1. a late morning meal eaten instead of breakfast and lunch.
Brunch, to me, has almost always meant traditional American breakfast fare: eggs, cakes, meats, breads, that sort of thing. Save for the occasional (most likely hormonal) morning cheeseburger craving, eggs are always on my mind. Well, by definition, brunch is simply a meal that replaces breakfast and lunch, so when Mark informed me that Travail's Umami was doing a dim sum brunch, I was like, hells yeah, let's do it.
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| My lovely crew of brunch-a-holics. |
Nestled in a crappy little strip mall in North next to a little Caesars and a Dollar Store, Umami is nothing close to ordinary. This way...
The entrance is a partially dry-walled chalk board graffiti installation.
The inside is full of color and energy. A long shared table occupies most of the space. Your check hangs from the ceiling above you. The kitchen is bright and open and full of sexy chefs (I'm serious, ladies and gays - there is some major man meat up in this place). Note: due to the nature of the dim sum dishes, it's best to go in pairs, bring someone with whom you won't mind sharing your dishes.
The first strange thing about this brunch is that they tried to incorporate traditional beverages like mimosas and bloodies, yet they do not have coffee. My mimosa didn't go well with my kimchi. Yeah, there's no better way to make your stomach scream WTF than shoveling a large bite of this rancid stuff into your mouth first thing in the morning. Yeah, I was not aware that the first small dishes laid before us were palette cleansers and garnishes, not starter salads. Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore...
And then we were saved by something familiar! Soft, salty ramen with pork belly and green onion egg thingy. I could eat this for breakfast every day if I had to.
The dishes, delivered by cart in true dim sum fashion, came slowly at first. We were hungry and slightly confused, slamming down our ramen and these little sausage rolls.
Then all of a sudden they were coming in droves... beef tenderlion, egg and avacado, chicken legs, and dumplings...
Then, this dude came out and carefully prepared fresh Hamachi spring rolls for us... Raw fish in the morning: another first.
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| So pretty. |
There was more and more and more. Like this lovely bowl of roasted brussel sprouts with golden raisins.
And a shrimp egg cake thingy... Eggs! Yes!
We tasted many more dishes, but let's get to the dessert, which I deemed the best part. I was craving some sweetness after that mass slaughter of savory. They delivered: house made ginger ice cream in a waffle cone with a variety of toppings, like marshmallow, which they toasted at the table.
OH, and there was cookie dough in the bottom. Score.
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| Don't drop acid before you come here. |
So, to "sum" it all up, *groan*, dim sum in the morning is not my idea of breakfast or brunch. My stomach was not happy for a good portion of the day. Others in my group LOVED it and gave it 4+ stars (we average out at 3.3), but I'd say save Umami for dinner. It's the same menu. Super fun, adventurous food in a super fun, adventurous place, if you're brave enough to traverse west broadway at night for a mouth full of kimchi. Go get sum.
