Gigi’s Cafe owner Teresa Gee sells bakery items at the restaurant’s outdoor patio.
Two Burlingame restaurants have been named to Yelp’s Top 100 U.S. Restaurants for 2023, with Gigi’s Cafe coming in at 14 and Curry Hyuga finishing at 55.
Gigi’s Cafe at 111 Anza Blvd., Suite 111, is known for its large sandwiches from chef and owner Teresa Gee, a Burlingame local. Gee initially found out from a friend and thought she would be near the bottom of the list since she was just a cafe, scrolling higher and higher until she found herself in the top 15.
“I called my mom crying because I didn’t expect to be so high,” Gee said. “I was blown out of the water, and I am so proud.”
She started baking at an early age and discovered it was her passion, and she graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2011 at 18. She began her culinary career in Miami, where she worked under Celebrity Chef Andrew Carmellini before working at Il Fornaio and as the pastry chef at Oracle in Redwood Shores. She opened the business in 2017 and focused on sandwich and breakfast items for the office workers near the Bay, keeping up to date on the latest food trends. The most popular sandwich is the Turkey Avocado Smash, along with the Tech Bro, which features pastrami, turkey, bacon, pepper jack cheese, chipotle spread, mayo, mustard, jalapeños and veggies.
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“I truly love what I do, and coming to work every day makes me feel happy,” Gee said.
Other items include breakfast burritos, croissants, salad, coffee, tea and homemade desserts. Gee said the shop is seen as a hidden gem because it is in an office park away from the main shopping areas, but she noted she is starting to get more traffic since the Yelp list came out. The shop is across the street from the Embassy Suites in the office building of Seabreeze Plaza. The pandemic took away a lot of her business, with offices closed and her industry tanking. She advertised more and did more selling through delivery and at farmers’ markets. She noted she could not have gotten the recognition without her customers and thanked everyone for their support over the last five years, noting she wanted to deliver fresh, tasty food for everyone.
Curry Hyuga at 1204 Broadway features Japanese curry and comfort food. All curry dishes come with shredded cabbage over rice, potato salad and fukujin pickles. Other items include Katsu-Don with options of chicken or pork, corn potage soup, and beef hayashi with rice.
Gigi’s Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Curry Hyuga is open Wednesday through Friday from 5-9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5- 9:30 p.m.
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