Eat & Drink This Now: Beachwood BBQ’s Southern-Inspired Breakfast

I’m not sure what is more surprising: that I’m sitting at Beachwood BBQ’s bar at 8:45 a.m., or that I have two beverages in front of me. One is a Funkmosa, which blends a Belgian-style sour ale from Beachwood Blendery with orange juice, and the other is a French press filled with fresh coffee, accompanied by an hourglass and an empty mug. “When the sand runs out, your coffee is ready,” explains Beachwood co-owner Gabe Gordon.

You won’t find a glass carafe sitting on a burner as you do at the usual breakfast joints. “How hard is it to get fresh coffee at a place that serves breakfast?” he fumes, perturbed by the idea. As you plunge your own French press and fill your mug with what the menu calls PMA (Positive Morning Attitude), a quick glance at the rest of your options reveals a lot of hard decisions.

“The menu took over a year to develop,” Gordon says. “We didn’t want to do it unless we knew it was going to be rad.” Breakfast at the Seal Beach location revolves around fun plays on Southern-style staples—instead of chicken and waffles, think chicken and churros. Craving eggs Benedict? The Beachwood version uses house-made hush puppy tostones, smoky ham, marinated green tomato, a 63-degree sous vide egg, and a citrus hollandaise that pairs perfectly with the Funkmosa.

If you’ve followed Beachwood’s lineage, seeing something like a Funkmosa shouldn’t be a surprise since the Belgian-inspired Beachwood Blendery has taken off with wild, funky and sour beers. “The beer that goes in the Funkmosa is super-fun,” Gordon says. “It was basically an overreaction to how our program was going over at the Blendery. . . . We made a bunch of quick sours that went way overboard, and they’re perfect with fresh-squeezed OJ.” Instead of fruiting a sour, the drink is made behind the bar, with the result creamy, frothy and worthy of a second.

I meant to order biscuits and gravy, but somehow, “smoked garlic buttermilk biscuit sandwich,” is what I spoke—and I’m glad I did. The dish is served open-faced with two bug-eyed, sunny-side-up eggs and an applewood-smoked bacon smile. Pimento cheese and tomato marmalade round out the bite, and the fruit makes a great garnish for your Funkmosa.

“We wanted to push the bar as far as we could with breakfast,” Gordon says. It seems the menu, available daily from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., was designed with a nap in mind. Luckily, the caffeine program has enough juice to balance things out. In addition to the French press PMA, a single-origin Ethiopian roast that was aged in Merlot barrels is available. If you want things a little fizzy and cold, a couple of nitro pours are offered, including Dark Side of the Noon.

And let’s not forget Beachwood’s countless awards for coffee-infused house beers, as Mocha Machine and System of a Stout are just two brunch-worthy beverages in a glass.

Beachwood BBQ, 131 1/2 Main St., Seal Beach, (562) 493-4500; beachwoodbbq.com.