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Once you leave the Sonora, CA area, as you head east on California Highway 108, your dining options are quite limited, as you're traveling through very rural Tuloumne County, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Just a half hour east of Sonora, you'll come to the small settlement of Mi Wuk Village, where you'll find Sweet Pea's Restaurant and Bakery, which is a gem of a fine restaurant. As with all of reviews that I publish, I have no affiliation with the restaurant reviewed, and there is no monetary gain on my part, as I am simply a person who likes to eat, and I love to write-up, and publish my dining experiences.
Photo: It's a little after 8 on Saturday morning, September 07, 2019, and I've arrived at Sweet Pea's Restaurant and Bakery, located in Mi Wuk Village, CA, to enjoy a great breakfast. I belong to a forum which centers on dining in California's gold country, and I'd heard many good things about Sweet Pea's, and I'd been wanting to pay them a visit. Note the rustic building, in keeping with the rustic atmosphere of the small Tuolumne County community of Mi Wuk.
Photo: The restaurant has a rather interesting layout, as when you enter, there is a smaller dining room, with several tables, and a partition between it and the main dining room. You'll notice a counter, where baked goods are kept under glass, hence the term "bakery" in the name of the restaurant, as the owner bakes all kinds of "goodies," in-house. I couldn't help to wonder if it was Christmas in September, due to the lights and the holiday decorations that garnish the bakery counter.
Photo: Sweet Pea's is widely known in the area for their delicious, freshly-baked cinnamon rolls, and there were a few on hand to choose from, and another batch was on the way. I love the sign that advertises "natural ingredients," and the fact that almost everything the restaurant offers is made from scratch, "in house."
Photo: The breakfast offers everything a breakfast lover could hope for, including "Sweet Pea's Challenge," which I would have attempted, if I was in my prime eating form, 20 years ago. I settled on the "Standard American Breakfast," and when I noticed tri-tip was one of the meat choices, my mind was instantly made up, and any thoughts that I'd entertained of taking the "Challenge" were "gone with the wind."
Photo: The main dining room and the small counter, looking through the window from the table where I was sitting in the front dining room. On this early Saturday morning, the restaurant was lightly seated, but by the time I finished my great breakfast, traffic was really picking up.
Photo: The owner of the restaurant, Katy, picks up an order from the window to the kitchen, where completed orders are placed. Today, Katy was doing the serving, and her husband was performing chef duties in the kitchen.
Photo: The kitchen isn't "open," but I managed to peek through the open door and snap a photo of the talented chef, who happens to be Katy's husband, at work in the modest kitchen.
Photo: Meet my charming server, Katy Brickley, who happens to be the owner of the restaurant, who brings my order to me with a smile. Katy is a talented server, a nice person, amazing cook, and she knows how to run a great restaurant. Katy has been the owner of this fine restaurant since October of last year, and she and I had been corresponding for the last several months on a Facebook forum, "Dining in the Gold Country," which is mostly centered around restaurants located Tuolumne, Mariposa and Calaveras Counties. I'd been looking forward to meeting her, and I'd been looking forward to dining at Sweet Pea's.
Photo: Thanks, Katy, for snapping my photo, as I sit down to enjoy one of the best breakfasts I've eaten in a long time.
Photo: From "The Classics" section of the breakfast menu, I ordered "Standard American Breakfast, with tri-tip as my meat, two eggs cooked over easy, home style potatoes, toast, a side of gravy and coffee. Such a delicious breakfast! The "star" of my breakfast was tri-tip, lovingly prepared by the chef, who happens to be Katy's husband. The meat is served thinly sliced, marinated, well-seasoned, and juicy perfect. Sweet Pea's gives you a HUGE helping of this delicious tri-tip, and you'll be satisfied for the rest of the day. Tri-tip is among the meat choices, which include ham, bacon or sausage, but for me it was a "no-brainer" to choose tri-tip, as this cut of steak isn't some that you find on most restaurant's breakfast menus. My compliments to the chef, as he did an amazing job on this fine meat. Of course the breakfast comes with two eggs, cooked any way you desire, and I chose over easy, which is my de facto standard. The mark of a fine chef is to cook eggs ordered over easy as "over easy," not medium, and with the yolks intact, and still a bit on the "runny" side. I am happy to report that my eggs were cooked over easy, as per my order, which is a defining benchmark of a breakfast chef with talent. You get the choice between hash brown or home style potatoes, which is always a difficult choice for me, as I love them both. When Katy explained to me that her home style potatoes had diced bell pepper and onion, I was sold. I'm glad I ordered the home style potatoes, as they were absolutely delicious! The large, "chunky" potatoes were perfectly fried to a golden brown, and the onion and pepper complimented the taste of the potatoes, but did not overpower their goodness. I dipped some of the potatoes into my bowl of gravy, with made for a breakfast sensation. Speaking of gravy, a bowl of gravy was an option, but an option that I frequently order, as I simply LOVE breakfast gravy, and this breakfast gravy was "top shelf" in every way. The sausage gravy had the perfect texture, as it was creamy, flavorful, with LOTS of chunks of sausage. This gravy was amazing! You could make a meal out of a bowl of Katy's gravy, and a breakfast visit to Sweat Pea's isn't complete unless you enjoy a bowl of this wonderful gravy. Katy told me she'd been working on the gravy since 7 in the morning, and I can believe it, as her gravy is simply wonderful. You can't go wrong with sourdough toast and coffee, and both didn't disappoint me. I enjoyed my "Standard American Breakfast," as it was cooked perfectly, cooked to order, arrived in a very timely manner, and was simply an outstanding breakfast. I enjoyed my breakfast at Sweet Pea's Restaurant and Bakery, and I can truly say this was one of the most memorable breakfasts that I've enjoyed for a long time. When you're visiting Mi Wuk Village, and you're in the mood for an outstanding breakfast or lunch, you can't go wrong at Sweet Pea's Restaurant and Bakery, as their fine food is amazing fresh, skillfully prepared, delicious, and priced the way you like it to be priced. The staff is super friendly, and will treat you like family. You'll love everything about this fine restaurant... Sweet Pea's Restaurant and Bakery Copyright(c) 2019 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. We've been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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