the TAIL END of brunch : Park & Sixth Gastropub

RER 4.2.14

After being put on the list for a table at another place, and driving in circles looking for something enticing enough for the sunny day, we stumbled on Park & Sixth Gastropub just in time for brunch. Relieved, we ordered the discounted brunch drinks— a sweet and strong bellini for me, and a sharp and generic mimosa for him, each $4.

The brief brunch menu had just enough, but the mix of the sophisticated and the comfortable struck me. The menu played to both tastes, creating an interesting aesthetic, almost as eclectic and precise as the décor.

RER 4.2.14

The brisket and fresh mozzarella sandwich came with a sweet little basket of fries. Its meat was tender and its mozzarella was stretchy on the toasty bread. The two elements melded, fused by cheese and grease.  However, the meaty au jus overwhelmed the sandwich, taking away from the classic execution of the slow cooked meat and the texture of the cheese. The fries, however, were absolutely delicious; crispy, soft in the middle, well seasoned and hot.

The duck confit hash dish was beautiful— a formed round mound of chunky hash, two white poached eggs, crowned with some delicate micro greens and a weeping dollop of chipotle hollandaise. When I went to puncture the poached eggs to let the rich yolk ooze over the duck and potato hash, there was no runny yolk just solid over cooked middle. Yes, I was disappointed, but I was ready to eat it without complaint. An off duty server noticed my discontent and mentioned something to the manager who came directly over to talk to me. She was extremely nice, and offered me a new plate, which I accepted.

RER 4.2.14

And I was so glad I did. These second poached eggs were runny and mixed with the large cut potatoes and stringy duck perfectly. It was rich and filling with a lovely flavor profile, ranging from the salty and fatty duck, to the creamy starchy potatoes, tangy slivers of cooked red peppers, and the smooth and spicy chipotle hollandaise. So rich and so luxurious, I could not finish it (please note: it was finished).

After a while and different servers checked in on us, we decided to get dessert, landing on the “chipwich” which included some chocolate chip cookies and salted caramel gelato. Our taste buds were ready for something ridiculously sweet after the intensely savory brunch we just had. We received tiny dessertspoons, only for our server to tell us that they had run out of the requested dessert. Great.

We left with a bad taste in our mouths, feeling like the service was lacking and the staff unsteady. Despite manager’s professionalism, the staff was super casual, chatting amongst themselves, and not so attentive. Maybe it was a shift change or we arrived at the tail end of brunch, but we were kind of forgotten. Unfortunately, that was the resounding memory we were left with, not the details of delicious food.

RER

4.6.14

RER 4.2.14

brunch MUNCH: Skinner's Loft

RER 11.24.13

This was our first time at Skinner’s Loft for brunch, but not our first time (see here and here). Despite our misgivings, poor first and second impressions, and the cold, we went for a brunch date.

Brunch looked pretty and was decent, but there was something mini about it. I am an eater, and this Sunday morningafternoon, I was hungry. There was no way around it. So once our sweet little pale of bread goodies came to the table, I pounced, eating three of the little biscuits with sweet butter and tiny jam and two of the dense blueberry muffin bites. The mini theme had begun. 

My good friend ordered the steak salad, which looked lovely, but also pretty standard. It came with caramelized onions and meaty Portobello slices and crispy shoestring fries. She opted out of the blue cheese, but reported that the steak was pretty good. This was definitely a good-sized salad, but its size was quite deceiving in terms of the other dishes. ($20)

 

TPA 11.24.13

My friend’s boyfriend ordered the sausage and egg pizzetta. It looked rustic, in that refined kind of way; misshapen dough with a mess of cheese and sauce topped with a pretty fried egg that oozed when he cut it. He said he liked the dough, but the whole time I was trying to figure out how that little thing was enough food for a grown man’s breakfast. The answer evaded me. ($9)

My boyfriend ordered the stuffed french toast which was tempting me since I saw the menu earlier that morning (he is a doll and ordered it under the pretense were sharing both our dishes). The two slices of bread was separated by a thin, barely there layer of mascarpone and some very toasted almonds. It was topped with some grilled peach and sweet blueberry crumble. Like, this was pretty, but there was hardly any flavor. The idea was lovely and luxurious, but the execution felt skimpy and inharmonious. It was just not a lot of food for the price, which resulted in dissatisfaction and the need for more food. Even though it was really two slices of bread and a few flourishes, I could not imagine eating much more of it without being horribly bored. I just wished it were a rounder breakfast (hashbrowns? Some fruit garnish? Something!). ($12)

 

TPA 11.24.13

The dish I chose might have been the most substantial and well rounded as it covered all the bases. It was a chorizo, black bean and potato hash, topped with some fried eggs, avocado and tortilla strips. I loved how everything mixed together in the little skillet, but somehow the green tomatillo sauce was not giving enough flavor to the soft potatoes and chunky bits of chorizo. This was the most robust meal, piling on the proteins and the starch. The tortilla strips added some fun texture, but there was still something missing. It was lacking heat, and a little feeling. ($12)

As much as people say they like the place, I still can’t get behind it. The brunch definitely tasted better than the dinners I have had in the past. Maybe the smaller menu allowed for more focus on each item. The portions were not quite large enough, so I might just hit the diner next time I’m super famished for brunch. 

RER

11.24.13

RER 11.24.13

BIG brunch punch : Sabrina's Cafe

JAR 1.11.13

We were supposed to have a third, but it was once again a party of two. My sister was going to join us for brunch. It was all planned, and then it was not. She even picked the place we would indulge in. When she could not go, she told us to still go, saying something about hearing it is the best.

So we went.

Sabrina’s Café (one of their locations) is a sweet little place in uptown Philadelphia, near to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses. The restaurant shares the ground floor of what was a University building. It once was a large Victorian home, many twists and turns and rooms. Some of this could have been modernization and re-purposing, but it felt old and lived in.

The menu had some of the classic brunch essentials, like french toast, scrambled eggs and omelets. But it was the daily specials sheet that had some of the more interesting offerings, from the savory end to the sweets. Because of the number of items on the regular menu, and that brunch special menu, it was extremely difficult to decide. We, like always, called on our server for help.

RER 1.11.13

I ordered a breakfast wrap, filled with fried white fish, scrambled eggs with black beans, topped by a pineapple salsa and a mound of sour cream. The spinach wrap was almost obsolete. It was impossible to pick up like a sandwich or a wrap, so the tortilla was aesthetic, binding for something that could not be contained. I was not thrilled with the seasoning within the brunch wrap. Some spice (Cumin maybe) did not blend well with the rest of the flavors. The white fish was breaded and fried. I believe it was one of the spices that was in the breading that put the whole dish off kilter for me. The fish on the inside was perfectly cooked, flaky and moist, but its crunchy exterior felt one sided. Black beans were burrowed within the fluffy scrambled eggs, formed like an omelet and folded complexly to fill the spinach wrap. The eggs, though, were a little over cooked to me, brown and almost dry. They were fluffy but flavorless and lifeless.

JAR 1.11.13

The plate was definitely overwhelming.  It was a lot a lot of food. On top of the giant breakfast wrap, there was a healthy mound of hash browns on the plate. These were delicious. The potatoes were just crisp enough on the outside, and just soft enough on the inside. Each cube still had some of the skin on it, and large enough to be almost two bites. There were translucent strands of sautéed onion weaving throughout the potatoes. It was nice and salty, seasoned, and hearty. I wanted so badly to focus my belly on the wrap, the eggs and the fish, but my fork kept returning to the hash browns.

JAR 1.11.13

My dining companion also opted for one of the special breakfasts, called Leo’s King Size Brunch (most of the dish names had some association to astrology and the horoscopes). This was a complete mix of the midday meal and breakfast. This lion sized meal included two poached eggs, a fried pork cutlet, and a resounding mound of root hash. This was all drizzled with a mustard mushroom gravy. It is even a mouthful to say. When I first looked at the description of this meal, I was not sure how all these disparate elements could combine and be cohesive. I had never really thought of eggs going well with pork, and pork going well with rutabaga, or mushrooms going well with mustard, but somehow, in the end it worked.

JAR 1.11.13

Each of the different parts was just as delicious on its own as with the other components. The poached eggs, though beautiful in concept, were a bit over cooked, thus limiting the delightful over spill of runny yolk. We were imagining the deliciousness that would have ensued had the poached eggs been just right. Runny yolk mixing with the colorful hash, coating the different roots and marrying the gravy… but it was all a dream.

JAR 1.11.13

The cutlet was much more tender than it looked, as the outside was crunchy and brown. The meat almost melted in the mouth and was flavorful, instead of grey and bland. Somehow the mushroom mustard gravy vanished on the meat and amongst the cubed root vegetables, though a mushroom would appear here and there, but no precise taste of the sauce was present to me. The rainbow of roots was just as delicious as the regular hash browns served at Sabrina’s café. Though some of the roots I was not enjoying, the combination and mixture was innovative, colorful, and hearty. These roots were just the right base for a king sized meal.

JAR 1.11.13

Because of our need to try it all, we ordered yet another menu item, this, though to share. After discussing our concern and qualm with our server when we were initially ordering, she eased our worries, and gave us a half order of the stuffed french toast. We were unsure about it since we were ordering other things, but she told us that the stuffed french toast is the reason why people come there. And she was right, it was pretty delicious. But, I am not sure if 1. I could eat a whole order on my own voluntarily and 2. If I really needed to have it again. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious—two thick slices of Challah, eggy and custardy, fused with a heavy dose of sweet cream cheese filling, topped by a fair dusting of powdered sugar, rounds of banana and sticky sweet syrup. But like most everything else, it was a lot.

Honestly, it was a great brunch spot, busy, friendly and satisfying. The portions were large, the combinations were different and varied, and the atmosphere was homey and quirky at the same time. Unfortunately, my innovative and interesting sandwich did not match its potential for me, and it makes me think that I should just stick to the basics if I ever visit Sabrina's Cafe again (which I would... mostly for a half portion of the stuffed french toast).

RER

1.11.13

RER 1.11.13