ottawa foodies

I have real issues with the whole weekend brunch thing. It frustrates me and I really just don't understand why it's so popular. Maybe I'm just a greedy pig (or rat) but to me the concept of brunch is to *replace* breakfast & lunch with one meal, therefore it needs to be *twice* the size. What I seem to come up against is breakfast *for* lunch, which just does not cut it in my books.

What really annoys me is when a restaurant has a really nice Mon-Fri lunch menu, which I seldom get to sample because I have to get a quick bowl of gruel at our crappy cafeteria at work. When I return at the weekend I find they don't offer 'lunch' but instead I could have a couple of eggs and a ramekin dish of fruit. Maybe it's my English roots, but Sunday 'lunch' was one of the biggest meals of the week. Soup, then roast beef & Yorkshire puddings, followed by a stodgy, stick to your ribs dessert. Admittedly it required the whole afternoon to sleep it off but boy was it good. I'm sorry but brunch just doesn't seem the same.

And while I don't understand the popularity, I don't want to deprive those of you who do enjoy it. I just wish that restaurants would offer the regular lunch menu as well - or at least one item off it. I can understand that the chef may be busy cutting strawberries into cute little shapes and can't offer the full menu, but would it kill them to stick a burger on the grill and do some fries? At least that would be a filling.

Case in point, not a fine dining restaurant I'll grant you, but a popular pub in the Glebe which initially fueled my distaste for brunch. We arrived ~ 1.30pm and wanted a 'proper meal' (i.e. something off the normal menu) only to be told we couldn't because they were serving brunch - but if we waited until 2pm then we could order what we wanted. Now I had my eye on the Irish Stew. If I had been told "Sorry sir, the chef started to loving prepare a new batch this morning and it isn't quite ready yet, but if you wait half an hour it should be perfectly tender" then I would have sat back, relaxed and waited for my feast. However when it's more a case of "the chef can't be arsed to take a portion out of the fridge/freezer and stick it in the microwave because he/she is poaching eggs" it p*sses me off. Sorry.

It annoys me so much that anywhere that only offers brunch at weekends without a suitable alternative gets struck immediately off our list (we haven't been back to that pub in the Glebe since).

Anyway, I needed to get that off my chest. If anyone has a suggestion for a good gluttonous weekend lunchtime feast then I'd love to hear (other than all you can eat pizza / Indian etc.)

I can see both sides of the coin for brunch.

If you like breakfast type foods but don't have the time to go for breakfast or make something interesting during the week because you're in too much of a rush, the weekend offers a chance to have a leisurely breakfast. Or perhaps you are one of those people who can't eat much early in the morning- the weekend gives you a chance to have a more interesting breakfast a little later in the morning.

I do know that some restaurants tend to serve a somewhat culinarily "dumbed down" menu on the weekends during the day to make it easier for some of their less accomplished kitchen staff to man the kitchen. The really good chefs/line cooks work Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights- they're usually sleeping/recovering during Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I guess brunch also offers a cheaper alternative to a meal out. You can get away with socializing at a higher end restaurant with a less expensive menu. People tend to drink coffee or maybe a mimosa or bloody mary but tend not to go for bottles of wine nor do they tend to drink excessively.

As for gorge fest brunch buffets, I dislike buffets period. Food is usually quantity over quality and unless you are feeding a football team of 14 yr olds, there are better places to eat.

On the other hand, I do feel for you Ratty, when you are expecting a certain fare at a raved about restaurant and arrive to find out less than half the lunch options are available because of brunch.

I'm not a huge brunch person because I find the majority of dishes simple enough to execute well at home. I do cook my boyfriend "brunch" on the weekend, which is really nothing more than a diner type bacon and eggs breakfast. He doesn't tend to eat this during the week because neither of us have time. We have decent breakfasts but nothing that is cooked on the spot.

I don't like breakfast food. Eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. just do nothing for me. I rarely go out to eat on weekends until dinner because, as Ratty points out, most restaurants only offer brunch. I too would be interested in any suggestions for restaurants that serve real lunch on weekends.

This probably isn't the "gluttonous weekend lunchtime feast" that you are looking for, but if you're up for something a bit upscale and like the small plates concept, Play Food and Wine serves their lunch menu on weekends. On Mother's Day they added a few "brunch style" items in honour of the occassion, but their normal lunch menu was also available. Their 2 plates for $20 deal is also available on weekends. That's not cheap if you're eating breakfast, but if you like the Play style of dining, it's a pretty good deal. My husband and I normally find that 4 plates between us is plenty at lunch time. Certainly not the comfort food I think you are looking for, but an option that isn't eggs and home fries.

I'll be watching to see if others have suggestions.

I too am not a brunch person. I find most ethnic restaurants tend to have their regular lunch menues on weekends. I always check to make sure they are open however--some places just don't do lunch on weekends (for intance Wellington Gastropub). A couple of places I've tried for lunch are Petit Bill's Bistro and Play (already mentioned), Sweetgrass Aboriginal (closed Sunday lunch last time iI checked) and Murray Street. Visits have been over about a year so you may need to check. Although it's a chain Baton Rouge (the one in Centrum anyway) might provide you with a "glutinous feast". Good luck.

Just chiming in to agree with the assumption that brunch = breakfast + lunch hence show me the food, or at least more of it than I would see at breakfast. Just back from the Murray Street Restaurant where we paid lunch prices for European sized breakfast portions under the label of "brunch" (and the lunch menu wasn't available at this time).

I find this to be the case too often for brunch so my solution has been to either stick with diner style breakfasts at places that serve til 2pm like John's Quick Lunch, or go out for dim sum where I can control how much I eat and spend according to my wallet and appetite.

Hm. I feel like as Lady Who Brunches, I should speak up.

I love me some serious breakfast. Bacon, eggs, homefries. I don't have time to make a serious breakfast on the weekdays. So, for me weekends are that chance to indulge.

The few times I have brunched on a weekday, I've been given the choice of brunch food or lunch food and I've gone for the brunch fare, not because of the novelty, but because I have a harder time deciding what to eat for lunch than I do just about anything else.

That said. I've also been annoyed in the recent months by restaurants who seem to fail at getting people fed a good amount of food at a half decent price around the hours of 9-1:30 on weekends.

This weekend, we had friends from out of town over for brunch at our place. A wee stressful, but there was bacon and eggs, bagels, fruit salad, coffee cake, and more than a few types of sweets. We didn't pay $4 a glass for orange juice and I could refill my coffee whenever I pleased. And, I didn't have to worry about a ramekin of melon in lieu of a luscious fruit salad.

So, yes, brunch is a real meal. But, it is also becoming a meal that is much more difficult to enjoy at a restaurant.

Thanks for the comments & suggestions. Glad to see there are others who would appreciate the option of something more substantial at the weekend.

I love a good breakfast of bacon, eggs, beans & homefries, but I can cook that myself and it's not what I want after 1pm. But for those that do, I certainly don't want to deprive people of brunch, I just wish restaurants would add some breakfast dishes to the menu at the weekend, rather than replacing the regular lunch menu.

Anyway, thinking about it a bit more I've got a couple of suggestions for others who feel the same or want to indulge once in a while. I guess the 'gluttonous feast' comment was a bit over the top - I just want somewhere where I can get an appy, 'proper' main course & dessert.

First up, Sunday lunch at Mariposa. This is exactly the kind of lunch I want on a Sunday www.mariposa-duck.on.ca

Secondly, Les Fougeres. This is the best of both worlds since they have both breakfast & lunch items on the menu every day. www.fougeres.ca

Shame they are both a drive away.

Cheers,
Ratty.

I can see both sides of the coin for brunch, however there are more places that will serve an all day breakfast than I've found that will serve regular lunch foods for lunch on a Sunday.

When we want a feast more often than not we end up eating lightly to make tummies less grumbily and then cooking up a storm.

I am familiar with Sunday lunch at Mariposa and adore it but don't get there as often as I'd like. Highly recommend it but do make reservations to avoid disappointment.

I'll second the annoyance with Murray Street's brunch. It's one of my favourite places for lunch, but after a nice morning out downtown on the weekend I show up there and all they have is eggs and sausages. I can't lunch there on weekdays because I work on the other side of Centretown.

I have no problem with doing a brunch, but please keep it to Sunday when one might expect it.

Has anyone tried Benny's at the French Baker for Lunch / Brunch?

I've had Benny's lunch/brunch twice over the last two years, and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. It's a bit cramped, but the food has been delish.

Benny's has been great the few time I've been there, but get there early because the popular dishes seem to sell out fast.

Which brings my to my own personal pet peeve about brunch: it doesn't last long enough! Far too often I've pulled myself out of bed at the crack of noon and dragged myself to some local resto only to find brunch just ended the second I stumbled half-awake through the door. Sorry, Ratty, but I vote for extended bruch hours. :-)

I have the same problem as Downtown Diner. What's a "real meal" anyway? I call the meal I eat at 7 AM every weekday "breakfast". I also call the meal I eat at noon on weekends "breakfast". :)