Wood - Brunch

Years ago there was a French Restaurant in Boystown that I really liked (despite the fact that I only went there twice and hadn't been there for a few years when it closed).  When it did close, I was sad, but as I said, I hadn't been there in a few years.  A new restaurant called Wood opened in it's place around 2012 and it has received high praise, receiving a Michelin Bib Gourmand (very good food at a value) in 2013, 2014, and 2015, but I still didn't go partially because I missed the other restaurant.  I did happen to come across Wood at a benefit that I was attending so I got an idea of what they did and I put them on my unofficial and always changing list of places to dine at.  A few months ago, they held a fundraiser for Secours Populaires Francaise, a French non-profit that fights poverty and tries to bring people together, after the terrorist attacks in Paris.  They invited several other restaurants to serve snacks with them.  While everything was good, I really enjoyed the stuff that they brought out.  This firmly convinced me that I needed to get here for a meal.  While I do plan on coming for dinner one evening, I recently came for brunch with some friends.  The space is long and narrow with a bar running the length of the dining room.  The kitchen is in the rear of the restaurant.  The space opposite the bar has several large, semi-circular booths with seats covered in white leather.  Our table, which was in the front of the restaurant, between the bar and the front window (and next to the entrance), was a large high topped wooden table that seated 6.  As one might expect from a restaurant named wood, there was a lot of wood in the design, with wood walls, hardwood floors, our wooden table, and the large wood bar.  We started things off with coffee and cocktails, they served Colombe Coffee and had my favorite breakfast cocktail, the Corpse Reviver #2 so I had one of each.  Looking over the menu, I saw that I could get both sweet and savory, so I ordered a Cinnamon Roll for the table.  It was a good thing that I ordered it for the table because it was enormous.  There were six people in our party and even after everyone taking a slice from it, I still ended up taking a third of it home.  The roll was soft and slightly spongy with a nice cinnamon flavor to it and wasn't exceptionally sweet (It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so).  It was topped with a cream cheese icing.  It was good as a sharing plate and as breakfast the next day.

 

For my main course, I went with something that was both sweet and savory by itself.  They had a set of breakfast sandwiches, Waffle, Corndog, English Muffin, and Biscuit.  I decided to go with the Waffle which had Fried Chicken, Bacon, and Honey Hot Sauce.  I should have expected it after seeing the cinnamon roll, but I was very surprised, when the sandwiches arrived , at their height.  I mused how I was going to eat them and I did actually try to squeeze one and get a bite out of it, but it was too big.  I ended up deconstructing them and eating the individual pieces separately which were very good on their own (although I did get sticky hands from the honey).  The waffle was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with a good fried flavor and the sweetness from the honey.  The chicken had a nice crispy breading, was very juicy on the inside, and had the flavor that good chicken should.  The bacon was crispy, sweet, bacony goodness.  I really enjoyed brunch here and I will have to return one day for dinner.  The space looks very nice, the staff is friendly, and the food is very good.