Hollandaise-drenched benedicts, Bloody Marys so strong they could wake the namesake queen right out of her English grave, yolky eggs on everything—brunch is not for the faint of cholesterol. That’s not to say that it isn’t the only weekend meal that matters. (But it kind of really is.) Or that sleuthing out the most interesting brunches in Dallas isn’t a thrill. (It definitely is.) But believe when I say I had to take a break from toasts and eggs after doing the legwork for our latest brunch feature, “The New Way to Brunch in Dallas,” which goes live today.
This particular brunch feature has an interesting origin story. It was actually my first service piece that I worked on at the start of 2020, not long after D hired me. I had popped the yolk of many eggy dishes. I had sussed out the biscuits. I had drunk many an espresso cocktail. Then the world shut down, essentially. Which is to say, much of the brunches I enjoyed were put on indefinite hold and this story was shelved.
That is, until this year, when it time to revive and revisit it. As D dining critic Eve Hill-Agnus and I delved back into this research, we found a brunch scene very much alive and very much different. Some brunches, sadly, never came back. But as new restaurants opened, interesting takes on what brunch even is emerged.
Yes, pancakes and French toast and veg-packed omelets still reign. Yet it was great to see Argentine breakfast sausage (at Chimichurri, in the Bishop Arts District) and deep-fried breakfast burritos (Thunderbird Station, at the edge of Deep Ellum) arrive to go beyond the basic definition of brunch.
Cocktails, too, took an inventive turn. I like a mimosa and spicy Bloody Mary as much as the next person, but then Tulum delivered us a tomatillo Bloody Mary, and Xamán Cafe said, Hold my Carajillo, and made a whole menu of coffee cocktails. (Don’t fret, though, we have a whole mimosa list for those who want ones made with fresh juice or come in drink flights.)
It’s this sort of playful, buck-the-rules approach that gave us 12 Must-Eat Brunches in Dallas alongside a roster of Brunch Mainstays that traffic in comforting classics. We delve into how dim sum gave us the brunch buffet blueprint, and explain how you shouldn’t overlook soup for brunch—from congee to menudo, these are long-cherished morning meals.
So, grab your brunch crew and get to eating—with a little help from “The New Way to Brunch in Dallas” story here.
