Dinner is a winner, and a breakfast is a must, but brunch — Philadelphia’s Sunday brunch, in particular — is an event.
Chefs at Philly’s white linen locations and casual eateries alike tackle the celebration of Sunday brunch with the care and originality of designing a meal for James Beard’s gold-star judges. With so many different options before you coming into the already-hottest season of the year, Metro selected four brand new Sunday brunch options, and one truly unique, even newer, post-brunch/pre-dinner meal — all that offer bold, diverse flavors and vivid visual cues.
Grace and Proper’s Bom Dia
South 8th Street in the Italian Market’s newest, coziest nook — a darkly elegant Euro-bar perfect for a nighttime bite and a cocktail or two — have taken their Portuguese-inspired menu and brought it to brunch time every Sunday br-afternoon. The Grace and Proper “Bom Dia” meal – which translates to “good day” – is served at small, window-side tables, or at the bar for maximum proximity to its bracing, slap-in-the-face cocktails such as a brandy-filled “Keoke Coffee” or its gin-and-absinthe topped “Corpse Reviver.”
Along with a very French touch of crisp, cold radish halves and creamy, salted butter as a side dish, Grace and Proper’s casual Sunday Bom Dia comes with the savory in its unique selection of egg sandwiches on crusty Portuguese bread such as its MEC (fried mortadella, fluffy scrambled eggs, melted Swiss gruyere) that you can also do as veggie or bacon filled. There’s also a wealth of sweet, fresh Portuguese pastries such as the custard tart Pasteis de Mata and the crème-filled Bola de Berlim. The Pasteis de Mata is a perfect kiss of sugary goodness. Still, those radishes and hearty MECs – magnífica.
Positano Coast themed Sunday brunch
Before you start your Italian Amalfi Coast brunch experience at Old City’s Positano Coast, know that your br-orning will be filled with Instagram influencers busily enjoying bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas while photographing themselves before Mediterranean coastal wall images, and that, on occasional weekends, Positano’s waitstaff comes costumed in theme outfits from Harry Potter to togas to superheroes – it’s a blast. Something as visually provocative as its meal is always welcome.
The most Italian-inspired of all of this city’s brunch menus, Positano Coast’s Sundays come with a huge and opulent charcuterie board (Antipasto All’Italiana) of traditional Medi meats (salame, mortadella, prosciutto), cheeses and olives that would make any Southern Gulf of Salerno native green with envy. And while every brunch item at Positano Coast is hearty and rich – the lobster skillet with provolone and cavatelli, the smoked salmon and capers-filled flatbread – it is the zucchini crabcake with spinach, potatoes and lemon butter that is piled higher than the Tower of Pisa, and so very juicy and tender
Forsythia’s Sundaes
Only Chef Christopher Kearse would think up a post-brunch, pre-happy hour, posh and prix fixe meal of graceful gastronomical delights and exquisite, unique tastes for his intimate soigne space, Forsythia. And no matter how refined and delicate his French-inspired menu may be (Escargot with almond-chartreuse butter, bergamot croutons and pickled onions), Kearse’s Sundaes meals are approachable and fun. That’s because Kearse is approachable and fun, standing and cooking back-and-center of where diners can indulge in everything from a simple tuna crudo with mustard flowers and Verjus Consummé, to the tenderly complex trout Véronique with cauliflower, white grapes and Fiddlehead ferns.
While Kearse’s Sundaes’ mains are to die for (bring a guest so you can sample both the braised short rib with baby roasted carrots, snow peas and sauce Bordelaise and the Salt Meadow lamb Crépinette with rhubarb, roasted Gem lettuce and new potatoes), you don’t leave Forsythia’s brunch-y Sundae without an actual sundae with caramelized wildflower honey ice cream, coconut Crémeux, pistachio, elderflower and Tri-Star strawberries. Plus, nobody does plating like Kearse and his knowing staff for even the smallest menu items, and the Francophile+ bar program at Forstythia is superb, from its boozy concoctions (a La Vie En Rose or the Mexican Radio of mescal, gin, Cordoval Plum, Montenegro, O.J., Szechuan Bitters) to its revolving selection of original mocktails.
Hawthornes Beer Cafe Sunday
A busy Sunday, indoor or outdoors, at Hawthornes Beer Café on 11th Street off South is like no other in the city. First and foremost, the Hawthornes crew has the best craft beer selection in Philadelphia (they have their own beer distributorship right across the street). To go with its rich brews, you have to have the food fare to equal it.
The most interesting aspect of Hawthornes Sunday brunch, however, comes in the fact that though they serve zesty sausage, crisp bacon sides, and a mean, stomach0busting fried Chicken-N-Waffle with poached eggs and hollandaise served atop malted waffles, their tastiest, generous entrees are mostly veggie and vegetarian-inspired. Check out everything from their richly satisfying Ricotta Toast dish with avocado on sourdough to its English spring pea and creamy risotto arancini to its divine Green Goddess Omelet – uniquely folded in French omelet style – and filled with goat cheese, roasted artichoke, sauteed spinach and finished with basil pesto. If you have room, have a beer. It’s Sunday.
