An iconic San Francisco restaurant has opened a new branch in Walnut Creek, California—and it’s serving bacon for over seven dollars per slice.
Sweet Maple serves elevated American breakfast food. Its original location is in San Francisco’s Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood, and the restaurant has locations in swanky spots around the Bay Area and Southern California, including Palo Alto, Cupertino, and Santa Monica.
Last month, Sweet Maple opened its first branch in the East Bay, in downtown Walnut Creek. It’s located at 1523 Giammona Drive, right across from the Honda dealership and next to Skipolini’s Pizza.
I stopped by to check Sweet Maple out. But in truth, I was there for one item: the chain’s iconic Millionaire’s Bacon.
$7 Per Slice
Here’s my video review.
Sweet Maple’s Millionaire’s Bacon is so famous that they’ve trademarked the name. The bacon was featured on the show United States of Bacon on the Discovery Network and has been written up in food publications across the country, as well as local sources like The Chronicle and SiliconValley.com.
Inc.com described it as “Sweet, savory, thick, the s***nizzle for dizzle.”
Millionaire’s Bacon is cut thick and then slow-cooked for hours with brown sugar and pepper. That makes it spicy, sweet—the perfect mix of smoky and fatty.
This extremely famous bacon will set you back $15 for two slices. Yes, you do kind of have to be a millionaire to afford eating here!
I personally stopped by Sweet Maple and got the bacon to go, then ate it as if it were street food while wandering around downtown Walnut Creek.
So, the question is—how does it stack up?
Worth the Price?
I’m here to confirm that the Millionaire’s Bacon at Sweet Maple is indeed delicious. The sweetness hits you right away, with a sticky crust on the extra-thick bacon that tasted to me more like maple syrup than brown sugar.
The spice builds slowly, reaching a level that’s not overwhelming but lets the flavor of the bacon linger far longer than it otherwise would.
It reminds me a lot of Ayesha Curry’s candied bacon, though with a bit less crispiness and a bit more fattiness due to the thickness of the slices.
Although my fingers got very sticky, Millionaire’s Bacon made surprisingly good street food. Yes, it’s expensive—but after eating just two slices, I felt like I’d had a full breakfast.
Again, this is much thicker than normal bacon, so while the seven-dollar-per-slice price seems a bit absurd, you are getting a decent amount of food.
Yes, There’s Other Food
Beyond the bacon, Sweet Maple serves a large menu of classic brunch items.
When I stopped by, there was an Aston Martin and a high-end Porsche parked outside. That gives you a sense of the clientele—and the prices.
An omelet here will set you back anywhere from $20 to $34, and you can expect to spend $17 for two eggs.
Sweet Maple also serves breakfast classics like Eggs Benedict, as well as lunch items, including burgers, salads, and more.
These are priced more in line with Bay Area standards—around $20 to $30 for a burger, depending on what you add to it.
Alongside these items, Sweet Maple offers specialty Olympus coffee, Tea Forte tea, and a variety of morning cocktails. The interior at the Walnut Creek location is lovely, with fireplaces lining the walls and sleek, modern tables.
They’ve clearly done a lot of work to make what is admittedly a strange location in the city—tucked into an alleyway behind a car dealership—feel classy enough to warrant their very San Francisco prices.
I would definitely come back to Sweet Maple, probably for a business brunch or to impress an out-of-town guest.
I might also stop by for a bit more of that seven-dollar-a-slice bacon. The other items on the Sweet Maple menu look great, but really, it’s the Millionaire’s Bacon that should draw you in.
Maybe you don’t need to drive that Aston Martin to feel like a millionaire. You just need to shell out 15 bucks and wolf down a plate of this unctuous, expensive, and wildly delicious specialty.
Website: Sweet Maple
If you check it out, let them know the Bay Area Telegraph sent you!
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Fred’s Coffee Shop in Sausalito has served Millionaire’s Bacon for years! 2 slices for $8.
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Toast
wheat, white, rye, sourdough, English muffin
$3.50
Bacon (3) or Breakfast Sausage (3)
$5.00
Millionaire’s Bacon (2)
$8.00
Chicken Apple Sausage (2) or Bockwurst Sausage