Drop it like it's hot!

Last Sunday  morning, after church but before the food truck rally (yeah, we had an epic eating day on Sunday), my wife and I decided to stop into The Drop to have one of these gigantic cinnamon rolls that we have been hearing about (since everyone and their brother has bought their brunch Groupon). You may know The Drop as the martini bar, that was co-founded by Ernesto from Blanc (which he has long since divested), that serves the edible cocktails. You may have even had their bruschettas during a happy hour, but you have probably not had their brunch (unless you bought, and used, the aforementioned Groupon), at least I hadn't.

A few area bars have what they call a "Hangover Brunch". Very few of them are well done, some push a bunch of stuff out on a buffet and go with quantity over quality *cough, Tomfooleries, cough*. With that being said, along with the fact that multiple Groupons had run for this place, I was not expecting too much from The Drop. I don't know if the fact that I was not expecting much led to this conclusion, but I was quite surprised with the brunch that we got. 

We walked in and ordered two mimosas. They were brought to us in stemless flutes, that we wouldn't mind having at home, but luckily for The Drop: this was not New Year's Eve 2009 (funny story that involves me getting busted trying to lift our midnight toasting flutes from a bar). The mimosas were legit (no Andre in these mimosas), not too sweet, not too strong. We sipped them and talked while listening to what was probably the best brunch mix ever! I don't know if it was Pandora or someone's mix, but it was perfect for brunch (mix of Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, and other young easy listening music).

Then came the giant cinnamon roll; it was huge. I estimate it to be the size of a large human face. As you can imagine, with a cinnamon roll that size, the outsides will get a bit crispy while waiting for the middle to get done. Myself, I am a ooey-gooey cinnamon roll guy, so I do not particularly care for the crispy outer layer. Despite the crispy outer layer, the roll was good. Not the best roll of all time, but good. What was great, however, was the frosting. The frosting was laced with cinnamon and pieces of pecan. While this may not have been the best cinnamon roll that I have ever had, it probably was the best cinnamon roll icing that I have ever had. The icing is so thick that it almost looks like gravy in the photo.

For entrees: I had the Croque Madame, my wife had the Crabcake Benedict, then we switched half way (as always). The crabcakes are topped with: prosciutto, poached egg, and white truffle honey hollandaise sauce. The crab cakes had way too much garlic for my taste, I don't know if this was a bad batch or if that is just the recipe. The rest of the dish was good, but with the crab cakes being the center of the dish, the rest of it is just auxiliary. The Croque Madame, on the other hand, was excellent! The Croque Madame was a capicola & gruyere sandwich in cheesy bechamel sauce, topped with a fried egg. I love anything with capicola on it and they were not stingy at all with the capicola (for those that don't know: Capicola is a spicy, salty, cured ham. It is basically what you would get if ham and pepperoni had a lovechild)! Add that to the nicely toasted bread, the melted gruyere cheese, what was essentially a cheesy gravy (bechamel sauce), and top that with a fried egg = brunch perfection. The yolks of the eggs on both dishes were perfectly runny. You also get your choice of sides, we got fried polenta bites and fruit salad. The polenta bites were like fried chunks of cheese grits (which is nice if you love grits like I love grits) and the fruit salad, well it's fresh fruit (pretty hard to that screw up, just don't let your fruit go bad), both very nice brunch selections.

My recommendation: Give The Drop and shot for brunch, while you are there, listen and see what I mean about the awesome "brunch" music. It's worth the price of admission and it's a really nice brunch spot.

P.S. Writing this made me realize how much the trolley going out of business has reduced my Martini Corner time, we will have to remedy that. We always used to run into Tech N9ne on that thing as well. R.I.P. Trolley!

Crossroads Coffee

This past Sunday, on our way to church, my wife wanted a cup of coffee. Realizing that we had yet to visit the nearby Crossroads Coffeehouse, I recommended that we go there. This turned out to be a fantastic decision!

With convenient parking out front, and adjacent, the Crossroads Coffeehouse (XRC) has a wonderfully convenient location. When you walk into XRC, you are greeted by a warm, slate-laden coffee bar. The walls are adorned with fantastic artwork (that I would hang on the walls of my home), created by local artists, and listed for a reasonable sale price (the most important part for us unpretentious). There is even a Central Perk-esque stage in the front window, where (if you listen really hard) you can even hear Phoebe Buffay singing "Smelly Cat". Okay, okay, that last part is not true, but you get what I am saying.

Upon approaching the bar, you see the numerous pastries (and on this particular Sunday - and with all likelihood, every Sunday - bountiful Quiche), sitting there, calling your name. This particular Sunday, I was able to resist, knowing that I had an upcoming week of gluttony ahead of me. However, I know that I will fall  victim to the sweet goodness of a XRC breakfast soon enough. Today was all about the coffee. 

Mi esposa went with the cappuccino. I, however, went with something more interesting (the Purple Haze). I tell you what: you put some crazy delicious concoction on your menu and give it a name that infers that its ingredients are slightly taboo, you will find your way onto this blog! The Purple Haze is essentially a latte with caramel, chocolate, and hazelnut flavours. I imagine that the "Purple" comes from the colour that comes from mixing chocolate and caramel. The "Haze" obviously comes from the hazelnut. The result is the richest and most unique coffee drink I have ever had in my life! 

The only question that I have left about XRC is why it took me so long to try it. They serve Chicago's famous Intelligentsia coffee. The ambiance is the perfect middle-ground between the hipster-packed low-end coffeehouses (that I also love, once the hipsters have gone to bed) and the big name chains (who's names will not be mentioned here). I honestly cannot imagine a more perfect coffeehouse, unless they served local coffee, but we will let that slide for now.