Falling in Love with Brunch in Philadelphia

I ignored breakfast often. It warranted all of the derision, like a discarded foam take-home box left in the dumpster instead of the recycling. I longed for lunch. A toasted sandwich with cheese and deli meat, fried potatoes, a burger with crisp lettuce and onion. Not thick milk mixed with sugary puffs of wheat, or sausage seasoned to go with nothing, tasting of candy. Even orange juice stuck in my throat. I would eat anything else in my teenage years, including leftovers from dinner.

If the sun is out on a weekend morning, you can bet Philadelphia is out to brunch.

Then I met brunch. And not just the typical “we serve breakfast all day” brunch, but a Philadelphia brunch. A meal with fresh ingredients meant only for brunch. Eggs benedict with spinach or crab; breakfast tacos; burgers with all of the trimmings of a lunch burger, but now had the added benefit of a fried egg. Breakfast potatoes to pair with each dish, shrimp and grits with jalapenos, and challah French toast drizzled in chocolate syrup. New inventions like the ever-changing breakfast skillet at the Farmacy, or the Honey Cristo at Honey’s Sit N Eat. From towering creations at Sabrina’s to breakfast sandwiches on an everything English muffin at Local 44.

Which all leads me to this question on a Saturday morning: What’s for brunch?

If the sun is out on a weekend morning, you can bet Philadelphia is out to brunch.