Southport and Irving SIP - Brunch

For brunch this month, we went to a Wine Bar/Market/ Restaurant with one of the most obvious names ever.  SIP Southport and Irving Restaurant is located at the corner of Southport and Irving Park with the entrance to the wine bar right at the corner.  There is a second entrance to the main dining room on Southport, but most of us did not know this and entered the main dining room through the bar via a long winding hall.  The building is an old brick building obviously divided between the bar and the dining area.  The floor is hardwood as is the bar and furniture.  The hall to the dining room is darker and has several turns before getting to the host station which is where the entrance to the dining room also is.  The dining room is laid out like a market (which it is) with several large wine racks in the middle of the room as well as on the front wall.  There are also several large communal tables made of a heavy wood along the walls.  There are also smaller tables between the wine racks.  The seats along the wall used a padded banquette with a hardwood bench seat.  The drink menu features the usual coffee, tea and orange juice, as well as beer, wine, and cocktails.  There were a few cocktails ordered, and I was interested in the Espresso cocktail, but I decided to go with a cup of coffee, which was good, but not terribly notable.  The food menu was divided into Sweets, Eggs, and Lunch.  As I like to try both sweet and savory for brunch, I started things off with an order of Beignets for the table.  The order was served on a piece of slate and came with four beignets which were covered in powdered sugar and served with a buttery sweet dipping sauce.  While they had a lightly crusty exterior and a very airy interior, they were pretty big.  This is not a complaint.  I was happily surprised to see how big they were.  While we had 9 people at the table, one plate was sufficient for all of us.

My main course was also listed under Sweets, but I think that that was only because it couldn't easily be included under eggs (my order did come with eggs, but that was an extra charge) and it almost certainly was not Lunch.  I had Chicken and Waffles with 4 Buttermilk Waffles, Cajun Fried Chicken, and 2 Eggs, served to order which, for me, was Over Medium).  It was served with Harissa Honey which I poured over everything and added a sweet and slightly flavor.  The chicken was crisp and crunchy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside.  The breading did have some spice to it, but it probably could have used a little more.  The eggs though, were cooked perfectly.

I enjoyed brunch here, the atmosphere was rustic, the staff was friendly, and the food was good.  There was a hiccup in the service of one of my friend's orders, but, while it did take a little more time, they were very apologetic and took it off the bill.  I would happily return for brunch and I might want to try it for dinner sometime.