaf and regular coffees were just average, however.

Carlos stayed faithful to the idea of breakfast and picked the chicken-fried steak with fried eggs. The steak was fine, with a nice greaseless crust. It turned out to be a good thing I hadn't ordered it, because the cream gravy had been heavily perfumed with dried thyme. He was fine with it, but I'm more a tarragon or winter savory fan with cream sauces, and didn't like the taste he shared with me.

They did the eggs properly, over easy as he requested. The hash browns were the mediocre frozen shredded kind, which Carlos actually likes. He drowns them in ketchup and is perfectly happy. The English muffins were Thomas', which is good, but they were barely toasted, which wasn't. This seems to follow a trend lately where we've been receiving pale limp English muffins at several different places. We'd like to see this trend stop as soon as possible. Toasters are not exactly a new invention, LOL.

I decided to try the Chipotle Chicken Wings, along with a cup of clam chowder (which the menu claimed had won awards) and a house salad. The salad was a cross between cabbage slaw and green salad. I was happy I had asked for the lemon-basil vinaigrette on the side. It was on the strong (vinegar-y) side, so I was able to use just a little of it. 

I find it hard to believe this chowder has won awards. If it has, it must be made by a different kitchen crew than the ones producing this particular pot. The taste wasn't bad, with a generous amount of small diced tasty clams. But the red potatoes were sloppily cut – first thinly sliced, then irregularly quartered, some even left in half-moon slices. The celery was in large dice, which I never like to see. It was visually unattractive, especially in a small cup size.

We had to wait a surprisingly long time for the chicken wings – Carlos was almost finished with his breakfast when it finally came. The serving was surprisingly small. Five small pieces were nicely fried, however, with a very light flouring as batter and not overcooked. But the chipotle glaze was so heavily applied the wings were dripping with sauce. Although reasonably tasty it wasn't memorable or worth ordering again.

It didn't seem to us that breakfast was under the direct attention of chef/owner Littlewood. Everything could have been remarkable if executed with a little more care....but it wasn't. It missed by that critical half-furlong, so in the end we might as well have gone to Carrow's or Denny's. 

Two people: one entree, one cup soup, one small salad, one starter, with tip was $48.