Nightengale ****4/5 stars

Today I'm happy to say that I can bring you a higher review than 3 point something. People, Nightengale is just so effing charming. A little deco, a little mod, with super comfy bar stools and booths. I've spent several late evening hours here, sipping half-priced bottles of sparkling rose and beautifully crafted whisky cocktails, listening to vinyl and then stumbling home, blurry-eye'd and happy. But we're here to talk about things that happen in the daylight. Brunchy kinds of things.

What if I told you that Nightengale has a DJ during brunch, spinning smooth soul and r&b. So delightful. What if I told you you can fit about 6-7 people comfortably in their big, luscious booths. Can you dig?

Let's get to the drinks. The bloodies, while totally regular, come with a baby Miller Highlife. Something about a tiny beer (it's like seeing puppies or babies for normal people.) Nicki raved about the coffee. It's Peace and they brew it really right. 

The menu's got good stuff. A hash, a benny, a scramble, shrimp and grits. If you have a sweet tooth, you might not be satisfied with the only sweet option, yeasted flap jacks. We did not try them. They might be amazing?

Say hello to the hash. Pretty, isn't she? Although, the little cubed chunks of pork were weird. I get weird about meat in weird shapes. But the flavor was fantastic.

The Benny (above) is better than average. The Scramble (below) was smaller than average...

Holy pile of mushroom, ham, egg heaven. I want to crawl into these biscuits and gravy and die. Portion is a little out of control, eh?

And finally, meet the pork shoulder with sunny side eggs and masa cakes. Giddyup.

Let's recap. Nightengale = great style, great ambiance, average bloodies, tiny beers, great coffee and super savory food. Plus, the owner's name is Jasha (yes, like Saisha with a "J"). Must be fate. So anyway, grab six or seven of your closest buds, slide yourselves into one of those great big booths and prepare to get down. Or if you only come out at night (the lean and hungry type) try Thursdays. The DJs are salty and so are the fries.

Nighty, night y'all.

Ice House ***3.5/5 stars

Live music is perhaps one of the best enhancements to any brunch. I'm noticing this trend more and more around town, and now I don't want to go anywhere without. Ice House makes mornings seem enchanted. The space is open, yet warm. The lighting is glowy. The acoustics are perfection. I want to stay forever, but I can't afford it.

I totally stole this photo. Forgot to get a good image of the whole space.

Live folk. Perfect for brunch.

The food menu here has your standard snobby fare. It contains words like duck and brisket and truffle and brioche.

The drink menu contains words like Wangdangsupertang and Chesty Larue. Both of which I consumed. The Wangdang tastes like Tang, which my dad started drinking after his stomach couldn't handle real OJ. I hope I don't inherit that fate. Tang is fake orange juice. An there ain't nothin' right about fake OJ, especially with vodka in it. Reminds me of that one time in college when we bought a 2-liter of orange soda and a liter of Phillips, emptied half of the 2-liter of soda and added the entire liter of vodka. Buh bye.

The Chesty

Pretty regular bloody.

So far we're just floatin' along with our cocktails and The Graduate soundtrack. Waitin' for the fabulous-sounding food to arrive. But first, our Brunchitizer™! Savory eu claire with bacon and fried egg. Actually, wished it was a little more sweet a little less savory...

Here it comes. Mushrooms Crepes were...okay. Something off about the texture and flavor.

The Crispy Pork Biscuit with gravy. Al liked it. As always, looks like vomita to me.

The Salmon Benedict. Wish I would have had this instead of the Crepes...

The breakfast burger, yo, on english muffin, see. Fantastic.

While Ice House wasn't the best food or best service, the atmosphere alone wins it major points. Ladies, make your OK Cupid date take you so you don't have to pick up the check. Otherwise, we could all get second jobs working the overnight at SA.

The ice isn't off yet...

Peace out from Bad Eggs.

Mickey's Diner **2.5/5 stars

Oh, don't look at me like that. I know you think Mickey's deserves more stars. But it's already had its share inside these crusty, narrow walls... Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilo Estavez, Garrison Keillor and the great Lindsay Lohan...speaking of crusty...

This is your typical dining car setup. And they've been serving breakfast 24/7 for over 70 years. It shows. The servers have been there almost as long. They're over it. Like, wayyyyy over it.

The table-side juke boxes don't function, but the song collection is pretty killer.

Menu is what you'd expect. Omelettes, meats and potatoes. Cakes. Burgers. Malts. Hypertension.

Our server tossed this plate at me. Denver with hashbrowns. The browns here are actually pretty rad. Super chunky and crunchy.

A well-balanced breakfast. Good cakes, yep.

They will gladly serve those who behave. Those who don't they most likely won't. You take your chances when you roll in all buzzed up on Mike's Hards after a Nickleback concert at the Excel. Just sayin...

Eli's East ***3.5/5 stars

Juli, Kel and Nick joined me on the northeast side of town this fine afternoon for late brunch, or as Kelly likes to call it, alcoholism with a side of toast. If Eli's second location is half as cool as the first, we're in for a treat.

The layout here is pretty great. Comfy booths, warm wood and good lighting. 

Unlike the south side, the bar has craft taps, wine and all the liquor your little drunken heart desires. The menu here is pretty fun. Chipotle Cheesesteak Omelet, Brunch penne (mac and cheese with bacon and egg), Turducken Benny (turkey sausage and duck confit hashbrowns...what??!!) Beef Stroganoff Omelet...Huh??!!

Drinks first. Mimosas, screw ups and coffee with baileys...no espresso here. Baaaaw.

 

They have a tomatillo bloody I was wanting to try, but I accidentally ordered the house. Fine choice.

The lovely pastrami hash...if you think pastrami is lovely.

The spinach salad. #hbusa It was a bit over-dressed, and I wish it had fresh mozz instead of smoked.

One of the two things Nick orders regularly. A breakfast sammy. Featuring gouda, tomato, applewood smoked bacon. Rarrrr....

The atmosphere was good, the service was good, the company was good. Two thumbs up for Eli's East!
 
NOTE: the women's restroom door needs to be messed with in order to get it to lock. Juli learned this after she busted in on some dude with his pants down. Why he was in the women's room, we can only assume... 

Now if you're not finished yet, and you know we're not, head over to Legend's across the street to drink away the afternoon...

Cheers from Bad Eggs.

Union **2.5/5 stars

So if you want a club-style breakfast, and honey you KNOW I do, roll on down to Union on a Sunday for their Champagne Brunch. We got the cheapy  2-for-40 living social coupon, but if you high roll, you can get bottle service: $65 Veuve Clicquot & $75 Grey Goose. I mean WOW, what a great deal! Let me just put that on my black AmEx.

The Union rooftop is actually rather charming on a cold winter's day. We navigated the empty downstairs dinging room and climbed the 3 flights of stairs to sunshine fun time. The first thing you notice is the thumping bass from the club-quality sound system. Amazingly, I have no headache this morning. I can get down with this.

Our server suggested that the champagne was "cheap" so we'd better pair it with some orange juice. Ha. We did and it was a great accompaniment to our fresh peach scones. YOW! I could have eaten a baker's dozen. Note: they also have a $10 bloody that comes with a burger on the skewer. No messin' around so far!

Since we had a groupon, we were instructed to order the most expensive thing on the menu, so Bridget and I went with the $25 lobster benny. Nicki, always adventurous, got the eggs, potatoes and bacon. 

We were chair dancing and checking out the eye candy while waiting for our food. I forget that this part of downtown is usually full of beautiful, well-groomed men. Men who mostly dig other men. Sad for all of us single straight girls, but I appreciate anyone who knows how to use product and pop a collar.

The food came. It was beautiful, but to be honest, not amazing. This whole dish was cold and the lobster was a bit tough. However, the salad was lovely.

Nicki's food was great. The potatoes were mui bueno. I'm still hungry; I want more scones.

I could see how the retractable roof could be even more enticing in the summer months, but Union is probably not worth the price you pay to park downtown and drink a $40 bottle of $5 champagne. But if continuing the party is your intention, Union is the best after after party in town. Ciao, bitches.

The Mill ***3/5 stars

Central Avenue is weird. There are a lot of cheesy car dealerships and furniture stores filled with gloss black laquered bedroom sets with marbled mirrored headboards. And there are places where you can buy outdated electronics out of some back alley garage door. It's a bit frozen in time... it's a bit rough... But things are evolving in certain areas, The Mill being one of those modern, yet quaint refreshments.

While the floorspace is minimal, the building is tall and lofty.

Inside, you'll find a tight, cozy space with tables and booths and oh my dear god, A FULL BAR. My neighborhood in South MPLS has about 3 liquor licenses and they've all been taken. Sometimes you just need a good, strong drink at 11am, ya know?! The hard working men and women of Central Avenue know what's up. And they do dinner here, too, so that's promising.

This place was hoppin'. But we only had to wait a few minutes for a booth. They have little blueberry muffins at the host station to tide you over...

The menu is quite diverse. They do brunch EVERY DAY from 10 to 3pm. Hashes and quiches and bennies and the lunch brunch stuff - burgers and whatnot.

So we essentially got club style bottle service for brunch. A bottle of bubbles with several mixing options...orange, grapefruit and mango with some creme de casis (totally gross and unnecessary.) And Molly got a latte. Get crazy, girl!

So let's look at the food, shall we? These are the glorious cinnamon wild rice pancakes that I was jealously eyeing the whole brunch. Yeah, I decided to go gluten-free. It's been amazing, but I miss cakes!!!

And this is the benny with a side salad. Note: you can get your benny with lobster... for $16.

Another benny with potatoes... Kelly was not happy that they were drenched in goat cheese.

And here's the Ecuadorian Baked Eggs. God I love beans for breakfast. This was fantastic.

The Mill is worth a trip to Central Ave. You could kill two birds and get a used VCR and a faux gold plated coffee table...

Me and Kel.

This girl on the right survived brain surgery, twice. You're tough, Roach!

Cheers from bad eggs. See ya next time...