Brunch at Public House (a review).

If you are in the city and thinking about brunch on a weekend coming up, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest Public House in River North. Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a Chicago Food Bloggers event to taste a sampling of the restaurant's brunch menu options. I have been to Public House a few times for dinner and drinks after work, but had never tried their brunch before. I'll definitely be back!

Executive Chef Jeremy Tannehill introduced the menu items we would be tasting, and explained why we were there - he aims for Public House "to be known as more than just a bar" and wanted to showcase the brunch and house-made meats. Public House has been open since 2010 and everything served is made from scratch, with the exception of ketchup and mayo. All meats are prepared in-house, including the pork sausage, maple bacon, and turkey sausage that was available for the tasting. I admit I am not a meat connoisseur, but the samples I tried were tasty. Our brunch included smaller versions of a number of brunch options; you can find the full brunch menu online.

My sweets plate, from the top ~ Parfait Pint with greek yogurt, Sticky Cinnamon Bun, and Donut Fried French Toast:

The Sticky Bun was my absolute favorite. It tasted just like my mother's caramel rolls, but with even more sauce {vanilla butter cream, more please} and pecans for extra garnish. I placed the Parfait as my third favorite, because it included really tasty granola with a bit of extra sweetness {maple syrup?}

The savory options I tried included the Crab Cake Benedict, and a Breakfast Sandwich with Maple Bacon:

 

Both were delicious, but the Benedict was my favorite. The crab cake was perfectly cooked and you could actually pick out crab pieces; I appreciated that it wasn't mushy. There was also a tiny poached egg on top for our small version of this brunch option, served in a mini cast iron skillet. Loved that. The breakfast sandwich came on a squishy, perfectly cooked sourdough boulet, with a tasty arugula salad included on top of the eggs and maple bacon.

The restaurant also brought out full serving examples to photograph, which was really fun and gives you an idea of what you will get if you try brunch on a regular day. Here are the full-size versions of my three favorites {clearly the Sticky Cinnamon Bun is meant to be shared!}:

Thank you to Public House* for the tasty eats and the experience!

{*I received a free brunch tasting (+ coffee!) through an invitation from Chicago Food Bloggers, but did not receive compensation for reviewing Public House. All opinions are my own.}