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    Restaurant Review: BLunch

    The conversation about Brunch and Drunch and now BLunch has already occurred a million times. Having tried the first one in a variety of places and the second one a few months ago, hitting BLunch was fairly inevitable. There’s a bit of a trick to timing a visit at the newbie. While brunches generally, and Drunch in particular, might have expansive hours, BLunch is open on weekdays only until 2 p.m. No complaints, as the constraint makes sense for a breakfast and lunch operation.

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    Inside the doors, BLunch is a bright spot, in happy yellows and blues with whimsical murals on the wall. The staff is equally sunny and eager to please.

    BLunch has an ambitious menu; there’s a lot to take in. The variety of pancakes alone is somewhat astounding. It’s not your regular choices of what sorts of things to put in your pancakes (chocolate chips or blueberries, for example). The menu features entirely distinct pancake concepts. Case in point, contrast the Bananas Foster Pancakes ($9.50) with the Blueberry Lemon Ricotta (9.50) offering. Any time Bananas Foster anything appears on any local menu, it inspires a secret hope that the table-side delivery will involve classical open flames. Alas, no fiery deliveries, but the combo itself did not disappoint in the eating department. Uncommonly tender pancakes are topped with a slushy brown sugar syrup and slices of bananas with a demure little scoop of ice cream on top.

    Then there are the Blueberry Lemon Ricotta pancakes. They sound prissy and fancy but deliver the same primal appeal of any breakfast binge food, featuring teeny clots of ricotta and a lattice-work of two toppings, one blueberry, the other a lemon cream. In the end, it’s a rich, satisfying, and super-sweet combo.

    For those who cannot decide what sort of pancake to get, there’s an option to do a flight that includes the aforementioned versions, plus a sweet potato pancake too.

    The Huevos Rancheros ($9.50) deliver a sophisticated element to the menu. The description hints at this perhaps, with a reference to a fresh-fried hand-shaped masa foundation. The little fried fritter crackles and crunches, cradling the weight of perfect over-easy eggs and smudges of black beans and avocado salsa, plus crumbles of queso fresco. While fancy, it still delivers the heartiness and approachability of any egg dish.

    The Breakfast Garbage Plate ($12.00) was the only strike-out on the first adventure. It’s not that the name inspired any sort of expectation other than a lush landscape piled high with breakfast foods. Visually, the kitchen delivers that landscape: fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, chorizo, cheese, bacon and a Cajun sauce. There’s a relentlessly spicy heat though, either from the chorizo or the ubiquitous sauce. The aggressive kick burns more than you’d typically want from a breakfast platter.

    There are some interesting side meat options on the menu. The list includes things you might expect (smoked salmon and country ham), as well as ones that are less typical: blueberry sausage and soyrizo. The Chicken Sausage ($1.75) comes in plump, lean links that deliver every ounce of traditionally briny breakfast sausage satisfaction.

    BLunch hosts a full bar, so you can score drinkables on the lines of a Bloody Mary decked out with bacon or a Mimosa made with sparkling prosecco.

    You’ll find BLunch at 2973 N. High St. It’s open until 2 p.m. on weekdays and 2:30 p.m. on weekends.

    For more information, visit blunchcolumbus.com

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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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