Relative newcomer Brunch is bright and sunny with cheery wait staff, yellow walls and an interesting smattering of alcohol-enhanced breakfast drinks (such as Spiked Coffee). Big groups take well to the spacious dining room, which occupies a corner address at Plankinton and Wells streets, opposite of the Germania Building, which was recently renovated to include upscale apartments. For Downtown Dining Week, Brunch is dishing out a standard tri-level selection allowing you to mix and match comfort food with more sophisticated options, if a crepe is your idea of sophistication (and it’s mine).
With Brunch not open for dinner, the lunch menu is pretty substantial. The starting layer includes a choice of breakfast tacos with pork carnitas – which are a brunch unto themselves – a fruit plate or sweet potato waffle fries graced with bourbon syrup. The entrées take you in a number of different directions: option one is an avocado and fried egg BLT grenade of yum; option two is a more comfort-food feeling Wiscomelette with bratwurst, carmelized onions and cheese curds; and option three is a Waldorf grinder with chicken, green onions, red grapes, green apple and garlic aioli.
Dessert includes a savory Arrested Development reference, a Bluth Banana Pancake that incorporates banana custard, fresh bananas, chocolate chips and chocolate syrup. A more conservative option is the reasonably-sized apple cinnamon biscuits or, here comes the crepe, a crepe filled with Valentine coffee-infused mascarpone cheese. At Brunch, you can also order a do-it-yourself-at-the-table French press coffee for $5.
Downtown Dining Week runs through Friday June 8.
