I met some of my co-workers at South restaurant in North Hills for brunch. The atmosphere was very elegant (why the hell they let us in...oh yeah we know some of the people that work there! Hi Pete and Grace!) with a touch of the South. I noticed silver julep cups behind the bar and plenty of bourbon. The beer selection is small, but the Allagash White made a perfect breakfast beer. The Bloody Mary mix is house made with a nice touch of horseradish, but not too spicy. Honestly I was hungry and I didn't pay much attention to the wine list this time around. Next time.

I had the Crab Cake Eggs Benedict. Wow. The crab cakes were mostly crab with a bit of spring onion lurking therein and were apparently held together with very little in the way of flour or egg. On top of house made biscuits and topped with a pair of perfectly poached eggs and hollandaise, it was very satisfying. Two of us got a side of country ham - which is apparently local, small farm cured. Very meaty and just the right amount of salt (apparently they use some method to remove some of it). It was almost as good as prosciutto when paired with the chunks of cantaloupe and honeydew on my plate (heck, I just like prosciutto - no reflection on the ham).

We finished off by sharing desserts. The Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee was perfect. The custard was light and had flecks of vanilla bean on the bottom. The amount of vanilla was just right and the crust was delicate, thin and detracted in no way from the whole. There was a house made cookie (marbled chocolate sugar cookie), but it didn't really compare to the dessert itself. One of my companions got the rice pudding which came in a parfait style glass and had a layer of strawberry jam near the top. It was topped off with a fresh strawberry and honey brittle. Overall impressions were that it wasn't really anything to write home about, but a solid preparation of classic country food. However, the honey brittle was really cool. It was almost dismissed as "some candy", but when tasted it proved itself to be more than delicious.

In traditional fashion, I picked some of the most expensive things on the menu, so didn't get off lightly today. It should be easy enough to pick and choose your way around the menu to make a comfortable tab for what should be a great brunch.

We plan to go back frequently on sundays around 1pm. If anyone is interested in joining us, give me a call.

Cheers!