WHERE TO FIND THE TASTIEST AND MOST INVENTIVE BRUNCH FARE AROUND.
THERE ARE ROUGHLY 1.44 MILLION PEOPLE LIVING IN THE URBAN SACRAMENTO AREA. And on Saturdays and Sundays, it seems like most of them are going out to brunch. Behold the throngs of people lined up outside local restaurants on weekend mornings, waiting for a chance to guzzle bottomless mimosas. What is it that makes perfectly sensible people willing to cool their heels on the sidewalk for an hour and a half for a plate of bacon and eggs?
ANSWER: BRUNCH IS THE NEW HAPPY HOUR. IT’S NOT JUST A FOOD PHENOMENON; IT’S A SOCIAL PHENOMENON.
“It’s the fun meal,” explains a brunch-loving colleague of mine who goes out to brunch at least two or three times a month. A hardworking millennial, she and her friends are often too busy during the week to meet for lunch or dinner. But on the weekend, all bets are off. For them, brunch offers an opportunity to relax, catch up and party down. The meal can stretch out to fill the entire day. “Brunch is awesome,” she says, “because it lasts so long.”
Local restaurants are responding to the brunch demand with increasingly sophisticated food and drink. Here, we present our 2018 guide to some of our favorites in Sacramento brunching.
HAWKS PUBLIC HOUSE
If you’re the type of person who gets easily overwhelmed by too many choices, brunch at Hawks Public House is for you. Owners Molly Hawks and Mike Fagnoni have created a carefully edited menu—only 10 entrées—that takes much of the decision making off your shoulders. You’re a waffle gal? Then order the buttermilk waffles, served with strawberries and peanut butter whipped cream. Eggs are your jam? Get the farm egg omelette. Not really a fan of traditional breakfast? Try Hawks’ brunch burger: a patty of Wagyu beef ground in-house, plus bacon and a fried egg on a house-made brioche bun. Each dish gets the Hawks treatment: top-flight ingredients, on-point cookery and beautiful plating.
Breakfast sandwich. Photo by Gabriel Teague
The menu, while pared down, offers something for everyone. Avo toast is a beautiful-looking dish, with a guac-like mash slathered on grilled levain, topped with perfectly poached eggs, paper-thin radish slices and micro cilantro and served with a side of lightly dressed farm greens. In an elevated take on the lowly Egg Mc-Muffin, fried eggs, bacon and cheddar cheese are sandwiched within a house-made buttermilk biscuit. (Fagnoni says it’s his homage to the New York deli egg-and-cheese.) The sandwich comes with breakfast potatoes: cubes of Idaho spuds that are boiled, frozen, then deep-fried and tossed with fried rosemary and salt. They’re crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.
The bar produces an interesting assortment of brunch cocktails and eye-openers, including sangria and a delicious michelada. For $30, you can order the “mimosa kit,” which includes a bottle of bubbles, a carafe of OJ and a couple of bar-made syrups that allow you to DIY your breakfast tipple.
10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday Only
1525 Alhambra Blvd.; (916) 588-4440;
hawkspublichouse.com
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