i try not to get too excited about new friends because i end up building them up in my head and then getting disappointed, but laura is awesome! laura, if you are reading this, i am sorry that i may be building you up in my head. it is just nice to meet someone else who lives here in cincinnati and does not quite fit in here.
basically the way i feel about cincinnati is that it is really a great, fun, cheap place to live, provided that you are on the "i want to get married and have 2.5 kids and buy a house and have 2.5 dogs and 2.5 american made cars and hang out with my friends from high school until i die" plan. if you are not, you are kind of screwed. this used to bother me a lot and it has actually taken me a really long time to get used to. however, my approach recently has been to consider myself on an extended study abroad in which i have been sent to a foreign land to learn and appreciate the local culture, even if i myself do not embrace it. so far, this is working for me and ever since i have opened my mind a little more to appreciating cincinnati's quirks, i have found myself meeting a lot more cool people. like laura! who i promise not to build up in my head (too much).
this is supposed to be a food blog though so i will get back to the food.
the food at chez nora is pretty good. i had been there once before maybe 8-9 months ago with some coworkers. i actually can't remember what i had i think because i was drunk. i don't remember if i liked it or not. what i do remember about it is that i thought it was an old people's place. and it still is. the decor seems to date somewhere from the late 80s-early 90s (pastel vinyl flowered tablecloths, pink walls, elaborate light fixtures, etc.) which just kind of weirds me out a little.
however, the food really is better than you would expect from a place with such dated decor. laura and i both got the eggs benedict, and it was pretty much everything you want from an eggs benedict. runny eggs (and i didn't even have to ask for that - you usually do around here), deliciously chewy english muffins, salty canadian bacon, and a huge pool of hollandaise. nothing special or innovative, just exactly what you would expect. you have your choice of 3 kinds of potatoes and i think we both agreed that the home style fries with onions and green peppers were the best.
the coffee was good. not too strong but not too weak either. i have found that i like a slightly weaker coffee for brunch than i would normally want since for brunch i usually sit there and drink like 4 cups, and if i drank that much of my super strong pot i make at work i would be bouncing off the walls.
our waitress was nice and our coffee was regularly refilled. prices were normal for brunch, we each paid $14 total (including tax/tip). parking can be a little tricky in mainstrasse sometimes but we did ok, i guess since it was sunday morning.
one thing i should note is that the menu was actually really exciting and although we both ordered the same thing, there were a lot of good options. they had about 4 variations of eggs benedict (including with steak, or goetta, or crab cakes), several kinds of pancakes, etc. basically everything you want in a brunch. in my opinion, eggs benedict is the quintessential brunch dish and i really respect a place that understands its importance and not only can make the traditional kind with canadian bacon well but also offers a few other versions.
chez nora is a great option if you want a well-made, reliable brunch in a kind of dated but also totally unpretentious atmosphere. in my lifetime of brunch experiences, chez nora is average, but for cincinnati it is probably in my top five. you will not be amazed but you will not be disappointed either.
No comments:
Post a Comment