Cafe Robey - Brunch

 

When I first came to Chicago the place that I kept coming back to was the 6 corner intersection at Damen, North, and Milwaukee in Wicker Park.  For a long time, the tallest building on that corner was a 12 story triangular Art Deco building named the Northwest Tower, or more popularly known as The Coyote building (The spire at the top is said to resemble the upturned nose of a baying coyote).  It was mostly empty most of the time, though it was used for gallery space by local artists who would open up once or twice a year for the Around the Coyote Festival.  Most of the gallery space in the area was in the Flatiron Building on the opposite corner.  Because it was mostly empty, it did get pretty shabby and there was talk of demolishing the building for new construction.  The neighborhood was very against this, so that idea was quashed and it was eventually bought and turned into the boutique hotel, The Robey.  The first floor of the triangular space (the hotel also took over and converted a storage building into part of the hotel) is occupied by Cafe Robey, a neighborhood restaurant with a very French bistro feel.  There is a door on the corner of the building that would open into the cafe, but it is unused.  The actual entrance is inside the hotel off a passageway on the wide side of the building that runs between doors on North and Milwaukee.  The entrance is closer to the Milwaukee side.  The check-in desk to the hotel is also off of this passageway and there was also a lot of Art Deco ornamentation.  The host station is immediately inside the entrance and the small bar is just past that on the right.  The space for the liquor is small, but there is a good selection.  The kitchen is immediately behind the bar and can be seen through the liquor cabinets.  The space is triangular with a narrow area beside the bar for seating looking out to Milwaukee Ave. widening out to a triangular dining area looking out to both Milwaukee and North Aves.  The third wall is occupied by the bar kitchen and entrance.  While it is kind of a small space, because of the windows looking out on both sides, it looks spacious.

I started things out with some coffee.  There were a lot of interesting looking things on the menu, and coffee, being something you can find at any pace serving breakfast or brunch, was a given.  The coffee was by local roaster, Colectivo.  For my food, as I said, there were several interesting things on the menu, so I ordered several things.  For good or bad, they all arrived at once.  I had the Banana Bread with fresh Whipped Butter, one of the better Fruit Salads that I have had, and a Lyonnaise Benedict with Bacon, Frisee, Black Truffles, Poached Eggs, and Hollandaise Sauce on English Muffins.  The Banana Bread was soft, fresh, and sweet with a good banana flavor and some walnuts.  With the butter, it was excellent.  The Fruit Salad had Strawberries, Pineapple, Grapes, and Blueberries, which were all fresh and very flavorful.  The best thing about the Fruit Salad, though, was that it had no Cantaloupe.  The Benedict was very complex and very good.  Everything was all very good and I enjoyed my meal here.  I will definitely return.