‘Brunch’
Courtyard Kitchen in Santa Monica is not in a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. In fact, it is actually in a courtyard, which makes the restaurant itself pretty unique even if it’s name is simply a description of what it is. It was said to have a solid brunch, so I found myself all the way on the west side of town at an ungodly hour hoping to eat some sort of culinary revelation.
In Los Angeles, there are supposedly really only two breakfast burritos. One is at the Corner Cottage in Burbank and the other is at either of the two Lucky Boy locations in Pasadena. I visited the newer location on Walnut Street and vowed to take down the “Famous” burrito (it’s literally the name of the burrito).
I have always been a fan of downtown LA’s Grand Central Market. And while the place is flush with old school spots that I have reviewed in the past, there are now new school spots intermingling with the old in perfect harmony. One of these goes by the name of Eggslut. How it got this name may forever be a mystery (well, at least the “slut” part), but it is undoubtedly a hit that draws crazy lines on the weekends at prime brunch hours.
Good Microbrew and Grill in Silverlake is a bit presumptuous. First, with a name like that there is an implication that the place is good. Then it makes you think they make their own brews. The grill part I have no qualms with. Presumptuous or not, I decided to make the place my brunch destination on one fine Saturday.
MB Post (or Manhattan Beach Post to some) has long been a spot I wanted to get to. Two years in Pittsburgh derailed those plans temporarily, but I was glad to find out upon my return to the West Coast that MB Post had not shuttered after a brief trendy phase. This meant that it was truly a place worth visiting and we decided to make a “Bangin’ Brunch” (their words) out of it.
It can probably be said that nearly everything on the East Side is trendy, essentially catering to the crowd of hipsters that have overtaken Echo Park, Silverlake and Los Feliz. One of these places is a restaurant called Ostrich Farm in Echo Park that has no ostriches to be found, but it does have a brunch.
Eggs Benedict is pretty well-known for being one of the greatest breakfast creations of all time. Yet, it is not without faults. After all, the English muffin is probably the worst of all muffins and not even great in the realm of breads. But M Street (a Lettuce Entertain You place) in Santa Monica has a solution for this nonsense: hash browns.
I don’t often go out for breakfast, and even less so when I’m on vacation, but Rincon was different. For one, the free breakfast offered by our hotel was slightly less than terrible and for two, there was a breakfast spot known to be one of the best overall restaurants in Rincon. Thus, we made our way up to the top of a very scary hill to breakfast it up at The English Rose.
The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester is home to a restaurant called the Brookshire Restaurant, which apparently has one of the best brunches in the metro Detroit area, so we set out there to finish off a whirlwind Detroit food weekend that took me to more than one place I had never even considered visiting back when I was a Michigan resident.
Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dive’s is about as close as it gets to an unvegan TV show. This, of course, does not mean any endorse any part of Guy Fieri, but the show nonetheless has been my guide on a number of food expeditions. The most recent of which is Kelly O’s, which can be found in Pittsburgh’s North Hills or in the Strip District. Considering the Strip District is generally a better and closer place to go, there I went for breakfast.