rose and sons

taken from foodjunkiechronicles.net

I consider brunch a religious festivity. It is a sacred meal, that glorious time between breakfast and lunch where all things egg, meat, and carbohydrate come together to form a delicious concoction of benedicts, waffles, and the homiest of fries.  While I usually practice brunch on Sundays following a rough night out, I decided to switch things up this week in honour of my dear old ma's birthday. Brunch on a Thursday? I'll allow it.  Off we headed to the north Annex diner, Rose and Sons, owned and operated by two gentlemen (Anthony Rose and Chris Sanderson) both formerly employed by the Drake Hotel. Don't bother looking for a Rose and Sons sign; instead, keep your eyes out for simply the word "FOOD" on the storefront. The space, with about 8-10 booths, holds a max of 25-30 guests at a time...and that would be prettttty cozy.  Lucky for us, it seems thursday brunches aren't overly popular so we snagged a whole booth to ourselves. I had heard great things about the food and I was happily surprised to see that the reputation was very much warranted. It felt like every dish was cooked with a little bit of love, you know? Like we were eating at someone's grandma's house where you get that real homey taste, but without the unnecessary overload of grease you pick up from most diners. The fried chicken was moist and delectable and the apple/beet hushpuppies gave our meat-heavy dishes some much needed freshness.  The smoked salmon wasn't exactly what I expected - instead of the raw, lox-style salmon it was more of a piece of salmon smoked on the grill.  It was still very tasty, especially on a bed of Schmaltz hash browns. The real winner was the patty melt burger - it literally melted in your mouth. Welcome to salivation city! We ended with a birthday cake a la blueberry bread pudding; the perfect match of sweet and savoury. 

coffees, cappuccinos, and warm apple cider

patty melt burger - grilled cheese, fried onions, chill mayo

wild rice and old cheddar hushpuppies - apples, brussels, beetroots, honey

fried chicken club - bacon, ezell's slaw, sour pickle

big crow hot smoked salmon - schmaltz hash, egg, dill pickle sauce

bread pudding w/ wild blueberries . . .  .and an old fashioned

finito

We added an aperitif (or two) with dessert. They make a mean Old Fashioned.  My brunches aren't usually paired with booze (Caesars don't count) but quoting the birthday girl, "It's 12 o-clock somewhere!"..

Happy Tuesday!

A.C