I have raved about Merchant's brunch to everyone on earth. I have tried the other brunch spots in Madison, and they've never come close to exceeding Merchant. I have always thought that Merchant was the Madison brunch winner, hands down.
And then I tried Ogden's. Merchant has new competition.
I originally saw Ogden's during my meals on wheels delivery route. It's off the beaten path, and the building itself is quite small. I thought I should give it a try. I'm glad I did!
The interior is very bright, cute and clean. The farmhouse decor is very fun and makes for a delightful brunch experience.
Because the place is so small but so crowded, we waited for about 10-15 minutes for a table. The hostess was very friendly and accommodating and poured us coffee as we waited for a table. The coffee was very bold and delicious! Our server also was very prompt and friendly.
I ordered the lox scramble. Anytime I can get my hands on lox or smoked salmon, I do it. I received a HUGE plate of food with the lox scramble, hashbrowns and English muffin, and amazingly, I finished the whole thing. The food tasted that incredible that I ate a terribly huge portion of food that I'm still astonished somehow fit into my stomach.
I've eaten lox with scrambled eggs plenty of times before, but Ogden's lox scramble was really the best I think I've ever had.
Ogden's is on my list of Madison-area restaurants of which I will take my out-of-town visitors to go eat. And I'm ready to go back for some more incredible brunch!