I think one of my favorite things about Chicago is it's wide array of brunch places. Never before in my life have I been so overwhelmed by so many drastically different brunch options! Last Monday, I woke up and decided that I wanted to go try a new brunch place (since my work schedule is currently Tues-Sat, I can go to places without the typical weekend lines).
After spending a lot of time on yelp, I finally decided to go to my original idea: Orange.
http://www.orangerestaurantchicago.com/
I may be biased, as I love anything and everything orange-related, so the name may have drawn me more than I'd like to admit. No one I know had actually been, but it had this myth and allure around it; everyone had HEARD that it was amazing, but no one had ever tried.
So, I adventured down to their lakeview location to try brunch. A little caveat here; I opened their menu and immediately regretted trying this restaurant this day. Not because the food looked bad, but because it ALL looked so good! It's the kind of place that you want to go with a big group so everyone can try some of everything.
It had a cute atmosphere, though is tiny; I've seen massive lines outside on the weekends. They're opening up a Lincoln Park location soon which might help not too far south on Clark.
They're known for their innovative frushi; sushi made with a sweet rice and fruit. I heard it's more of a gimmick than truly delicious, but didn't try any; since I was flying solo, this would have been way too much food for me to handle.
After staring longingly at all the food, I was still at a loss when my waitress came back. Their french toast skewers with coconut/mango salad sounded delicious, but so did pretty much everything else. I saw the pancake flight and inquired about what it is, and was surprised. A pancake flight is a series of 4 small stacks of pancakes that are different flavors but relate to each other with a common weekly theme. Now, you'd think there's not much you can do with pancakes; that's what I thought, at least. Then I read the weekly theme: Spring fruit.
The pancake stacks were as follows: pineapple and coconut salad with an orange reduction, mango mousse with a raspberry compote, homemade strawberry rhubarb jam with a balsamic glaze, and a honeydew melon and basil mix.
This doesn't even sound like pancakes. Since the flight changes weekly and this was my only opportunity to try it, I went for the pancake flight. My only complaint is that the dishes don't come with any sides, and I'm the kind of girl who needs some sort of meat with her meal. I ordered a side of bacon to accompany it. The bacon was great, but a little pr icy, especially with the relative expense price of the pancake flight. Speaking of...
Oh.My.God. I tried the coconut salad one first, which was pretty much lifechangingly delicious. It was perfect. They had syrup you could put on, but syrup would have just corrupted the taste of these. SO GOOD. The mango mousse with a raspberry swirl was also amazing. I sat staring at my plate for a good 3 minutes wondering how pancakes could ever taste like this. I then tried the strawberry rhubarb with balsamic ones. It wasn't as good to me, but I'm not a huge balsamic person. I also couldn't mentally jump over the hurdle that I was tasting balsamic vinaigrette on pancakes. It was good, but weird, and I couldn't get beyond that. I ate them, but scraped a little of the balsamic glaze off. The honeydew basil ones were just weirder than I could handle. Each taste is good individually, but together it blended well, but just not a taste that I was a huge fan of (once again, particularly on pancakes). The first two made up for the second two, but overall it was hands down the most delicious and innovative set of pancakes I have ever eaten.
They also make home made fresh squeezed juices. Only, you make your own. The base juices are: orange, pear, tomato, and a couple others. My jaw dropped when I saw this. I ended up trying a pear juice with strawberries. It was good, but pear is a pretty light flavor and strawberries aren't. It ended up tasting mostly like strawberries (with blended strawberry chunks in it; so good!), so I think I would try a different combo next time, but it was still great. Also, it was really expensive; my juice was $5, before taxes.
All in all, I would give it four stars. I'm not sure how good the food on the regular menu is, and I've heard the pancake flights can get downright odd. They have generous portions, but the meals don't come with any sides, and for those of you who like some meat/potatoes besides pancakes, it's going to get pricey. My bill was also $20 before tip, for breakfast! While worth every penny, as someone living a thrifty lifestyle it's not something I can splurge on often. I definitely recommend it, but go prepared to spend more than most other breakfast places in the city.
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