Brunch and the City
Brunch and the City
LET’S DO BRUNCH!
BY LAURA OAKLEY
PHOTOS PHOTOTYPE
Almonak
SMASHED AVO & PEAS
Almonak is doubling down on brunch. Now open Wednesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the restaurant-slash-café-slash-juice bar offers a singular all-day brunch menu with a focus on healthier food options, wellness lattes, and fresh-pressed juice. Owners Chris Campbell and Kandace Homer want to position Almonak as the go-to destination for health-focused Haligonians who love brunch—and vitamin-rich juice. “We tend toward gluten-free, vegan, healthy based brunch—but done honestly,” says Campbell, who cites fundamental changes like switching from canola oil to avocado oil and sourcing from only small local producers. “Everyone says ‘local, local, local’ and then you get back in the kitchen and it’s not. We’re really doing it,” says Campbell.
When I stop in the bright, airy dining room is bustling with their Friday morning crowd, many with vibrant glasses of fresh-pressed juice on their tables. Their street-facing patio is buzzing, too. It’s busy all around. Campbell insists I try a coffee drink dubbed the Harvey Bomb. When it arrives at the table in a clear, short glass I can see icy almond milk swirling beautifully with the espresso—and my first sip leaves me surprised; it tastes so pure and clean, yet potent. The almond milk is made on-site at the juice bar, just three ingredients: almonds, dates, and water. It’s a great start.
“The benny is our most popular thing. We make the biscuits,” says Campbell, as a beautiful order of eggs benedict with bacon, crispy potato cake, and market greens appears. I dig into the homemade biscuit, which is dense and buttery. The pale-coloured hollandaise is super aerated and lighter than usual, which works for me as I typically find runny egg yolk and thick hollandaise redundant. The potato cake looks like a perfectly formed puck, brown and crispy, well-seasoned, creamy inside with lots of savoury rosemary. The market greens are delicious too, layered with texture and dressed in a light vinaigrette that lets the flavours of the greens shine.
While eggs benedict is a classic (and highly sought brunch dish in Halifax), it’s not exactly the epitome of what Almonak is trying to do, and so Campbell also sends out a “super light, super health-focused” dish. On the menu, it’s called Smashed Avo & Peas. The two main elements—a mound of smashed avocado and summer peas topped with a poached egg, and warm, freshly baked focaccia—are plated separately. The focaccia is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. A perfect bite involves a rip and dip, picking up some of the smashed avocado and pea, and a bit of runny yolk on the bread. The mash is summery and delightful, with lemon notes and shredded Asiago cheese. I love it. To me, this is a perfect brunch dish, and Campbell and Homer were right about how I felt after eating—like the smashed avocado and peas, I didn’t feel too heavy or bogged down, just satisfied.
The Brooklyn Warehouse
THE VEGAN FRENCH TOAST
After a seven-year hiatus, The Brooklyn Warehouse is back in the brunch game with a not-too-serious, down-sized approach. Their five-item brunch menu is available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, alongside their regular menu. Brooklyn’s general manager Joanne Hewitt calls their brunch program an “easy-going, come as you are, approachable service.” A full-circle evolution of the brunch offering saw the new menu return to a simple concept focused around local food. “We’ve gotten back to basics and are giving the people what they want. An easy to understand, straightforward, delicious brunch.” Says Hewitt.
I grab a seat in the covered exterior, essentially an enclosed patio, with windows facing the intersection of Windsor and Almon Streets. Cars constantly whizz by right outside, but inside feels chill and relaxing, as soft indie music drives the vibe. A few other parties are seated near me, quietly having coffee and conversations. There’s a brunch feature on, and Hewitt wants me to try it: vegan French toast. While I don’t usually gravitate toward sweet brunch dishes, the mention of maple cashew cream piques my interest. I’m in.
When the French toast arrives, it is, of course, impressively plated. Six slices of soft-yet-crispy sourdough toasts are nestled together and topped with maple cashew cream, spoonfuls of strawberry-rhubarb jam, a light dusting of icing sugar, and decorated with nasturtium flowers. The cashew cream is light and airy, with a subtle maple flavour, not overly sweet or heavy. The strawberry-rhubarb jam also achieves the perfect balance of sweet, made with just enough sugar to allow the strawberry and rhubarb to stand out. It’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed French toast.
The next dish is on the other end of the spectrum. Eggs Dante is a hot, savoury, comforting bowl of goodness that starts with a bed of creamy hash browns covered in a spicy tomato sauce. The potatoes are then topped with pulled pork, a soft poached egg, Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, finely sliced pepperoncini and green onion, and drizzled with lime crème fraîche. The pulled pork is tender and flavourful, and the creamy egg yolk balanced by the acidity of the chunky tomato sauce and pickled hot peppers. It’s a lovely, filling dish ripe with flavour and texture, something I would order again.
For dessert, Hewitt insists on the cinnamon-nutmeg sugared doughnuts. Freshly made and still warm, two cake doughnuts with a decadent dulce de leche dip arrive at the table. Slightly crispy on the outside with fluffy cake inside, these are easy to eat. “We’ve been having a lot of fun with it,” says Hewitt of the reinvigorated brunch program. “Brunch is a unique beast. We think it’s important not to always try and reinvent the wheel.” Amusingly, I hear someone at a nearby table order the dessert doughnuts with coffee to kick off their brunch. And why not? The laid-back, fun approach at Brooklyn seems to be catching on.
The Cheeky Neighbour Diner
SMOKED SALMON POTATO WAFFLE
“I don’t think anywhere else in the city you can find a tater waffle,” says Drew Voegeli about one of The Cheeky Neighbour Diner’s signature brunch dishes, laughing. The waffle made of tater tots and topped with smoked salmon is my favourite dish on the menu. “It’s a nice playful environment here; we’re making good quality food.” Says Voegeli, who opened the diner last year after re-branding the location that housed Relish Gourmet Burgers. At the bustling corner of Quinpool Road and Robie Street, Voegeli wanted to do something fun and casual that spoke to the neighbourhood. While developing the brand (whose logo is a cat sporting a top hat and monocle), Voegeli says he asked himself what’s cheeky about the Quinpool Road area. “There’s always cats slinking around here. That’s where the weirdness of cats got into it.” He laughs again. The interior of The Cheeky Neighbour Diner is a mix of funny, quirky decor pieces and retro-looking diner tables and chairs. They are having fun, and that comes through in the food as well.
Before digging into my waffle, Voegeli wants me to try out some new additions to the menu. First to arrive are the fishcakes, meant to combine the best elements of both fish cakes and seafood chowder. The cakes are a mix of fresh haddock, corn, onion, and dill. Topped with chunky bacon jam, and resting in a chowder-style sauce, they accompany two soft poached eggs and toast. The fishcakes are tasty, with their crunchy, sweet corn and creamy, rich, savoury sauce. They should be a hit. The other dish Voegeli is excited to share is the complete opposite: chocolate babka French toast. Babka is a sweet, braided bread, this one layered with chocolate. The presentation is hilarious, a tall stack of two thick pieces of the French toast, topped with whipped cream, and crowned with a single Ferrero Rocher. Plated with a tart raspberry coulis to balance the richness, it’s not my style, but I can see this dish making many happy.
Finally, I move on to the smoked salmon and potato waffle. Smashed tater tots mixed with capers are pressed into the waffle maker, creating a crispy potato waffle as the base of the dish. On top of each waffle (there’s two) is citrus-dill cream, smoked salmon, pickled red onion, more capers, and fresh dill. All my preferred brunch flavours and textures happen at once, so it’s a very pleasing dish. On the side is a perfect kale caesar—another of my favourite things.
“It’s quality diner food. Done well.” Says Voegeli on what sets The Cheeky Neighbour apart from other local brunch destinations. He credits the combination of classic breakfast plates with options that are creative and fun. But the core of the food program is made-from-scratch dishes that use quality ingredients. Combined with a whole lot of personality, this gives The Cheeky Neighbour a distinct brunch experience.
Dilly Dally Coffee Café
AVOCADO SOURDOUGH TOAST
It’s hard not to notice Dilly Dally Eats café—whether on foot or driving through the ever-lively intersection of Quinpool Road and Vernon Street in Central Halifax. The brilliant teal paint job and steady stream of customers lined up at the takeout window grab most people’s attention. The Quinpool Road area has a strong neighbourhood vibe, and over the last five years, Dilly Dally has captured the loyalty of those who live and work nearby. And not just because of the potent Java Blend coffee—their tasty food menu has evolved to match expectations of customers who return day after day.
“What we give people here is a wow factor experience,” says co-owner and chef-by-trade Ray Henry. He and his partner Laura Draeger modelled the café after a low-key mom-and-pop operation they visited in Barcelona, Spain. “You’re expecting to go to this little café on the corner to get some kind of regular café food.” Says Henry. But at Dilly Dally, you get a lot more. When I stop by to chat with Henry, I grab a seat near the takeout window. The eclectic interior offers lots to see. The bric-a-brac makes a statement that says this is a place that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s easy to relax, settle in, and feel comforted as others come and go.
A seasonal “tiny kitchen” menu of hot or prepared food is offered every day from when they open (7 a.m.) to 2:30 p.m. and the café closes for the day at 5 p.m. The menu typically has about seven items, plus daily soups and sandwiches. Each day a variety of freshly baked goods is offered. The breakfast selection succinctly covers the essentials: a breakfast sandwich, basic eggs and toast, something with fruit, a couple of healthy options—but executed unexpectedly. From-scratch accoutrements like house-made herb mayo or honey-braised apricot on the steel-cut oats signal a more sophisticated approach to food than a typical corner coffee shop.
“The dish that epitomizes what we do here would have to be our avocado toast,” says Henry. It’s been in the mix for about five years with little change, due to customer demand. And so that’s what Henry orders for me to try. When it arrives, I’m surprised by how aesthetically pleasing the dish is—this is the wow factor Henry described. So pretty, so colourful—it’s a treat for the eyes. Plated on a vintage flower-print dish, a hefty piece of toasted sourdough carries sliced, fanned out avocado, and a sunny-side-up fried egg, generously seasoned with salt and pepper. When I start to poke around with my fork, I see tomato jam underneath, which is beautiful and not too sweet. Pickled zucchini and red onion balance the richness of the avocado and egg yolk nicely. And there are tasty local greens and crunchy razor-thin slices of radish, and a garnish of bright nasturtium flowers. It’s a light-yet-filling brunch dish, and much like the café itself, bright and fun.
