Wednesday, March 12, 2014

chicago food bloggers brunch at public house


brunch is, hands down, my favorite meal. i love the laidback pace, the "show up whenever" attitude, and the fact that bloody marys and mimosas are encouraged as side dishes. naturally, i jumped at the chance to try out public house's new brunch menu. i'd actually never been to public house before. i'd heard it's a good place to grab dinner and drinks in river north, but it never struck me as a brunch place. i'd had dinner in the area several times before, but i generally grab brunch on the north side. however, i am never one to say no to (free!) brunch, so i made plans with logan of windy city living and we met downtown to sample the new menu.

they don't call it the windy city for nothing.

we arrived fashionably late (so we missed the chef describing how he created each dish) but we wasted no time sampling the new menu. i loved the presentation. there were full-size portions of each dish for us to photograph (see below) and adorable smaller sizes of the dishes for us to try, so that we could have a bite or two of everything. unfortunately, i caught a stomach bug the night before and couldn't fully enjoy all the incredible looking samples. that just means i'll have to go back (with a large group) so that i can try the crab cake benedict and chicken and waffles!

chicken and waffles

this looked amazing. i've never had chicken and waffles before and i hope my first time is at public house. they came with maple syrup and hot sauce on the side. i honestly would probably mix the two sauces and then drizzle it over both.

cinnamon sticky bun

while i generally prefer savory brunch options, if someone offered to go halfsies on this with me, i would not say no.



doughnut fried french toast

i managed to indulge in the mini doughnut version of this. aside from being ohsocute, the inside was spongy and soft. the sauces complemented the texture, and the perfectly ripe and robust berries added just enough sweet moistness.


granola parfait

i gobbled this right up. i could only really stomach fruits, and this was just perfect. the berries were juicy and that sauce they used in the second layer... wow. it was the perfect consistency: thin without being runny. sweet, without being saccharine. just. wow. i could tell it was freshly made and complemented the greek yogurt, berries, and granola. some people might disregard parfait, but this version is special. 

crab cake benedict

i am an eggs benedict junkie. it is always my go to when i grab brunch, and i've had all kinds of benedicts: smoked salmon, mexican, seafood, meat lovers, vegetarian. i had a bite of logan's and i can already tell i'll be ordering this when i come back for brunch. 

i would also like to note that the sample version of this dish was insane. they were served in mini cast iron pans and had teeny-tiny poached eggs on top. i mean, how?!




all in all, i was impressed with public house. before, i'd really only heard of it as being a popular bar in river north. the brunch menu is a solid list of staples. nothing super new (though that doughnut fried french toast and monster huge sticky bun... damn), but sometimes simple done right is better than a bunch of extravagant choices.  

if you close your eyes and point your finger at the brunch menu, you have a 100% chance of landing on something you'll enjoy. 

even though i wasn't feeling 100%, i still had a good time. i just wish i had been able to eat more of the dishes! this was my first official "food blogger event" and it was nice to finally be surrounded by a group of people who appreciate taking pictures of food as much as i do.  

thank you chicago food bloogers & public house for hosting such a fun event. i'll be in the area this weekend for st. patty's day and might have to stop by for a pint or two.

note: my brunch experience at public house was complimentary but all opinions expressed herein are my own. 

Public House is located at
400 N State St
ChicagoIL 60654

will you be checking out public house for brunch? what are your favorite places to grab brunch, either local or far away?

xx.


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