Unnatural Selection: Brunch at a Sports Bar

I grew up a 15 minute walk from Fenway Park, the oldest baseball stadium in the country and home of the Boston Red Sox. Two of my brothers worked in the food stands at Fenway as teenagers, so despite never having paid for a ticket, I went to a lot of Sox games as a kid, ate a lot of ballpark food, and collected quite a few autographs at the back gate of the players parking lot. Those are some of best memories of growing up, so it would be hard not to be a Red Sox fan.

Because my dad is a fan, I also grew up watching the Celtics in the post-Bird days when their seasons ranged from mediocre to terrible. Ever the immigrant, my dad never took to baseball but basketball's fast pace and universally understood premise appealed to him. I didn't appreciate his love of basketball until I realized that I had inherited his yell-at-the-screen style of zealous Celtics fandom. All that said, I am a sports fan -- an obnoxious Boston sports fan -- with a dirty secret: I don't really care for football.

With New England Patriots taking on the Giants (who defeated Pats in 2008) in Super Bowl 46 this year, it feels like I should care. So I'm committing myself to caring about the Super Bowl. To gear up for it, I'm going to watch the NFL Pro Bowl game this weekend. (Yes, I know it's a meaningless ratings grab game, but at least I'll know who all the players are.)

To get myself psyched up for the Pro Bowl, I'm going to have a thematically appropriate brunch at a sports bar this weekend. In many cities that might sound like a mythical beast, but here in San Francisco there are a lot of options for brunching surrounded by flat screens exclusively dedicated to airing sports. Given SF's love of brunch, it would be silly for sports bars with decent kitchens not to jump on the brunch band wagon in this city.

Although there are options, I have my doubts as to whether a sports bar can actually serve up a decent brunch, it just seems like such an unnatural pairing. Or is it? Sunday games are a time when people come together for bouts of daytime drinking and feasting, which is at the heart of every good brunch. Maybe the sports bar brunch is the next evolution of brunch, making it an acceptable meal for bros to eat together without the presence of a female. Or maybe it's a fad that won't take off: can sports bars with full kitchens capture enough of the trendy San Francisco brunch spenders to make it worthwhile?

And so, with low expectations but an open mind, the journey begins. Expect a full report soon.

The Follow Up: Birthday Brunch Brilliance

With a big thanks to good friends and the very accommodating Slow Club, I am pleased to say that my birthday was the best I've ever had. I had the grown up version of an 8 year old's party -- complete with paper party hats.

While my friends arrived early, I of course, was late (I had to pick up party hats!). Arriving in style donning a plastic tiara, the Slow Club's bar in the back of the restaurant made the perfect waiting spot for people who were making their way through jalapeno bloody marys when I walked in.

Our waitress was simply fantastic, sitting us as soon as I came in, joining in on a round of "Happy Birthday," and letting me put candles into every dish that came out  -- at one point, I blew out the candle on a birthday bloody mary.

Birthdays come buy once a year, and what better way to celebrate than with birthday bourbon french toast at brunch?

And, in case you missed it, here's my planning guide for birthday brunches.

Brunch About: January 12th 2012

This weekend is my birthday, so with that in mind here are some suggestions for festive places to brunch this weekend.

Frjtz Fries (Valencia location): With fairytale light fixtures and patterned walls, the decor is a permanent ode to an eight year old girl's birthday party. Frjtz's brunch menu is pretty extensive, offering up eggs with fixings and mixings 7-ways from Sunday and "Brazilian" style french toast if you're feeling sweet & adventurous.

Suppenküche: Get your daytime drinking on Bavarian style over *very* hearty sausage dishes. With a slightly rowdy atmosphere (if you bring it), it's a venue that even the manliest group of men will have a great time brunching. Oh, the vegetarian in your group will also have a few options, so don't worry that anyone will go hungry in meat heaven.

15 Romolo: A somewhat recent addition to the brunch scene, 15 Romolo is taking advantage of their culinary chops and cocktail mastery to bring you Punch Drunk Brunch (not to be confused with the Bruno's popup Brunch Drunk Love). Head to 15 Romolo to reat yo' self by getting a fancy drink to celebrate the finer things in life.

Been There, Brunched That: Brick House Cafe

This past Saturday was New Years Eve, which meant that restaurants, cafes and convenience stores everywhere were a gamble with their opening hours. Some places made sure to post on their Twitter, add a note to their website, or at least put a sign on their door. Farmerbrown's Little Skillet was not one of these places.  

We set out that morning with a game plan: order a boatload of biscuits & gravy (with scrambled eggs), chicken & waffles, and breakfast po' boys bring the booty home and enjoy with some homemade mimosas in a glorious, gluttonous New Years Eve brunch at home. Upon discovering it was closed, we were devastated but not about to give up on brunch, so we headed across the street to Brick House Cafe.

Brick House has the appeal of your best friend's lumberjack Canadian cousin: it's got big portions, a manly outdoorsy feel, and the American dollar goes a long way here. Seriously, the place is all about quantity -- the heaping piles of anything you order mean that even your best friend's lumberjack Canadian cousin isn't likely to clean his plate. I happen to have a soft spot for Brick House, probably because while the brunch menu is absolutely mediocre, the place is full of kitschy charm and it knows its strengths.

Nothing you order at Brick House is bad, but in the back of your mind you also know that you could find a more delicious version of the same dish somewhere else. The focaccia my smoked salmon benedict was piled on top of was a bit stale, yet still couldn't stand up to the innocuously unflavored hollandaise sauce. But the plentiful smoked salmon, which is house caught and smoked, makes up for those short comings. The toast served with my friend's Cowboy combo clearly came out of a bag, the cheddar sprinkled haphazardly on top of his scrambled eggs wasn't melted, but none of that seemed too bad given that he was served at least 4 eggs (not the 2 the menu claims), thick slabs of bacon and the total for his meal was $8.

The best part about Brick House? It's fun. The daily quiz question gives you a chance to get 25¢ off your coffee (debating the answer took over the conversation at our table though we got it wrong). You can be a bit loud, but the place isn't too overwhelming and noisy. Oh, and the mimosas are $3. 

Though I would suggest visiting for dinner instead of brunch, but don't miss out on the Brick House if you're around AT&T park.

Brunch About: January 6th 2012

San Francisco Brunch Suggestions for this weekend.

Straw: Kitschy, fun and delicious. Enough said. (Hayes Valley)

B Bar: They put their $12 bottomless mimosas on the menu, so now you don't have to be an insider to get daytime drunk at a reasonable price. (Soma)

Farmer Browns: Screw your New Years Resolution (it's been a WEEK already) and head to the Jazz brunch buffet on Sunday for all the fried chicken your heart can handle. (Civic Center)

Things I'd Like to Learn: How to Poach an Egg

I'm not a terrible cook nor am I a wonderful cook, I'm averagely somewhere in-between. When I cook for my friends who don't cook, they're wildly impressed. When I cook for or with my friends who can cook, they are never disappointed. And I'm pretty proud of how far my cooking skills have come. Growing up, pretty much everything in our kitchen came out of a box or a can that was often found on the dented/near expiration discount shelves in the back of Star Market. As a kid, I thought cooking was anything you heated on the stove or in the oven instead of a microwave.

I've figured out how to chop fresh vegetables, though they're never particularly uniform or pretty. I've learned that pouring oil into a scalding hot skillet is a terrible idea. And I'm damn proud of my chocolate cranberry cookies, which have won over co-workers coast-to-coast.

When it comes to the incredible, edible egg I can handle myself pretty well. I can scramble eggs (I'm also quite proud of my goat cheese, oyster mushroom & green onion scramble), fry eggs so that the yolk stays mostly runny, make awkwardly shaped omelettes, and even make a fritta.

But I can't make my favorite type of egg: Poached.

I tried once and wound up with a boiling pot of stringy whites with a glop of yellow. I made myself feel better by going out to brunch and ordering a benedict, full well knowing I couldn't replicate the soft yolky perfection on my my plate. Now I'm ready to try again. I'd go as far as to say that it's my New Year's resolution.

I am going to learn to poach a perfect egg this weekend. With Alton Brown as my guide, I will learn and then use my powers to make the best darn smoked salmon Benedict that I've ever tasted.  Wish me luck.

Brunch Etiquette: Birthday Brunches

I almost always cry on my birthday. And not always because I'm sad -- at least 50% of the time I cry because I'm happy. Crying is not a particularly special phenomenon for me  (I cry every time I watch Love Actually or when the Boston Celtics lose a post season game), and since birthdays are rife with either disappointment or pleasant surprises, it's not shocking that I often find myself crying. That said, I have made it a rule to hide on my birthday.*

But not this year. This year I am going to do something that I love with people that I like a lot: Brunch.

There are different options for having Birthday Brunch, here's a basic break down:

• The At Home option, which entails me cooking and cleaning more than I want to on any day let alone on my birthday.
• The Private Room at a Restaurant option, which entails me spending more money on people I like a lot than I'd be willing to spend on people I love.
• The Standard Reservation at a Restaurant option, which is the perfect balance of choosing where & when without the clean up, cooking or cost.

While there's likely to be a few hiccups (waiting to be seated, dealing with the bill, etc), I'm planning a standard reservation brunch for a group of 10+ people at an undisclosed venue. After all, what better way to celebrate me than by having people come to a restaurant, sing me Happy Birthday, and pay for their own food?

Once this birthday brunch actually happens in a few weeks, I'm going to revisit the topic, but a few tips on planing a standard reservation birthday brunch for yourself:

• Get a head count before you make a reservation. You don't want to modify a large reservation multiple times, especially at the last minute. 
• Make a reservation early. It's brunch in San Francisco (or any other major US city nowadays), the closer it is to the date, the fewer options you'll have.
• If you have special requests, accommodations or want to pre-purchase something for the group, call ahead. Not an email, not a comment on the reservation form. An actual phone call.
• If you do pre-order/purchase or something for the group, give your credit card when you call so it can be charged ahead of time separate from the group bill.
• Ask people to bring cash if you're going to be splitting the bill. 

I'm debating whether or not to add "bring party hats" to the suggestions list, though for now I'll hold off until I see how they go over...

*How do you hide on your birthday? Easy, make your birthday invisible and disable your wall on the Facebook, so the few friends that remember your birthday without a reminder can't write an impersonal note to the world congratulating you on living another year. When you're at work, field all phone calls from family and friends in private, do not open any packages you receive in the office. Staying home sick is also an effective tactic.

Scenic Scene: Axis Cafe's Bland Brunch

I love taking brunch suggestions so even when I have somewhere in mind to brunch, if someone says "you've got to try this place," I usually have to try that place. This was the case with Axis Cafe & Gallery. A quick Yelp scan didn't dissuade me, the nebulous 3.5 rating zone always leaves me curious about a place -- it might be good or at worst completely unremarkable.

Axis Cafe is, by all appearances, the perfect brunch spot.
 The high ceilings and spacious seating make it a great place to go with a friend for a long conversation. Or there's no shame in bringing your laptop to Axis and working over brunch in one of the comfortable chairs.

Then comes the food. And, by all appearances, the food looked good but unlike the venue it was less than memorable.

The menu has some intriguing sounding dishes like Smoked Salmon on Broccolini Pancakes with Lemon Aioli, as well as some comfort food sides like Mac & Cheese, both of which we ordered.  The pancakes cold, the garnish wilting and the soft boiled egg slightly congealed made the Salmon dish completely unremarkable, but for $9 there wasn't too much to complain about.The hostess and waitress were a high point -- the polite and quick service made the out-of-the box flavor of the mac & cheese bearable.

I can imagine Axis being a neighborhood favorite because there isn't too much competition for brunch in the surrounding few blocks, the price point isn't too high, and the atmosphere and service are simply lovely. However brunch for under $40 dollars for two people isn't impossible to find anywhere else, so even for all that's good I don't think I'd bother to be back to Axis Cafe for the food.


All the details:
Axis Cafe & Gallery 
1201 8th St between Wisconsin St & Irwin St

Mon-Fri 8 am - 9 pm

Sat-Sun 10 am - 3 pm