Libertine, Brunch - October 11, 2015
I wasn’t going to brunch this month. I’m saving up some money to donate to a few causes I believe in before the end of the year. But a friend that was having a tough weekend due to some little visitors in their new apartment didn’t have a brunch-mate on the weekend that they worked evenings. So I volunteered. On top of working, they’re also a full time student, just settling in to a new place, they needed a break.
It didn’t end up being just the two of us, their roommate and the roommate’s significant other ended up joining us, so we got to experience more food. When you’re with a group and a fan of different flavors, that’s always a plus.
A couple of us had dinner there the earlier in the week, so we steered clear of a few items that we’d already experienced and went for stuff we hadn’t sampled yet.
Whiskey Caramel Pecan Rolls with Vietnamese Cinnamon & Salted Caramel: Sticky, sweet, just slightly doughy in a good way. Very buttery with a nice subtle cinnamon.
Hash Browns with Cheddar, Onion, & Poblano Peppers: I’m not usually a hash browns fan, it’s one of my least favorite preparations of potatoes, and I’ve never been a huge potato fan to begin with. These are great though. Just enough crisp on the outside, a nice cooked center that isn’t underdone and not too starchy. The heat from the peppers was welcome, as was the creaminess and salt from the cheddar.
Breakfast Steak Burger on English Muffin with Crispy One-hour Egg, Cheddar, and Bacon: The crispy egg wasn’t what I expected from the description, but good nonetheless, the steak was alright, bacon solid.
Breakfast Sandwich with House-made Italian Sausage, Egg, Roasted Peppers, Aged White Cheddar, and Arugula on House-made English Muffin: My preferred of the two sandwiches we tried.
Jalapeño-buttermilk Fried Chicken and Bourbon-bacon Waffles with Chorizo Red-eye Gravy: Underneath the crust, the chicken was done perfectly, very moist and tender, the small waffles were very popular at the table. Not much of the chorizo red-eye gravy was used, but I really enjoyed the flavors.
Pancakes: Either our server was confused or we arrived at some weird moment when the daily special pancakes were unavailable. I hope it was the latter and not the former, because the daily special as reported on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday, some collaboration with Glam Doll Donuts, sounded amazing. Their classic buttermilk pancakes were good, and big, but I don’t know if I’d get them again, I might watch the special announcements and try to get in for one of those sometime.
Takeaways? The sandwiches should be halved at most, not quartered, it’s a mess trying to share it four ways by cutting, if you’re sharing it amongst that many, make sure pairs of you are okay sharing bites from the same half. The chicken and waffles is difficult to share 4 ways, 2 or 3 people max for that one would be much preferable. The on every menu, but made differently everywhere, Kickstarter cocktail is really good, I recommend it.