Brunch Bites: Oak + Char and Bohemian House

In this week's batch of brunch bites, Oak + Char and Bohemian House join the River North brunch scene. 

 

If the dinner menu at Oak + Char is any indication, what with its novel take on contemporary American cuisine, then the weekend brunch program set to take shape beginning April 19 looks to be a real game-changer in downtown Chicago. A quick glance at the River North restaurant's impending brunch menu confirms those hopes and cravings. The menu features pastries like wheat and oat scones with apricot marmalade butter, tonka bean sugar doughnuts with rhubarb jam, and rye crumpets with blueberry preserves and house butter. For composed plates, the savory-focused entree list contains standouts like the O+C Benedict with ham, fried oyster, pot licker greens, and buttermilk hollandaise;  egg in a basket with creamed wild nettles, lamb neck Merguez, and peanut romesco; a smoked trout belly bagel with caper-raisin jam; and a prime double cheeseburger with beef fat onion rings and bourbon pickles. Sweet tooths aren't left in the dust, though, what with 10-grain pancakes with smoked walnut butter and Publican Quality Meats oat brioche French toast with raspberry, lemon curd, and whipped maple butter. Oak + Char starts brunch April 19 and henceforth offers it Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. 

Oak + Char isn't the only River North restaurant pushing brunch boundaries these days, though. Bohemian House is getting into the brunch game this weekend and it's bringing its modern Eastern European stylings with it. Expect items like Bavarian chocolate scones, house-cured lox on seeded sourdough with soft-boiled egg and trout roe, and more. Brunch cocktails and Bow Truss coffee round out the brunch offerings. 

- David Lissner