Devil Went Down to Memphis

The Philadelphia Inquirer's notorious food critic Craig LeBan had some kind words to say about the Memphis Taproom...
"Kimball's menu focuses on exploring regional American pub food using good, fresh ingredients and no-shortcut preparations." Sounds tasty, but screw that dude, we needed to find out for ourselves.

A crew of us, including several new Brunch Clubbers, headed to "Port Fishington" for our Memphis breakfast. We eventually all arrived shortly after 2pm. The place was hoppin' which is usually a good sign. Right off the bat the staff was cool, nice, and accommodating. They got our party of 7 seated as fast as possible and slapped some bloody marys on the table lickety split.

We all decided to kick off our brunch with a few orders of fried pickles. We we are so hungry that we dove right in as soon as the pickles hit the table and despite the warnings, none of us waited until they'd cooled off. Therefore, every single one of us burned the roofs of our mouths so severely that the skin peeled off. OUCH! Nevertheless, I think it was worth it...those pickles were damn tasty!

Fig 1:

On to breakfast!

Between the 7 of us we didn't order too many different dishes. The veg-heads were slightly disappointed because they were sold out of Chicken Fried Seitan... they opted for the "Egg-less omelet" while Justin, Patrick and I all opted for the "Tailgate Chilaquiles" and Alycia went for the "Pumpkin-Stuffed French Toast." I had big aspirations for this stuff and I wasn't let down but I wasn't blown away either. Everyone chowed down and seemed to enjoy their food but upon further investigation I came to find out that most everyone did not think the food was that incredible. The french toast was a bit dry, the egg-less omelet has a bizarre texture and was generally lacklustre and the chilaquiles was unlike most other versions of chilaquiles [though I found it really tasty!]. However, we all had a great time. The service was wonderful, the beer was abundant and it was a generally cool environment.

Besides, we didn't even get a chance to try their lunch or dinner menu! I have certainly NOT given up on the Memphis Taproom, in fact I can't wait to return and eat more.

Check out the Memphis Taproom online-- for directions, menus and other info:
www.memphistaproom.com

To Loie We Go-ie

This week's Brunch Club picked up after a one week hiatus [so sad!]-- this time Sister Beth threw in the suggestion of Loie Bistro in Rittenhouse.

We generally aren't a Rittenhouse Square group of kids, but we were drawn like moths to a flame to their bottomless Bloody Marys/Mimosas offer. So off we went in the freezing cold to Rittenhouse on Sunday afternoon...hey, it's worth a shot.

At first glance, Loie looked like the typical American-trying to appear vaguely French-Bistro, which can be inviting. However, I distinctly got the impression that the bar was usually inhabited by snooty Rittenhouse regulars and mixed with a few UPenn snot-rockets. But this is Brunch Club, so everyone gets an equal chance.

Their menu was not huge but was mostly satisfying to brunch-goers. Their claim to fame, and the reason we were lured in, is their $25 Brunch Prix Fixe which consists of a starter, a main "brunch dish" and either a bottle of champagne or bottomless Bloody Marys or Mimosas. [SOLD!] Almost everyone opted for the Prix Fixe and our choices were pretty much divided down the middle. Three of us started with a heaping bowl of oatmeal topped with blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup and served in majestic and rather royal looking bowl. It was delicious and so filling I thought I wouldn't be able to finish my main course.
The others opted for a salad which looked pretty standard, not expectional or unique but satisfying nonetheless.

On to the main course! I had Eggs Florentine which was oh-so tasty with a yummy parmesan crust on top and a side of fried taters. Brother Joey had his classic Steak n' Eggs, nice and bloody and seemed to enjoy it. [I think Justin had the same?!]

But everyone else opted for the omlette. I personally love omlettes and these were tasty however, they were the strangest looking omlettes I have ever seen and thus I find them suspect.

Picture a solid yellow disc [as Beth said, 'there is no white in this yellow!'], each one in the exact same dimensions despite the fact that they were on different plates. Now roll that disc up like a burrito and voila! you have the Loie Bistro omlette. It appeared as if they were not actually crackin' eggs back there but pouring some kind of egg-like stuff into an omelette mold then tossing in the specified insides [e.g. tomatoes, cheese, etc.]--it wasn't bad per se, just weird is all.

The service was top notch though! They waitress was cute, nice and never let our coffee get cold or our mimosas run out! A+!

All in all I could see a repeat to this location, particularly when I am feeling like being a midday lush on the cheap.



add Loie Bistro on myspace! www.myspace.com/loie215

Eating Up the Internet

Who doesn't love brunch?

Now you can get your brunch fix online, double time!

Visit our myspace page at www.myspace.com/philadelphiabrunchclub



MMMMMMMM TASTY!

Brunch Club Kicks off 09

Hello. Welcome to the Philadelphia Brunch Club, a month-old club founded by Philly's coolest kids who have nothing to do on Sunday afternoon except eat and consume midday booze. Not a bad scene, actually. And during our initial month as Brunch Clubbers, we've grown very attached to our Sunday morning soirees--it only seems appropriate to share them.

Here you will find "reviews" of our weekly brunch locations along with a soundtrack to our Sunday morning and maybe even a tidbit about our epic, always enthralling, brunch-time conversation.

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This week, January 4th, 2009: Ten Stone [21st and South Streets]


Upon first glance, Ten Stone really knew how to handle the brunch club. They gave us our own room attached to the bar, with a full sized pool table and roaring fire! Though none of us bothering using the pool table or watching the flat screen tv sporting events, we did use the pool table and fire place as a well of comedy-- so they did not remain idle.

The food however was pretty lackluster. Basic scrambled eggs, boring over greased breakfast potatoes and an extremely unspectacular menu. One of the best parts of brunch is the unique menu items that restaurants add for BRUNCH! on Saturdays and Sundays...Ten Stone didn't even try. One of the options on their brunch menu was "Nachos"-- not even special nachos, whatever that means. I don't know, it just struck me as b-o-r-i-n-g. Additionally, the rest of the clientle didn't seem to appareciate us much. For instance at the end of our nondazzling meal Brother Justin could no longer stand the horrible [I mean horrible] music being blasted too loudly through the speaker system. Three tracks from the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill were only mildly irritating but I think it must of been the wack-a-do soft-reggae-esque cover of the Cure's "Close to Me" that moved him to action. Under the pretense of searching out an ATM Justin charged into the barroom, located the [of course] digital jukebox where he immeadiateld downloaded SLYAER'S "Angel for Death."
Fig 1:

It was the best dollar he spent in that joint. It only took about 33 seconds before the complaints to the bartender resulted in our tunes getting SHUT DOWN or at least the volume was lowered. This, I found typical yet unfair considering how much garbage my ears were forced to endure whilst I shoveled in my scramabled eggs. Ten Stone would not be my choice for brunch [or hang outs of any kind] in the future however, their $2 mimosa was key.

Nice and tuned up on copious, inexpensive mimosas the Brunch Crew decided to brave the January cold and walk 4 blocks down the block to Grace Tavern to visit our pal Jamie and for some kick ass Bloody Marys.
Fig 2:


Mission Accomplished.

http://tenstone.com/