#3 Cheever’s Cafe

Cheever’s Cafe is in the Uptown 23rd neighborhood of Oklahoma City, a well-known dinner spot in the metro with a top-notch brunch menu.  One of my favorite things about my brunch adventures with Melanie has been the opportunities to try new places. Trying new restaurants can be a little scary sometimes, and Cheever’s has always been intimidating to me. But, it was anything but. It was warm, inviting, comfy, and delicious. The cafe has huge windows and beautiful art deco design, and has a fun back story. The restaurant is named after L.L.Cheever, the husband of the first baby born in Oklahoma territory, Oklahoma Bell Cunningham. The Cheever family turned the Cunningham family home into a flower shop, hence the “Flowers” sign the building still bears.

Saturday brunch is fairly busy, so making reservations is a good idea. The Brunch Brigaders, in one of our brief flashes of brilliance, did indeed make reservations and were seated immediately. Cheever’s, beautiful restaurant that it is, gives you rolls before your meal. I love bread. I. Love. Bread. I ordered a mimosa – classic and tart. Melanie ordered Brunch Punch, aptly named.

Melanie also ordered the fried chicken and waffles (we love waffles, can you tell?). Cheever’s makes their waffles with cornmeal.

Do you see those rolls…I mean waffles? 

I (Allison) ordered the Cowgirl Benedict. Isn’t it beautiful? Fried potatoes are the foundation for chicken fried steak, fried egg, red chile hollandaise, all topped with avocado. It is a creative and delicious Oklahoma twist on traditional brunch fare.

To close, a shout out to Melanie, who is a delightful friend. Thank you for loving brunch and loving our fair city.

#2 Waffle Champion

Greetings! The Brunch Brigaders, on our quest to eat all the brunch in OKC, decided to visit one of fair city’s mainstays, Waffle Champion.  Located in Midtown, this charming local waffle hub offers lots of options for waffle toppings, savory or sweet. I’ve tried a variety of toppings, and sweet is your best option. You can choose between classic (buttermilk) waffles or liege (Belgian)  waffles. They are served on small cookie sheets (or jelly pans?They are the same thing, right?), with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Apparently they now carry something called a Wonut, which I think makes them eligible for some sort of Nobel prize. They also serve Elemental Coffee, a great complement to your waffle choices. They now even have a WAFFLE WINDOW open late. Waffle Champion is popular; there is usually a line out the door, so you know it is a good choice. Seating can be a bit chaotic, but the staff take good care of you.

It was a beautiful October Saturday morning and we were able to sit outside. As you can see, I was thrilled about my waffles.

I (Allison) ordered my “usual:” a classic waffle with lemon curd, fresh berries, and bourbon blackberry preserves. It is a little tart, a little sweet, and a perfect breakfast.

Melanie ordered Waffle French Toast, with vanilla bean frosting, whiskey caramel, and cinnamon sugar pecans. YUM.

We are the true champions, my friends, because we have tasted goodness.

#1 Kitchen 324

The Brunch Brigaders LOVE Kitchen 324. As OKC lifers (we’ve lived here basically our whole lives), we are unaccustomed to the possibility of  fun and yummy restaurants in downtown OKC. I was so intimidated by this restaurant initially, but it actually a wonderful, welcoming, and delicious place.

As I wrote earlier, this is one of Melanie and I’s favorites, so we decided to start our Brunch Brigade experiment at Kitchen 324. A quick history: Kitchen 324 is at 324 N. Robinson in downtown Oklahoma City. According to their website, it was the location of Paul Braniff’s airline offices – it is a fun part of Oklahoma aviation’s history. It is a gorgeous building, with big street level windows, which lets in lots of natural light. It is in the heart of the city, with an easy walk to the Oklahoma City Memorial, which is always worth visiting.

Kitchen 324 is usually very busy, so be prepared to wait. We arrived at 9:30, but were seated immediately outside, which was marvelous. I really love our little big city.

Melanie’s Order:  Fried Green Tomato Benedict, her favorite. English muffins, fried green tomatoes, poached eggs, and hollandaise – a delicious twist on the original eggs benedict.

Allison’s Order:  Kitchen Green Eggs and Ham (do you like green eggs and ham?), which is English muffins, topped with prosciutto, arugula, poached egg, and pesto. SO good.

Drinks: We got iced mochas, which you’ll find is a pretty standard drink for us. Kitchen 324 always has fantastic coffee.

Service: Attentive and kind.

Price: $$, a little expensive, but worth it.

Setting: Peaceful, for being in the city (but it was Saturday, so that makes sense). Be prepared for chatty runners and bikers, families, and lots of hip millennials who make me feel old even though I am a millennial. You can wear athletic wear or a dress – it is a fun and comfortable place.

When you eat at Kitchen 324, OKC feels real – like a grown-up, established, authentic, slightly-glamorous-but-still-down-to-earth city. That sounds a little strange, but this brunch is magical, y’all.

 

 

 

 

 

The Beginning

Melanie and I have always loved to brunch…or at least eat breakfast. We ate at iHop  frequently  in high school and college. This is fairly typical of millennials for some reason. Maybe we are so jaded by the cold Captain-Crunch-and-Cheerios cereal breakfasts of our childhoods, and long for the fulfillment of good and hot morning brunch.

Or maybe we just really like pancakes and mimosas. And that it is completely acceptable to eat breakfast food anytime between 7am-2pm.

I moved back to OKC last summer, so I get to see my besty much more often! On Saturday mornings, we would try to decide where to go to brunch, and always choose Kitchen 324. This is never a bad option, because it is one of my favorite restaurants. We realized that OKC has so many wonderful brunch spots that we had never tried, so we are on a mission to visit the best brunch places in our lovely city. We order something different, try fun coffee, chat about life, and take time to just be friends and eat good food. We chose the name “The Brunch Brigade,” inspired by the Life or Death Brigade from Gilmore Girls. We aren’t fictional Yale students, we don’t drop off scaffolding with umbrellas, and we don’t steal yachts, but we do love brunch.

We hope that our small adventures inspire you to take your own. We also LOVE suggestions, so let us know about your favorite brunch places.

In omnia…brunch. (loosely translated: “in all…brunch.”)

 

 

 

 

Galentine’s Brunch

“What’s Galentine’s Day? Only the best day of the year!” – Leslie Knope

The great Leslie Knope founded Galentine’s Day – it’s all about “ladies celebrating ladies.” Melanie and I decided to throw a Galentine’s Day Brunch. We used e-vites, which felt a little boring, but also strangely adult-ish. Melanie and I have been friends for almost 15 years, and have different groups of friends. We thought that this was a fun time to bring friend groups together. It was a grand time of waffles, women’s history trivia, and gal pal time!

We wanted to obviously use lots of pink, gold, black, and white. We used white tablecloths, my parents’ china,  with black and white striped runners (just two yards of fabric folded – nothing too fancy!). Melanie arranged pink roses, and my awesome mom made us pink napkins.

Melanie is brilliant and talented, and created such beautiful tables and a photo backdrop for our guests. She does lovely calligraphy, and made the place cards and cards with quotes of Leslie’s hilariously sweet compliments to her BFF Ann Perkins. She also made a backdrop out of a white sheet, with a fun pink garland.

And what is Galentine’s Day without waffles? I got a heart waffle maker on sale on Amazon. This waffle iron is apparently meant to make traditional Norwegian waffles (Vaffler), so not the thicker Belgian style.

We made red velvet waffles too, but they weren’t anything special. They turned out a pink-brown ombre color, and were rather bland.  We had lots of yummy toppings for our waffles – homemade whipped cream, syrup, peanut butter, Nutella, berries, pink sprinkles, cream cheese glaze, lemon curd, and powdered sugar. My favorite combos were lemon curd and berries (my favorite combination at Waffle Champion), and Nutella with cream cheese glaze.

The cream cheese glaze is a recipe worth re-creating.

Cream Cheese Glaze

• 1/3 cup of butter (softened)
• 6 oz. cream cheese (softened)
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla paste (it is a richer flavor than vanilla extract!

These are estimates, so alter if consistency or flavor is a bit off. Throw all this in the mixer and beat until smooth and combined.

We made heart shaped bacon as well, which is harder than it sounds. Cut the bacon slices in half, then in half again longways. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Make hearts with the thin strips (1/4 strip of bacon). These took about 20 minutes to bake in a 400º oven. I had a few burn and few not cook very well, so just pay attention. You can’t really go wrong, because even if they look like blobs, it’s still bacon.

My mom also helped by making her aunt’s breakfast casserole – an older recipe that is super easy and incredibly delicious. The only catch is that you have to refrigerate overnight, but that cuts down on prep time for morning brunch!

Aunt Dee’s Breakfast Casserole

• 1 lb. ground sausage
• 12 eggs
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 slices of white bread (just cheap white bread!) 

Cook and drain sausage. Cut off crusts of white bread, and cube. Mix all ingredients together, and pour into a greased 9×13 casserole. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator overnight. Bake uncovered at 350º for about 50 minutes. Let stand before serving. This is obviously best when hot, so don’t let it sit too long. 

Melanie made Pioneer Woman’s iced coffee, which we served in mason jars with cute striped straws. We had cream, and also…get ready for it… SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK, which was, as you would expect, amazing.

It was genuinely hard to find a good pink mimosa recipe. What a tragedy, y’all. Our solution: just find fun juice and pink champagne. Like the bacon, it is difficult to get mimosas wrong. We bought the traditional OJ, an orange strawberry banana juice (this made a pretty sunset color when blended with the pink champagne), and a mixed berry juice. We let our guests make their own!

I was in charge of Galentine’s Bingo, full of famous and inspiring women. Don’t let a history major do this, because it was way too fun for me and I may have put some fairly obscure early church women on the list (Galentine’s Bingo Clues). I used this fun photo bingo card generator , and it worked like a dream. We all learned about Sandra Day O’Connor (first female Supreme Court Justice), Marie Curie (the first woman to win a Nobel Price and only woman to win it twice), Perpetua (a Christian martyr from the third century),  Malala (advocate for education and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize), and many others.

My dad’s barbershop quartet also stopped by to deliver us a singing valentine. They are the best.

Most importantly, we just had fun hanging out with each other! We had get-to-know-you questions on each table, since we were mixing friend groups. Friendship is one of the greatest graces we are given, and I am grateful for any opportunity to celebrate gal pals! Look at these poetic and noble land-mermaids!

 

 

 

 

 

Your Brunch Brigaders

Well, hello there! We are The Brunch Brigade!We are two best friends living in the best city in the world (Oklahoma City, duh). We are neither professional food critics, nor professional photographers. We eat food and we like it. We love our city.

We want to share our favorite brunch spots, our wonderful city, and our top-notch recipes with you.

viam ad cibum 

(the road to food)