Slowly but surely, we're rediscovering Sunday brunch. And so is everyone else, as SideDoor demonstrated last month. Expanding from their bar to the greenhouse, they also feature artists, DJs and other merriment in addition to brunch one weekend a month. But our first priority is that favorite meal. Here are a few morsels craved during our research.
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A quartet of categories welcomed us: Starters, Sides, Plates and Sweets. We mulled over a beginning of Champagne berries and granola ($9), with wildflower honey and yogurt. Ultimately giving in to our croissant weakness ($3), they're served two to an order. We eagerly inhaled the drizzle of chocolate and custard interior. We could've ordered more, but needed precious room for our New Belgium Heavenly Feijoa Tripel. Goodbye Bloody Mary, full bar featuring inventive cocktails, beer and wine lists meant no boundaries for this brunch.
After that bit of happiness, we had to go savory. Skipping over corn flake-crusted bread pudding ($12), we contemplated Benedicts. Our dining companion took the initiative and ordered their “Green Eggs & Ham” take ($12). The neon Hollendaise gave his meal an eerie, radioactive glow. Thinly sliced charcuterie provided more than enough salt.
While many of their standard menu items were present, we forged ahead, going beyond chicken & buttermilk waffles ($16) and into crispy pork territory (Did you actually think we would skip out on pig?). Fried up hen egg, gravy and rice blanketed our strangely familiar dish. This was loco moco faking an English accent, and we just paid twice as much ($16) to have pork belly in lieu of hamburger meat! It was tasty, though we wished for more meat or better prepared rice.
Additional options included a seared salmon salad for $24, which might have been ordered if we actually ate salad for brunch. Or if we sat in the airy greenhouse, their black garlic, potato leek soup ($6) would help with any nip in the air. Though something tells us ordering our preferred cheese and freshly shaved charcuterie platter with a flute of bubbly would've made for an equally satisfying afternoon.
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A contributing writer for OC Weekly, Anne Marie freelances for multiple online and print publications, and guest judges for culinary competitions. A Bay Area transplant, she graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management from Cal Poly Pomona. Find her on Instagram as brekkiefan.