Diners & Dives: The Lowbrow Brunch

When I last wrote, I waxed poetic about my love of The Fancy Brunch (TFB). But it's not the end all, be all of brunch. In fact, many of life's greatest surprises are found in diners and dive bars. There's more than a few hole-in-the-wall joints, breakfast focused diners, and (most surprisingly) dive bars that serve up a great brunch on the weekends.

Nova: The low end of lowbrow brunching

In San Francisco, possibly the most brunch inundated city in the world, the lowbrow end of the brunch gamut is filled with a ton of places where you can have a quality brunch without spending much money. What are some of the indicators of a good lowbrow brunch joint?

Price is clearly an issue. If you're paying more than $10 for an entree but having a lowbrow brunch, you've likely wandered into a casual dining purgatory (e.g., a Chili's). I suggest running as fast as you can, unless you enjoy your brunch with a side of screaming baby. Worse, you may have found yourself in a Hipster Hell, which is a place that over charges for shitty food based on the premise that the venue is cool. I would also suggest running. A proper lowbrow brunch shouldn't cost more than $20 per person including drinks and a small plate to start.

Seoul Patch's Brunch Menu

Lowbrow brunches also have a high correlation with ethnic food. Do not fear the lowbrow ethnic brunch: it is a testament to the multi-culture quilt that is American society... And I fucking love lowbrow fusions. The breakfast burrito is only the tip of the cheap ethnic brunch iceberg. In San Francisco you can find lowbrow brunch visionaries such as Punjab, the confusingly named Chinese food restaurant that doesn't serve Indian food but does serve a free mimosa with brunch (and only $2 for each mimosa after), and Seoul Patch Korea, a popup that dishes out Korea street food for brunch at places around the city including Dear Mom in the Mission and The Window in Soma. But I digress, despite their high overlap on a venn diagram, this post isn't about ethnic food or popups.

Full of kitsch: Friendly Toast, Cambridge.

The venue itself should be a great tip off as to weather or not you're having a lowbrow brunch. Are you in a bar? Is someone in the place already drunk? Is the place covered in kitsch? Does it feel like you're eating at a creepy old lady's estate sale? Did you just order from the window of a truck? Those easy questions to ask that will very quickly illuminate the classiness of your brunch.

Diners, the hillbilly cousin to the café, are often home to breakfast, which bodes well for their ability to have a solid brunch offering. In San Francisco, Dottie's is a plastic menu diner and breakfast/brunch mecca -- despite it's claims of being a properly accented café. The pancakes are delicious, the specials are messy, the chairs fairly uncomfortable, and presentation means very little at Dottie's. All that really matters is serving up a good, quality meal for relatively cheap.

And that, friends, is the essence of the lowbrow brunch. It is something to be enjoyed, loved, and most of all experienced. Don't be afraid of finding yourself on the wrong side of the tracks for a delicious brunch.

...Oh, and for the record, my personal favorite lowbrow brunch in San Francisco is hands down Red Door Cafe.