Currently debating whether I should take an aspirin, drink some tea and find the will to live or just voluntarily expire right here. Not gonna lie, it’s a really, really, really tough choice right now. Should have been drinking water for an hour last night instead of plowing into those chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds. Why?! If you are plagued by the same misfortune as myself, you know that after your recovery brunch, it’s such as hell gonna be a lot of effort to kick-start dinner. Table Fifty-Two executive chef and Common Threads founder, Art Smith, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule of cooking and rescuing babies from burning buildings to share some tips on how to save those scraps.
“Usually, brunch is mostly carbohydrates, so that immediately says casserole to me. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a casserole, honey! Often, I’d take left over croissants and make a bread pudding, or chicken and make a strata.”
Well, tickle me pink! Chicago Brunch Blog has just received a nomination for Best Indie Restaurant Blog on the TOC 2010 Eat Out Awards. Finally, I can live out my dreams of internet homecoming queen. I mean, just to be nominated! If you love brunch, blogs or voting, please take a moment to vote for the Chicago Brunch Blog. Have you done it yet? No? Do it now.
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, chocolates and stimulating the economy. It’s also a time of utter despair and reevaluating your biological clock for those of us without someone special. I almost completely forgot, were it not for the friendly UPS man reminding me that no one will be sending me flowers this year. Why doesn’t anyone love me?
Luckily, February 14 falls on a Sunday this year thanks to the Gregorian calendar, which means plenty of brunch options for lovers being in love and singles crying 99 teardrops.
As mentioned in last week’s weekend brunch report, Denny’s is in the process of slamming America with free breakfast from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Here’s what you do:
1. Walk into Denny’s.
2. Be prepared to wait because there’s a lot of unemployed, hungry people with all the time in the world to wait.
3. Order a Grand Slam because it’s free.
4. Eat it.
5. Feel slight remorse, but then feel comfortable with your decision.
6. Tip your waitress and GTFO.
If you missed today’s Grand Slam deal, IHOP will be hooking up patrons with a free short stack of pancakes on Feb. 23 for National Pancake Day from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Proud to bring you another exciting installment of user-submitted videos showing Chicago Brunch Blog readers just like you eating breakfast and lunch! Today’s video comes from Justin Cheng of local dreampop band, Panda Riot, eating a bowl of soybeans and listening to Leonard Nimoy cover Seeger on a Saturday morning alone in front of his computer. That’s right, people. This is the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle in full-swing. Thanks Justin!
Winter is here, have you harvested? If not, try saving some of those brunch leftovers for evening hibernation. Today’s Scraps come from Blackbird Chef de Cuisine, Michael Sheerin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blackbird doesn’t “do” brunch, but that doesn’t mean Sheerin can’t whip up some tasty ideas — admittedly for more advanced home cooks.
“I’d have to say that generally brunch is for leftovers. Most restaurants try to make sausage from meat scraps and use left over veggies in quiches. I’ve always thought about a great way to reinvent ‘hash’ would be [with] rye gnocchi, rabbit chorizo and a slow poached egg.”
Was this week as long for you as it was for me? This is what happens when you have a vitamin D deficiency on account of living in a gray winter wasteland. Moving the limelight away from another exciting episode of Carly’s Irrelevant Health Issues, it’s back to focusing on more important issues: brunch. But first, a quick moment of Lost coffee talk: What if Sayid if alive on account of Jacob possessing his body a la evil John Locke? Will parallel world Jack be less annoying than castaway Jack? And why won’t they kill off resident Island ho, Kate? dun dun dun LOST. Stick that on your English muffin and eat it.
Saturday is so close, yet so far away (Photo: Carly Fisher)
Here we are, back in the saddle again with another weekend of plowing through a bottle of aspirin and resorting to the loving embrace of a fluffy omelet. So many brunch spots, so little time. Here is where to brunch this weekend.
User-submitted YouTube videos are the virtual love equivalent of having your name tattooed on someone’s neck. So, please continue to film your intimate moments over breakfast and lunch. Fun activity: position your laptop across from you as you eat lunch and it will almost be like you are never alone! Doing this in public adds extra points.
Today’s video comes from Steve G., who is washing down his lunch with a frosty glass of milk and listening to some sad indie music at a cafe. Thanks, Steve!
An ingrained Midwestern privilege and ultimate brunch benefit is the ability to head out in the remnants of last night’s disaster for a nourishing mid-day meal. But when day turns to night, do you really want to put in the effort to “get it to together” for dinner? Of course not. So, instead of kicking your leftovers to the curb, Big Jones’Executive Chef Paul Fehribachoffers some Southern hospitality on how to salvage scraps:
“Here’s a Southern classic you can make with leftover grits. Almost any other savory leftover from brunch could be added as flavoring, such as chopped up sausage, shrimp, green tomatoes, even chopped up leftover omelets or hash browns. The key is to not use more than 1 cup of add-ins because the spoon bread will become too heavy to poof up well. The more finely chopped the add-ins are, the better the result.
More flavorful add-ins such as bacon or sausage should definitely be used more sparingly. A couple leftover strips of bacon or a sausage patty would be about perfect.”
Fehribach’s recipe for Spoon Bread with Grits after jump.
Currently debating whether I should take an aspirin, drink some tea and find the will to live or just voluntarily expire right here. Not gonna lie, it’s a really, really, really tough choice right now. Should have been drinking water for an hour last night instead of plowing into those chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds. Why?! If you are plagued by the same misfortune as myself, you know that after your recovery brunch, it’s such as hell gonna be a lot of effort to kick-start dinner. Table Fifty-Two executive chef and Common Threads founder, Art Smith, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule of cooking and rescuing babies from burning buildings to share some tips on how to save those scraps.
An ingrained Midwestern privilege and ultimate brunch benefit is the ability to head out in the remnants of last night’s disaster for a nourishing mid-day meal. But when day turns to night, do you really want to put in the effort to “get it to together” for dinner? Of course not. So, instead of kicking your leftovers to the curb, 
