Brunch -- it's the most wonderful meal of the week. What's not to love about the combination of breakfast and lunch that's not only an excuse to eat anything and everything bad for you, but happens to be accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol? Nothing. We love everything about brunch. Especially when we don't have to wait till Sunday Funday to have it.
At the Mondrian, brunch comes a day early. So head over on Saturday and munch, all while hanging out poolside and sipping on Mary's the entire bloody day.
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"Dig In" brunch is on Saturday's only. "We didn't want to compete with the already established Sunday brunch crowd," said Mondrian Food and Beverage Manager Mariana Loumiet. "So we thought why not make Saturday brunch our thing?"
Walk through the Mondrian's lobby and you'll immediately notice the Bloody Mary bar, designed for you to create your own libation. Pick from one of three sizes of Absolut -- half ($50) or full carafe ($75), or splurge on a bottle for $200. Then take your booze to the smorgasbord-style bar where you can pick and choose from spices, pickles, peppers, tomatoes, meats, and a variety of olives to spruce up your concoction. A plethora of hot sauces let's you heat things up to whatever degree you find tolerable.
Other drinks include a strawberry basil lemonade with Grey Goose Le Citron that's as refreshing as it is boozy and a cucumber cooler with Bombay Sapphire, muddled cucumber and St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. All drinks will set you back $16.
As you sit outside and jam out to the soulful beats by the rotating selection of DJs, dig in to the menu. The name, "Dig In" actually came from the DJs, and on our visit, there were talks of changing things up to serving food on records -- that would be an interesting way to spin the food.
Talking about food, Mondrian's brunch is egg heavy, and that's a good thing. Turkish eggs, eggs benedict, and egg white frittata all grace the menu. We were intrigued by the smoked pork belly croquette ($11) though. Though there's no mention of egg in the name, this bad boy tops a smoked pork belly colossal croqueta with olive oil poached eggs. Underneath, there's cheddar cheese grits. It's the brunch dish you've been looking for your entire life.
More eggs, Cuban style. No croqueta here, but the "Cuban eggs" ($11) showcases fried eggs elegantly. Salsa roja and saffron aioli make it saucy, and the eggs are perfect. What more could you ask for out of a Cuban egg dish? That's right, beans. It's got that too.
No brunch is quite complete without waffles, especially when said waffles are paired with fried chicken. Mondrian's version fries their chicken in harissa buttermilk and tops it with ricotta and a honeycomb so scrumptious that it would attract bears ($12).
More of a pancake person? Opt for the lemon ricotta variety with warm Florida honey ($8). There's also fried peanut butter French toast with BBQ pork ribs and salt and vinegar chips.
With the most expensive menu item at $14 (the Mondrian burger), the Saturday "Dig In" brunch is truly worthy of, well, digging in.
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