Review Published in "Tallahassee Democrat"
Ashby Stiff: Brunch is top-notch at these spots
By Ashby Stiff
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are ready finds around town. But nailing down a locus for Sunday Bloodies, Benedicts and beignets? That's something else again.
Lately we've been brunching around, beating the bush for some Sunday suggestions. The first of our findings, this morning's pair, seem to offer something for everyone.
Another Broken Egg Cafe, 3500 Kinhega Drive, 907-3447. Sunday breakfast, brunch or lunch from 6:30 a.m. till 2 p.m. Major credit cards and local checks accepted.
The Egg just about wrote the book on breakfast, brunch and lunch. These are the meals it serves, every day except shuttered Monday. And it makes darned good work of them.
Does that way-out location in Killearn Lakes stop the crowds from coming? Lawdy, no. From the size of last weekend's turnout, you'd think the Egg was giving away Beemer convertibles.
Does the expected half-hour wait at Sunday brunch scare 'em off? Uh-uh. Folks might have a complimentary cup of coffee, as we did, then kick back in the pristine white lakeside pavilion and watch two guys, in a well-offshore rowboat, reeling in a big, flopping silver beauty. The seating hostess had to shout twice from the doorway to get our attention.
Is the absence of distilled spirits a problem? Not with brunchables like these as compensation. Yes, the Bloody Marys are virgin, but the Mimosas ($3.25) and champagne ($2.95) are real.
In pleasant, lake-view dining rooms, patrons pore over catalog-sized menus featuring dozens of regionally and internationally flavored Scramblers and Omelettes ($6.25 to $8.95). They worry over choices between Gourmet Muffins, feathery, powdered-sugared New Orleans Beignets, warm, gooey Monster Cinnamon Rolls and Biscuits & Gravy.
Image-dazzled eyes wander from Eggs Benedict, to Huevos Rancheros, to Southern Benny ($6.95), an opus starring two eggs (your way) and two sausage patties, smothered in country gravy atop an English muffin. Then they turn to a plethora of fruit-and-nut topped Pancakes, Belgian Waffles and French Toast ($4.65 to $6.25), including an awesome Bananas Foster edition of each, for $6.95.
On our latest Sunday visit, we went straight for favorite Eggs Blackstone ($7.95), a variation of Benedict that adds grilled tomato and substitutes brittle bacon pieces for the usual layering of ham or Canadian bacon. Talk about good!
Our guest declined the offered Blueberry, Blueberry-Pecan or -Walnut, Banana-Pecan and Apple Cinnamon or Granola flavors in favor of a bespoke trio of plain Pecan Pancakes. Her further request for cheese, rather than sausage or bacon, with the two accompanying eggs, was similarly accommodated. Talk about spoiling, and spoiled, restaurant patrons.
But Another Broken Egg Cafe bends over backward to please, in setting, menu selections and service. That's what makes brunching there a delight.
