Old Town Social - Brunch

Every month, I pick out a restaurant for a weekend brunch.  I invite a bunch of friends to come if they are interested and available.  Most of the time a few friends can make it but even if no one can make it, I still have a good brunch.  This month, I picked Old Town Social, a restaurant that is known, in their lunch and dinner hours for their housemade charcuterie and a seasonal menu with some pretty good bar food.  For brunch, they keep the seasonality and have a mostly savory menu but there are things there for those with a sweet tooth.  The main room is large and has a high ceiling with a long bar and several large flatscreen TVs.  There are several hightop tables and everything is done in light wood.  It looks like a sports bar in a chalet.  There is a smaller side room that is actually at the front of the building that is more like a social room with couches, coffee tables, and a fireplace.  There were also tables beside the windows and a couple of high tops near the entrance to the room where we sat.  What I didn't think about when I decided to come here is that Old Town Social is essentially a sports bar and when we came, they were televising European Premier league soccer with Barcelona playing the hated Real Madrid.  The place was full and was very loud due to the fans cheering the game and the atmosphere was electric due to the excitement of the rivalry.  None of us had a dog in the fight so it was interesting to pay attention to the game and the crowd's reactions to it.  We started our brunch with (besides coffee) one of the few sweet things on the menu, Beignets.  The beignets were light and full of air pockets with a crispy crust and a nice chew.  They were also covered in powdered sugar which made things a little messy if you weren't paying attention.  I wasn't paying attention and I ended up with a lapful of powdered sugar.  They were also really good with our good coffee.

We were all surprised when our main courses came because they were enormous.  One person ordered Grilled Sausage and Waffles, another ordered an Old Town Breakfast which included 2 each of eggs, sausage, pancakes, bacon, and a hash brown casserole.  I ordered what they called Eggs "Sardou" which, to me, was essentially an eggs benedict.  It came with a couple of Poached Eggs that were placed in Braised Artichokes and Spinach, placed on a couple of Whole Wheat Toast Halves and topped with Hollandaise Sauce.  Everything I tried was pretty good.  The artichokes were tender and flavorful, the spinach was cooked well and avoided being cooked to mush, and the hollandaise sauce added some salt and a little tartness.

The food here was good and the meal was fun.  While I would probably come back, I would check first to see if there were any major games being played when I want to come so I am not surprised again.