Mom's Birthday Brunch at Saint Genevieve

Friday, November 8, 2013
Last weekend was my mom's birthday!


I love birthdays! She loves birthdays! It was an awesome weekend! For her birthday dinner, she cooked us (something I can totally get on board with) a ridiculously amazing ToDieFor paella. For morning-after birthday brunch, we made reservations for the much raved about Saint Genevieve, located in the stunning Kirby West Ave complex.

The atmosphere of Saint Genevieve is completely swankified (That's totally something one of the students at Shiz would say in Wicked. No, I don't secretly believe my life is one giant musical, why do you ask?). Super cool and chic. Definitely a sit-by-the-window-and-sip-on-a-martini-while-holding-a-cigar-and-listening-to-a-live-pianist-play-old-sinatra-standards type of place.


"So, what's the most swankified place in town?" 
"That would be the Ozdust Ballroom." 
"Sounds perfect!" 

Okay, I'll stop.


The real draw of brunch at Saint Genevieve, in my humblest of opinions, is the BLOODY MARY BAR.

And it far and away exceeded my expectations. No it was not unlimited (Point for you New York City brunches) but they give you two drinks worth of vodka in a pint glass and let you loose to go play amongst the various different mixes, garnishes (Um hello, BACON in my bloody), and fresh spices. Oh and spicy cheese cubes, YES THAT'S A THING.


Bloody Mary bar, you have my heart.

Participating in the $9 Bloody Mary bar was a no-brainer for me. The food was more of a struggle. You see, my normal staple is an Eggs Benedict of some sort, but I wasn't feeling their Crabcake Benedict (which my sister ordered) that day for whatever reason. I was debating between the Hand-Crafted Beef Burger (which Jason and my Dad ordered), the Local Produced Salmon Gravlax (which my mom ordered), and the Breakfast Quesadilla (which my sister's boyfriend Danny ordered).

You can understand my dilemma. So naturally, I ordered the Egg White and Goat Cheese Frittata.


I always have such high expectations for frittatas. The promise of what they hold inside - in this case, goat cheese and TRUFFLE OIL - is often deliciously tempting and exciting. But they always seem to fall short of that promise and turn out to be something I could throw together myself in a few minutes. Even this truffle oil and goat cheese version had no vivacity whatsoever. It just tasted like a plain egg white omelet with a few mushrooms, a spattering of goat cheese here and there, and a salad thrown on top.

I do not blame Saint Genevieve for this. I blame Frittatas for giving me false hope. Perhaps I don't fully grasp the essence of the frittata. Perhaps I'm looking too deeply into this. Moreover, I blame my complete inability to form a sentence when I see the word "truffle." Sometimes my tunnel vision for shamelessly wanting All Of The Truffle backfires on me. Sometimes. Lesson learned!

It's okay though, because my mom and Jason could not eat all of their meals, so I got to eat quite a bit of theirs! And they were AWESOME. Totally made up for my mediocre frittata.


The Local Produced Salmon Gravlax (bagel and lox), was so fresh and so flavorful, I couldn't even stand it. The bagel was super fluffy, and the salmon tasted like it just came out of the water. It was one of the better bagel and lox dishes I've had, and it was beautifully done.

My mom also ordered a side of their Sweet Potato Hash, which was quite tasty. Not a life-changing sweet potato experience, but a nice departure from regular old brunch hash browns.


Oh and the BURGER. Really delicious. Again, it just tasted FRESH. It's definitely not a burger of the greasy spoon variety, but if you're looking for a flavorful (I mean, it's topped with "Bloody Mary Green Chili Pepper Cheese" for cryin' out loud!), gourmet burger, this is definitely a standout. It also came with delicious crispy fries and an adorable, refreshing, baby michelada. If I could do that brunch over again, this is probably what I would order. Incredibly tasty.


So although my frittata left me wanting more, the Bloody Mary Bar, Local Produced Salmon Gravlax, and Hand-Crafted Beef Burger were delicious shining stars that made the whole experience worthwhile (And the stellar company I was amongst, OB-viously). The Bloody Mary Bar alone will have me running back to Saint Genevieve's for brunch. And knowing what I now know, I will make smarter food-ordering decisions next time!


Dancing through liiiiiiiife, Swaying and sweeping, And always keeping coooooooool......

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