Brilliant for Brunch- Duchamp

Sundays are good for about 3 things- Football, Lifetime movies and brunch (but not necessarily in that order). There is no better compliment to Saturday night in the city than eggs, bacon, french toast and a mimosa on Sunday morning. That was especially true this week because after a Saturday night spent drinking delicious wine, my stomach woke me up screaming for food.

For months, my friend and I had made plans to brunch at Duchamp (2118 N. Damen), tucked away on the corner of Charleston and Damen in Bucktown. Our bellies starving, we showed up promptly at 11:00 a.m., as they were still polishing utensils and wiping down tables, which was a fortunate decision as the restaurant was packed less than thirty minutes later.

Given my previous experiences with communal tables, I was a bit hesitant at first glance of the restaurant and thought to myself, "Do I really want to share last night's stories with the rest of the people sitting here?" Shortly into our first cup of coffee, though, we realized that the communal dining at Duchamp's just seemed, well, different. The small, cozy establishment utilizes its lack of space well by carefully situating 6 or 7 long wooden tables along the wall, and we barely noticed the other diners even though they were sitting so close. I don't know if it was the dark walls, eclectic art, small bar or local feel of the place, but Duchamp felt like a cup of cocoa on a cold winter day- comforting.

Duchamp presents its menu with small and large plate brunch options, and our wonderful server, John, suggested that we start by sharing the maple nut granola and vanilla yogurt small plate. We giggled at the shock on his face when we instead ordered three large plates and two sides (there were only two of us so I can't say I blame him for being surprised).

We decided to start with the Grilled Flatbread served with tomatoes, feta cheese, spinach and a sunny-side up egg, a rich combination of flavors that made us both say "mmmmmm" aloud. Though the flatbread is so delicious it COULD stand alone, the egg made a tremendously wonderful difference, so I was naturally disappointed that the small egg didn't provide enough flavor for the huge flatbread. Sticking with the eggs, we moved on to the Grilled Chorizo and Egg Quesadillas, served with red pepper, onions and salsa. Although this dish was absolutely delicious, it seemed kind of typical compared to the wow-factor of our next dish, Houska French Toast with lemon marscapone & nutella. Chef Michael Taus is officially a culinary genius for incorporating nutella, a hazelnut and chocolate spread similar to peanut butter, into this traditional breakfast dish. Coupled with the decadent lemon marscapone topping, this amazing french toast was perfect without syrup and I decided about three bites in that it is my favorite french toast of all time. As we made our way through our breakfasts, we noticed that we were missing one essential element necessary to complete this meal- our bacon (a little too chewy for me, but the smoked flavor was delicious and lingered for a bit after each bite). The expression on John's face was priceless as we asked him to please send it out. He was clearly having a hard time understanding how we could want any more food.

With only once piece of each dish remaining, John congratulated us on our accomplishment of eating so much and started to understand my "joke" of being the Girl That Eats. As we left the comfort of the simple, down to earth establishment, I was already anticipating finishing my leftovers later that afternoon.