35 Years of Getting it Right . . . First Watch

How do you celebrate 35 years of getting healthy food right? With a cookbook of course! And that’s just what First Watch did. They have created a cookbook with all of the favorites and made it home cook friendly. So now you can either head to your nearest First Watch and saddle up for some fresh cooked food or pull out their cookbook out and whip up a meal or two for you and your friends. The choice is yours!

Oh so you’ve never been to First Watch? Man are you missing out! You couldn’t want for a better place to meet up with friends. First Watch restaurants are known for their breakfast, brunch and lunch menu. No dinner items on their menu, they only open during the daytime, 7:00am- 2:30pm. I recently had the privilege of dining at First Watch with a couple of fellow bloggers, Jennifer Harris of Gluten Free Go To Guide and Rochelle Wharton of Culinary Veggout. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so it was great to connect again over food. Our host for the afternoon was Charles Rohling, the regional marketing manager for First Watch. He started our meal off with one of their more popular dishes, Avocado Toast. It’s their thick cut multi grain toast topped with fresh smashed avocado, olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt and served with two basted eggs. (In the cookbook they walk you through how to recreate all of the ways they cook eggs in the restaurants). They were even able to create the dish with gluten-free bread for Jennifer, who eats gluten free.We then got to try their Million Dollar Bacon, which was sweet and spicy all at the same time. But not Culinary Veggout because she’s vegan. Now I am not one for green drinks as I prefer to eat my veggies than drink them, but their Kale Tonic won me over. I was slow to sip but once I did I wanted to take it home with me. At this point you would think that was all they had for us but no, there was still more food being brought out. Next was the Parm Hash . . . potatoes, Italian sausage, onions, crimini mushrooms, tomatoes, parmesan, mozzarella, and fresh herbs topped with two eggs. Doesn’t that sound delicious? I know it does because it was. And how can we not sample the lemon ricotta pancakes? So we did. You can’t go wrong with a meal at First Watch.

I was very content with the meal they provided but First Watch is a very generous company. They provided each of us with a copy of their new cookbook. You know I had to put that to good use. I re-created their BLTE sandwich with my take on their Million Dollar Bacon. It tastes even better than it looks. And we all know that it looks damn good. When you get a chance please check out your nearest First Watch location. And if you want to re-create some of their dishes, make sure to pick up a copy of the cookbook. Once you’ve had a First Watch meal and made wonderful memories make sure you let me know what you think. What’s your favorite dish? Did you make something out of the cookbook? I’d love to know.

Until next time . . .

~The Chef In Pearls