Sable Kitchen and Bar - Brunch

Located in the Hotel Palomar, Sable Kitchen and Bar is more well known for their cocktails than they are for their food.  Having said that, having dined here for dinner, I will say that they seem to care as much about their food as they do their drink.  As it's located in a hotel, they are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Sable has been noted as having one of the better brunches around town, so I decided to try it out.  Located on a corner, the space is narrow and deep with the bar in front and the dining room further in.  The walls along the front and the side fronting the road are large floor to ceiling windows.  The host's station is in a narrow space between the bar and the dining room.  While you can eat in the bar area at the bar or at one of the high tops, because Sable is so well known for their cocktails, I think they would prefer people who are dining to sit in the dining room.  The bar is long and classic looking, black, and wooden, with high leather padded seats.  The dining room is split by a banquette in the middle with two tops next to the window and more seating on the side of the open kitchen.  The banquette is padded white leather, very comfortable and is where we sat.  As Sable is known for their cocktails, I decided to go with my favorite, The Last Word, to see how they do it.  The Last Word consists of equal parts Gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino Liqueur, and Lime Juice shaken with ice.  It is tart and herbal and is generally served with a Maraschino Cherry.  There also seems not to be a standard glass in which to serve it, because I have had it in a Martini Glass, Rocks Glass, or a Coupe.  Here it was served in a white wine glass.  In any case, it was refreshing and a good Brunch Cocktail.

The brunch menu has the standard eggs, omelette, pancakes, French Toast, and a burger for those people who aren't wanting breakfast.  These all looked good and many seemed to have a twist to step up their games a little, but I was interested in three dishes, the Filipino Breakfast Plate, Chicken and Waffles (with Tabasco Maple Syrup), and the Crab Cake Benedict, which is what I chose.  The standard Egg Benedict is an English Muffin topped with Canadian Bacon, a Poached Egg, and topped with Hollandaise Sauce.  The Crab Cake Benedict replaced the Canadian Bacon with a very good Crab Cake, changed the regular Hollandaise with Avocado Hollandaise, and added Arugula.  Simple and classic Hash Browns were served on the side.  The crab cakes were slightly crispy on the outside and had a nice crab flavor.  The arugula was very fresh, a little bitter, and peppery, and went well with the crab cake and while the green avocado hollandaise did look a little odd, it tasted good and went well with the crab.

The cocktail menu for Sable is literally a book with over a hundred cocktails offered.  Looking through the book, I came across a drink that looked to me, like a Mezcal version of The Last Word, so I thought I would try it to compare the two.  Called Abbey Road, it consisted of Mezcal, Green Chartreuse, Cynar, Lemon, and Egg White.  When I think of Abbey Road, I think of The Beatles and there was nothing about this drink that reminded me of The Beatles.  The Mezcal made it smoky instead of the herbal that you would get from gin.  I imagine that the Cynar was used instead of Maraschino to moderate the smoke with some bitter, and the egg white was used to moderate it all.  I will say that while not bad, I much prefer The Last Word.

Overall, I enjoyed brunch here and I would freely return.  I was surprised to find that the entire cocktail menu was available for brunch, but it was good and it gave me a chance to try something new.