Sunday Brunching: Mill City Cafe

I love brunch. It may just be my favorite meal. The whole ritual of sleeping in til 10 or so, throwing some clothes on and meeting up with friends (perhaps the same ones you were hanging out with just hours before) for bloody mary's, mimosas, coffee, lots of water, yummy brunch food and hilarious, hungover convos is a winning combination. If Jeff and I go alone, we usually just read the New York Times and chuckle at The Onion, comfortable to sip coffee and catch up on the real and fake news in (partial) silence. But it's more fun with friends, so yesterday we met up with a few of ours at Mill City Cafe (photo 2) and its definitely one of the best brunch spots in town - probably my new favorite. I had many cups of coffee, a fab Bloody Mary w beer chaser and Ecuadorian eggs - Black Beans with tomato, onion and cilantro, topped with 2 fried eggs, Monterey Jack and sour cream ~ served with roasted potatoes, mango-habañero salsa and flour tortillas....welcome to Yum-town. They have an awesome patio and its right across the river in NE Minneapolis so I plan to go there a lot this summer. Outdoor brunching is the best.

Brunching with friends is not a weekend must-do/citywide weekend past time here like it is in bigger cities. Jeff and I used to roll out of bed to meet friends for brunch all the time in San Francisco - Home (photo 3) and Ella's were always favorite spots. But, brunching is so popular in SF that there's usually a fairly long wait at every place, so you have to pick up a coffee on the way and do some window shopping while you wait. And if its a sunny day and you want to sit outside on a patio for brunch, forgetaboutit. Last time we were in NYC we stayed at the amazing and luxurious Soho Grand, which is literally on a block that is America's Brunch HQ - Soho is filled with charming little brunch spots just begging to serve you a few mimos and a hollaindaise drenched eggs benny. We went to Lucky Strike and it did not disappoint. My favorite brunch spot of all might just be Cafe Mimosa in San Clemente - they have every type of mimo you can imagine from boysenberry to pomegrante and an incredible menu featuring local and sustainable foods from The OC. Gnarly, brah.

I've decided to make brunching with friends a must-do every weekend and not just head to the Bulldog NE with El Jefe for black bean burgers and salad, as good as it is. There are dozens of awesome places to brunch in Minneapolis, and I intend to discover each and every one of them.