Peach Valley Cafe (Maitland)
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It took everything in my power not to compare this Peach Valley Cafe to a. The one I’d visited before and b. To the First Watch that existed here for so long. I turned the corner that led out to the second indoor dining room—just past the bathrooms and the MADE FRESH emblem (sporting a ripe peach at its heart)—and the table for three was no longer there...yet nothing about this memory speaks against this change as for the better. The main dining room remains bright, with large east windows along 17-92, and its nine booths along it are clean. Whether this state is due to the team’s diligence or the location’s relatively nascent state, I can’t be sure. Regardless, these booths’ backs of prismatic grey-blue-orange-yellow upholstery bring attention to the rest of the space; seat cushions of window-pane chairs and stools following suit with the same fitted pattern. Somehow, while the open kitchen’s tiling is quite literally bursting denim and grey, it doesn’t demand, but merely decorates. The same cannot be said for the tangerine, 50s-style SMEG refrigerator set against it. It’s a visual zap that never opens, an accompaniment of room scans and each the order that comes up. And yes, it suggests peaches, a fact is undisguised by the fruit depicted on the drop ceiling along with the words, painted in baby blue: Good Food and Good Feelings!. Suggestion? Hardly. A sentiment worth disputing? With many a peach-related witticism possible—call me simple if you must—I’d rather go ahead and credit any nonsticky entreaties of goodness.
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Drink: Coffee
Give it up for no frills. It comes out of a thermos into a pristine white porcelain cup. The only point of interest might be the handle of the cup, yanked from a perfect roundness into a slight angle. The server comes around regularly to refill this nondescript breakfast beverage. I’ll accept something that goes down easy—it isn’t the worst case scenario.
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Food: Traditional Eggs Benedict
The onion and peach pepper sauce made it. All together, it was a toasted English muffin, poached eggs atop turkey sausage (subbed from Canadian ham), fresh Hollandaise sauce, served with their home fries.Doused in Hollandaise, the dish ended up being the tiniest bit off on the potato ratio was (given all the sauce), but I wouldn’t knock it for this reason. The plate was still too full to properly upset me. And, um the potatoes were phenomenal. It’s the same price as the roast beef hash Benedict (which I’ve had before). If you eat red meat and you can do without the English muffin carbs (especially if you want to sub out carbs with protein), I’d go for the hash Benedict instead. A fruit cup was the final centered jewel. Yum.