For todays lovely first outing on this spontaneous blog I was invited out with friends to try brunch at the Silver Dollar. I love brunch and I’ve been craving a good Bloody Mary for ages, so of course I said ‘yes.’ For a few reasons I’ll get into later, I’m so glad I did.
Let me tell you these girls know how to brunch right.
When I arrived they had already ordered a first round of cocktails, a Bloody Mary and a shandy, so I joined in with a Bloody Mary of my own due to my aforementioned hankering. Service was pretty solid and attentive in the beginning, my drink arrived fairly quickly while I perused the menu a little longer. The conversation flowed over from the night before (the usual; boys, family trials and youthful tales of indiscretion) as we took in the eclectic and cozy ambiance. Silver Dollar’s Bloody Mary was a little sweeter and brighter than I expected, not persé my favorite type but perfectly satisfactory. Alas, I will still search for something more to my thick, spicy and brine-y speed of Bloody Mary.
When the time came around to order, we each selected two dishes of our own to share with the table and gorge ourselves on (I told you these girls know how to brunch right!). Our waiter noted the size of the portions as if to deter us, but we corrected his folly with our boasts of serious brunching to be done presently. He smiled kindly returned with sauces, silverware and plates to share, and then sadly didn’t return with coffee for quite some time 😦 though we were well attended with water.
Nonetheless our girl talk continued with hearty laughs, until our glorious spread arrived.
Silver Dollar has quite the lovely little brunch menu that is happily leaning towards the savory side, which is a nice change of pace from the often overly decadent and sweet bistro menus that seem in fashion. We enjoyed their SD Dog, Huevos Rancheros, a side of cheese grits (that wasn’t on the menu, but order without any question from the waiter), Chili Cheese Hash Browns, Chilaquiles Verdes and of course Biscuits & Gravy. I warned you we were gorging and it was totally worth it.
I’m so glad these girls were up for sharing because everything was good. I personally ordered the Biscuits & Gravy and Chilaquiles Verdes and was not disappointed. The biscuits at Silver Dollar are a fluffy, buttery cloud of yum and the gravy they are topped with a smooth rich sauce I have loved ever since I was introduced in my early preteen years. What made these Biscuits and Gravy great though was the unctuous and perfectly oozing over easy egg between the two main elements. So I would have been plenty satisfied with that, but there was still everything else.
Everything else was also great. So great our gleeful gossip took a silent pause for us to feast.
The Chilaquiles Verdes that I had been intrigued by and had never tried anywhere else were quite tasty, though when I chopped up the jalapeno from my Bloody Mary and added it in the spice was much more to my liking. Again the egg kinda made my day, especially combined with the crunchy tortilla chips, zingy salsa verde and creamy cotija. Silver Dollar has a variety of house-made sauces that I also tried, but none packed quite the punch I was promised (in all fairness I’m kinda a heat freak though). The smoky, sweet ancho and tangy tomatillo were probably the best ones I tried of the four offered.
We also ordered another great round of cocktails to keep us going. My Peachy Keen was delicate and refreshing, I’d also like to think it helped with the digestion of all the other great dishes.
I really enjoyed the incredibly creamy grits that still retained some larger corn pieces for a great texture. The Huevos Rancheros were nice with a lovely salsa roja. The SD Dog was just the perfect little bit of sweet for us, with a great light and crisp corn batter. My overall favorite though was the Chili Cheese Hash Browns, of which I wasn’t expecting much of and didn’t come out looking all that pretty either. The hash browns were nice and crispy with a few softer, greasier bits, but the Texas-style chili that lightly covered it was the best surprise with incredible shredded beef throughout. The cheese on top rounded out this highly recommended offering from Silver Dollar.
We ate until we could no longer continue to gorge happily, but proudly needed only one half filled box to take home. I would definitely go back and was told that on the days that Silver Dollar’s apricot jam is the “jam-of-the-day” the Cornbread Pancakes are a must.
Fast forward to when I got home and told my husband about our amazing meal and a text I sent to a friend with the phrase “we brunch so hard.” To which he laughs and exclaims, “that’s your blog! If you write a blog with that title I promise we will have brunch every week.”
I feel he is going to regret these words within a month, but since he promised I have to do my best to “brunch so hard” as long as I can get away with it/keep this up. That being said I had no plans to ever start a blog or pick a project such as this. I have no real food criticism credentials other than that I like food… a lot. I had not planned to do this at the start of today’s excursion so pictures are poor, but I will try to do better in the future and live up to my art diploma standards.
Hope you enjoy. Until next time keep eating and drinking well.
Todays Brunch: Silver Dollar, 1761 Frankfort Ave., Louisville, KY 40206
We Brunch So Hard 