Blokes & Birds: Brunch Review

At a faux-Irish restaurant-bar, a friend recently ordered bangers and mash. She wanted to see the hype, she explained, and I watched with grim anticipation as she received, stared, ate, and sighed. I don't understand bangers and mash, delicious as a marriage of sausage and potatoes sound. I am similarly torn about eating brunch in gastropubs, as much as I love the idea of pubs with a real sense of place, style, and a bar that takes as much pride in the food they turn out as in the drinks they shill.

Brunch is a place of sunlight-thick windows, of airy rooms and airier hollandaises. But eating brunch at Blokes & Birds is a bit like eating in someone's hangover. It's dark, the tables are awkwardly placed, and running TVs are an incongruity. More importantly, a few of the chairs are dirty and sticky. The only thing worse than experiencing someone else's hangover is experiencing their walk of shame.

Fortunately, the food helps brighten the place up a bit. A banana nut muffin and a danish arrive, strangely without accompanying plates, a mistake that is never addressed even as our party sweeps up our own wayward crumbs. But the pastries and cucumber water are simple and refreshing. Then the benedict, topped with chewy prosciutto. It's tasty, though it lacks an acid foil and the brioche it sits on could be a good deal lighter and fluffier. Same for the french toast with peaches and cherries. It's dry enough that the dearth of sauce and fruit practically wave their arms at you.

Moister is the meat of the duck hash. It's a hearty portion, and it should be at a still overpriced $16. It's an umami battle I wouldn't run away from: tangles of duck confit, truffle and mushroom. But it compares unfavorably to the one at Longman & Eagle's, one of my favorite bites of last year. That one had duck eggs rolling with rich, flavorful yolks, crispier potatoes, and a welcome shotgun of green onions. That dish was both rich and bright, Bloke's was just rich. Which pretty much sums up my time there: solid, hearty brunch fare that could use a touch more precision, and a lot more light with the dark.

2/5 stars