I hadn’t planned on writing about our Sunday brunch at Celsius recently, but it was so delicious, I just can’t help but share our experience with you. I’ve heard many people say that Sunday brunch at Celsius is the place to see and be seen, but what I enjoyed most about eating there was the food. And the value is almost unbelievable.

If you’ve never had Sunday Brunch at Celsius, you simply must check it out…you get coffee, a breakfast cocktail (bloody mary or mimosa), and a gourmet brunch entrée for only $12.99. You can also upgrade the entrée to be a combination plate for $4 more.

Shortly after being seated in a cozy private window seat surrounded by beautiful art, we were served huge mugs of strong dark coffee. For most of you, that’s about all you need to hear. It was good coffee.

Then an overflowing basket of breads arrived with cornbread muffins, banana bread, croissants and more. The cornbread muffin earned the highest praise you’ll hear me say these days, "It was worth the carbs." Yes, each one of the items in the bread basket was rich, flavorful and tasted freshly-baked. In fact, all the bread items were "worth" spending your carbohydrate budget on (but save some room for the Potato Pancakes).

We chose to try the Eggs Benedict combination which has three different benedicts. I particularly enjoyed the benedict with steak. It’s a poached egg served on top of a small and very tender piece of steak and an English muffin topped with a savory sauce that’s a flavorful twist on the usual Hollandaise. The steak was so tender, that I could cut it with the side of my fork. Yum.

We also tried a crepe stuffed with greens, bacon and mushrooms. It was out of this world. I’ve never seen a crepe so thin. It was so thin, you could see through it! The thin crepe on the outside nicely balanced the dense filling. The bacon was thick and crispy, the greens sautéed to perfection, and the mushrooms were the wild kind with a musky flavor.

I’m not sure which dish came with the Potato Pancakes, but if you don’t order something that comes with these little round filets of pure happiness, then please order some on the side. Sorry, Grandma, they were better than yours.

But the highlight of the meal was the Eggs A La Flamenco. This dish literally had me groaning with pleasure. Two poached eggs are set atop a steaming bowl of vegetables, seafood and chorizo in a light vegetable broth. There were clams, scallops, mussels, and shrimp served over vegetables that must have been slow-cooked for hours in their own juices—onions, peppers, potatoes and celery. The menu says it’s a spicy dish, but I found the only thing to be spicy were the large thin slices of chorizo, a Mexican sausage that reminds me of my hometown in Southern California.

I found the food and service at Celsius to be superb. The menu shows that Chefs/Owners Jean-Luc Charpentier and Mary Jane Stanton are gourmets, but in a way that is homey and warm. They will fill you up and send you out happy. Chris, our server, was a real treat to be around as well.

Celsius has been a staple in town for a decade or more and it keeps reinventing itself to keep up with the times and the crowds. In addition to brunch they are open seven days a week for incredible gourmet dinners—reasonably priced. You don’t have to pay a fortune to dine on French food at Celsius…and really, the menu choices are international, with a representation of Mediterranean, classic American, and much more.

And Jean-Luc and M.J. are very community minded as well, donating time, talent and funds whenever they can—only one great reason to check out Celsius for dinner or that fabulous brunch.