Brunch Bites: Barn & Company and Dollop Bake Shop

In this week's batch of brunch bites, Barn & Company amps up brunch with barbecue and the Dollop Coffee brand embraces pastries. 

 

Brunch and barbecue, as two comfort food keystones, go hand-in-hand. Barn & Company in Lincoln Park realizes this, understands it, and celebrates the synergy between brunch and barbecue with its new weekend BBQ Brunch menu by acclaimed pit master Gary Wiviott. Diners can expect brunch classics with a Southern BBQ twist, accented by country music and rockabilly tunes. Dishes include biscuits and brisket gravy; a Smokehouse Benedict with barbecue hollandaise; pulled pork chilaquiles; and a hulking plate called The Spicy Southern Revival, featuring brisket hash topped with fried chicken tenders, eggs, potatoes, cheese, chile, and guacamole. The house Bloody Mary is a meaty masterpiece to behold, garnished with a rib bone, a jalapeño popper, and chorizo-wrapped bacon. For the young at heart, Barn & Company even has an all-you-can-eat cereal bar with nostalgic favorites, an assortment of milk options, and fruit. Brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. 

In breakfast pastry news, Dollop Coffee Company is poised to get into the baker business in a big way this year. Most known as a neighborhood coffee shop with locations scattered around the city, Dollop is shifting the focus to baked goods for its new concept, Dollop Bake Shop, opening its first location in Ukrainian Village this spring. Featuring the pastry handiwork of Axel Erkenswick, this marks the first time Dollop has focused on food rather than coffee, though clearly coffee will still play an integral part at the cafe. When the cafe opens at Damen and Augusta in the coming weeks, diners can expect an array of breakfast pastries and an emphasis on sweet and savory croissants. Once open, the bake shop will join Hoosier Mama Pie Company in supplying baked goods for the other Dollop coffee shops. 

- Matt Kirouac