FoodWaterShoes

In Silicon Valley and across San Francisco’s delightful Bay Area, there are plenty of places to grab coffee. You can snag a licorice coffee drink at ZombieRunner in Palo Alto, California or even a birthday cake rainbow vanilla latte at Home in SF. What makes Blue Dot Café & Coffee Bar in Alameda, California stand out from the crowd is its clear commitment to the local community and the fact that everything (from the baked goods to the sauces) is made from scratch.

Alameda is located on an island next to Oakland, California and not too far from that city with the famed Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a quaint city with a population of around 80,000. Fun Fact: One of Alameda’s claims to fame is that it was the first place you could get your paws on American snow cones and popsicles. (Alameda Island was home to an amusement park called Neptune Beach in the earlier portion of the 20th century.) The husband and wife team of James and Megan Hume opened Blue Dot as a gathering place and a spot where neighbors can, “feel welcome and connected.” (James is from Adelaide, Australia and a Megan hails from Wichita, Kansas. Now you see where our post title came from.)

We began our morning with a couple tasty cappuccinos while we waited for our breakfast order to pop up.

You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy. We bet a cup of really exceptional Joe is starting to sound pretty good right now. Here’s a list of some of our favorite coffee spots around the globe.

We didn’t have to wait long. Blue Dot may only have two dudes working over one six burner stove, but they get those dishes on the table fast. I don’t think we waited longer than five minutes before our first dish hit the table.

The first thing we stuffed ourselves silly with was a delicious item we’ve never tried before called a breakfast strata. It is basically two slices of light brioche bread drenched and cooked with egg, spinach and a yummy gooey Gruyère cheese. Given it’s size we thought we’d leave some on the plate, but it was so good we couldn’t let that happen.

In addition to Blue Dot, here’s a list of other neat little local spots we love in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The next thing we stuck our forks into was a French toast strata. We’re not going to lie, that dish is basically magical. Instead of using plain toast, Blue Dot uses a really amazing cinnamon bread that’s tastes kind of like slices of coffee cake that took a plunge into French toast batter. It’s awesome.

Despite having full bellies, it’s like we became possessed. We needed more of whatever else Blue Dot was selling, so we quickly hopped back into line and ordered a peanut butter cookie… and a snickerdoodle cookie… and a slice of chocolate chip banana bread for the next morning. It’s almost as though someone needed to put a stop to us. (We got the idea of topping the banana bread with peanut butter from Blue Dot’s kids’ menu. We’re definitely going to do that more often because it’s so dang good.)

When we walked out the front door, we thought we were done, but oh no. After our meeting in Alameda wrapped, we started to have an intense craving for something else we saw on the menu: Blue Dot’s refreshing pomegranate lemonade.

We’ll definitely be back to Blue Dot and next time we’re making a bee line for the scrumptious looking bacon curls we caught a glimpse of on another patron’s plate. A word to the wise, if you find yourself on the verge of becoming a Blue Dot stalker, consider grabbing one of their business cards. On the back is a punch card. Buy any ten beverages and your next one is on the house.

Blue Dot Café & Coffee Bar
Address: 1910 Encinal Avenue
Alameda, California 94501
Hours: Monday Through Friday 7:30am to 4:00pm, Saturday 8:00am to 2:00pm, Sunday 8:00am to 2:00pm
Phone: (510) 523-BLUE (2583)
Prices (All in USD): Breakfast and Brunch $4.50 to $9.95, Sides $1.95 to $4.95, Kids’ Breakfast Items $2.95, Panini $5.95 to $7.50, Sandwiches $6.75 to $7.95, Soup $3.25 to $5.25, Salads $6.25 to $8.25, Kids’ Lunch Items $4.25, Espresso and Other Beverages $1.50 to $4.15