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If there is anything I love more than brunch, it would have to be a good film. Bring together a director with a lot of heart, a cast that’s fresh and that works together and finish with an ending that leaves your audience with something to talk about - that’s a winning solution for sure. Similarly, find a great chef, the perfect blend of ingredients and add in something that makes your guest want to come back - that’s the formula for a great brunch, and one you can readily find at Sinema, a renovated theater-turned-high scale eatery.
Sinema is that something special I’ve been saving for a rainy day, and this past Sunday, wouldn’t you know it, was raining something fierce, watering down the after-church lines and giving us a next to nothing wait. After dashing in the doorway, before I knew it, I found myself sitting under a beautiful photo of Babs, leaning into deep purple velvet and naming off all the old Hollywood film stars on all the posters on all the walls surrounding us to my lover man. Over the front door there is always a film being projected, and for the best viewing, you’ll want to go up to the balcony.
It’s odd for me to look at a brunch menu and not order biscuits and mimosas just on instinct. Beyond belief, there aren’t any real “biscuits” to be found [they have a scallion biscuit, but if I’m eating bread, it should taste like home made bread] - that said, if you can’t deliver a biscuit, you better have something worth my time as a replacement. Sinema offers a few options to “break bread” with, but the queen of them all has to be the Bacon-stuffed Honey Buns.
Yes.
Bacon. Stuffed.
I’ll let you think on that for a minute. Baked to perfection, the bacon and warm doughy buns unite so well, and you can slide a little honey butter for a sweet finish.
We savored these airy and savory treats, drinking perfect cups of coffee and finishing with the complimentary house made biscotti that appeared. That all in itself could have been it’s own light breakfast, but, baby, this is brunch time, and we go all in. To that end, we put in our orders - me for The Usual and him for his Chi-town Crepedilla. As always, our orders spoke to our individuality; The Usual is 3 Eggs any style, house potatoes, bacon or sausage and toasted baguette pieces, which sounds like it could please anyone, from picky eaters to your Grandma who would rather have gone to Waffle House because she couldn’t imagine paying the money you and I are willing to shill out for a good brunch, God bless her. The Chi-town Crepedilla arrives as buckwheat crepes, one on top and one on bottom, creating a new-school quesadilla feel with cheddar, italian sausage, roasted peppers, giardiniera (fancy words for pickled veggies), an egg and a smidge of aioli.
My order may have sounded simple, but each item was made with very rich flavors - the eggs felt like they had been made with the kind of butter you would get when you joined an International Butter of the Month club. The house potatoes were seasoned and light, instead of anything fried or heavy. The bacon was thick and meaty, not overdone or your usual skinny strips. It was a lot of food and it all felt like I had struck a jackpot of brunch foods.
The man, unfortunately was not as happy. The eggs and sausage were done perfectly and balanced well with the aioli. His pan fried crepes were a little oil heavy, and when he asked about it we found that his was the last order they made that day - because they had sold out of the Crepedillas that day. And remember this was a slow day … in other words, we decided that we somehow had still arrived too late [at noon] and need to be early birds next time to get a better understanding of how that dish should have come out.
The bonus story this week would have to be the ladies’ bathroom - I even made the boy sneak back with me and peek in to this retro glam gem that was a restoration piece from the old theater days this building once had. Soft gold glitter wallpaper, light pieces that are straight from a Mad Men set, and a huge pouf settee for sitting around and thinking about how chic you are.
This place made me dream about velvet crush curtains, low lighting, gold shimmery seating and all things glamorous. It truly enabled me to feel as though I was in a totally different place and different time. I’d love to come back for the sequel for a re-taste of the boy’s crepes, and perhaps to do a tasting of all the Daily Breads. I just need a high level of flour, butter and milk on a weekly basis - why not do it at a place that offers a special menu just for that? For the sense of being somewhere much more sparkly than wherever you drove from, for the same old made new sense of re-invention and for the made you look twice decor, this felt very Dave Bowie, circa “Space Oddity” - comfortably nostalgic yet very much an escape from reality.
