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| - Went for Sunday brunch at 10:30, had to wait a few minutes for them to open the doors. The nice part of being the first/only people there is that you have your pick of seats. We chose outside. The temp was nice but the sun in our eyes got old. The umbrellas are very petite and not quite appropriate for the space. Most of my neighbors have patio umbrellas larger than the mini ones at Vine-they could stand to be upgraded.
We ordered beignets to start. They were good but not awesome. A little lighter and less doughy than true Cafe du Monde beignets, and lacking the thick layer of powdered sugar on top.
Several table members got the apple cider pancakes and thought they were quite good. Definitely gigantic! I had the lump crabmeat hash. Again good, but definitely not awesome. The crabmeat was indeed big glorious chunks of sweet blue crab. The crabmeat chunks were mixed with brunch potatoes on the bottom, and then topped with 2 sunny side up eggs and finished with a bit of hollandaise. The hollandaise helped bring some flavor to the plate but there wasn't much of it. The blandness of all those potatoes coupled with the eggs really needed some zing to elevate it. More spice, more flavor, more sauce, more something. There was nothing to marry the crab meat to the potatoes and eggs, so I found myself eating the crab by itself and then I was just left with boring potatoes and eggs.
By the time we left almost 2 hours later, the restaurant was about 1/4-1/3 full. Definitely not as busy as I'd expect for a brunch spot on a Sunday. Overall the group was happy to try Vine for brunch but we won't be rushing back again. The menu could use more exciting and inventive brunch items and could stand to get away from so many basics. Basic pancakes, basic breakfast sandwich, basic eggs & bacon. Even the apple cider pancakes looked boring as there was no finesse- no fresh whipped cream, etc. sort of just items slapped on a plate. And how can there be no French toast on a brunch menu?!
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