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    Brunch Review: Ethyl & Tank

    Of the empire that built The Crest, The Market Italian Village and Alchemy, Ethyl & Tank is the golden child.

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    Of course, good people can disagree. The ritzier, more artisan-y spots with gardens and gourmet fare have ardent supporters, and for good reason. All the same, there’s something to be said for a stop that makes pancakes as big as your head.

    Open for over a year, Ethyl & Tank is in the OSU zone, not far from the South Campus Gateway. Its design looks like it was conceptualized with college students in mind. Lots of TVs and tall counter tables plus side rooms and an upstairs area that make it easy to disappear.

    For the eating crowd, Sunday brunch presents a primo opportunity to check it out. It’s a typically low-activity time on any campus -and the Ethyl & Tank brunch menu offers a good merging of all of its offerings.

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    Let’s start easy: Tank Pancakes ($9). They’re huge, an order yields three that are the size of dinner plates. The fluffy flap jacks have a mild, malty, toasty flavor and they absorb the syrup like a sponge. It is too much to eat without discomfort, but that’s not a complaint . . . at all.

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    For more sophisticated sweets, there’s the Chicken & Waffle Sandwich ($8). It’s got a lot going on. Start in the middle with crunch-coated fried chicken topped with crispy bacon. It sits between poofy waffle shells, the top one has cheddar melded to its surface. All that is teamed with a touch of sublime mustardy-maple syrup to give it a little sophisticated complexity. The order comes with house hash; totally skippable. It’s not that the fried potatoes are awful, it’d just be a shame to invest stomach space in anything other than the sandwich.

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    Hash lovers will find more interest in the Sweet Potato Hash ($8). It’s little cubes of sweet potatos chopped up with tidy rings of breakfast sausage. The menu mentioned some missing-in-action-zucchini, but the taters-n-sausage combo is pretty good on its own. And as good as the hash is, it’s eclipsed with two painfully perfect fried eggs. They’re perched atop, with an idyllic sprinkle of salt and pepper to make them addictive.

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    Even the plain old Ethyl’s Eggs ($8) plate feels like a good score: you get eggs, hash, toast, crispy bacon AND sausage. There’s no agonizing decision between bacon and sausage; it comes with both.

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    For the Burger Crowd, there is a heavy, hearty Breakfast Burger ($9); a good pile of protein crowned with another perfect fried egg. The menu also offers more lunch-appropriate options such as pulled pork or a non-traditional cobb.

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    You can wash it down with a choice from the customizable Bloody Mary menu: pick an Absolut flavor (including cilantro or bacon), pick a mix, and then pick a garnish with choices that range from olives to pickled green beans. The joint also serves wine, cocktails and craft beers.

    You can find Ethyl & Tank at 19 E. 13th Ave. It’s open every single day of the week from 7am until 2am.

    For more information, visit www.ethylandtank.com.

    Photos by Walker Evans. Photos are taken at a different time than review, so discrepancies between photos and review may occur.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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