Grown Up Kids Welcome at Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage
Written By: Priscilla Ng and Alana Aronson Bring Home the Bacon in Huntington Beach
Photography Provided By: Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage
Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage is not your typical American restaurant. They have iPad menus, open walls, the smell of the ocean just across the street, bacon on-the-go and savory entrees. If you’re feeling a little washed up or hungover, Saint Marc knows exactly what to recommend for you. With the ambience of a beachfront shack off the coast of Huntington Beach, comfortable couch seats, natural sunlight, fresh air, and an awesome circular bar, this will be your next home-front vacation spot.
That’s how I felt the minute I stepped in. Immediately, I was welcomed by smiling faces and swooped into my seat, which had the best view in the restaurant. What surprised me first were the individual iPad menus at every table. I could pick and choose dishes without having to wait for someone to take my order. It was instant and quick, with photos accompanying every option. Whether you like chatting with your waiters or would rather have some alone time, Saint Marc’s ambassadors understand both sides of it. If you just want a quiet meal with no interruptions, they get it. But if you want some company, they’ll be happy to speak with you as well and give you more details about their menu.
Jay Bogsinske, the executive chef, explained that Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage was not your typical restaurant in the sense of the standard crew of waiters, cooks, bartenders and busboys. They prefer a more wholesome system, where every staff member is formally recognized as an ambassador. They were each responsible for every duty in the restaurant. If help was needed at the bar, anybody could lend a hand, the same goes for the kitchen and everything else. Another nice touch is that whoever brings your food, is most likely the one who made it, seeing as each ambassador is also a chef.
Not only are they innovative and efficient, but their menu is exquisitely varied as well. They simultaneously function as a restaurant, bar, bacon bar, bakery and cheese affinage; they’re everything in one. The bacon snack bar is the restaurant’s way of introducing a new snacking concept, complete with bacon strip options wrapped up neatly to take on-the-go. It’s just as convenient as eating a churro.
If you’re a cheese lover, Saint Marc has over a hundred different international cheeses for you to choose from. They have amazing pre-set platters that are all individually customized so that each different cheese complements the other. The platters usually come with jams, nuts and vegetables as well. Now you’re probably wondering about the charcuterie. There is an entire separate platter just for your meats. It comes with four perfectly cooked strips of premium bacon that are all crispy on the outside, and surprisingly moist and soft in the inside. More nuts and veggies accompany these, as well as special mustards, salamis and hams.
But the best part is in the entrees and the circulating complimentary bread. A variety of breads are freshly baked throughout the day, and each hour, a new type. They keep it spontaneous and fresh, so you never get the same bread twice.
For an entrée, one of my favorites is the peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, hot off the grill. Bogsinske recommends this to all his patrons because there’s no doubt that all grown up kids will love ordering the gooey goodness from the kid’s menu. It’s for all ages, actually, and once people find out about it, they can’t stop ordering it. The secret here is very simple. The original recipe was completely homemade, and created by one of the chef’s aunts, making it an extra special kind of comfort food.
There are so many more dishes I’d love to recommend here, like the giant egg quiche, raw tuna served on a large hot brick of Himalayan salt, amazing French rolls, donut soufflés and fresh grapefruit cocktails served in the actual fruit. With over fifty unique items on their menu, it’s impossible to try everything at once. I’ll definitely be back for more.
Native Knowledge: One of the most memorable features at Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage is their newly introduced weekly Red Solo Cup Pong Tournament. Every Monday, from 7 p.m. until closing, guests can partake, at no cost, in an American tradition: pong tournaments! It’s not all games, though—Saint Marc’s deliciously concocted cocktails are only $5 during the event for participants, and prizes are available for the winning teams! The four-person, co-ed teams battle it out to be champions, with the tournament season starting in August. At the end of the pong-offs, the leading three teams will be awarded prizes. Still, only one will take home the title of Red Solo Cup Pong Champions! As if Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage hadn’t stolen our hearts with their menu alone, they take it one step further with this incredible addition.
Saint Marc Pub-Café, Bakery & Cheese Affinage
21058 Pacific Coast Hwy
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
714.3741101
Priscilla is a Southern California native who is studying English and Literary Journalism. Some of her favorite things to do are archery, traveling, and trying out new foods. Aside from school and writing for Locale Magazine, she is working on a young adult fiction novel and hopes to achieve her dream of publishing a book series.
