Kelly the Culinarian: Ladies who Brunch: Fox & Turtle Itasca

Monday, May 9, 2016

Ladies who Brunch: Fox & Turtle Itasca

Cheers!
The Fox & Turtle recently invited me to try their new brunch menu, but the opinions here are all mine.

My sister, future stepdaughter and I recently ventured out for a pre-Mother's Day brunch at The Fox & Turtle, a restaurant and brewery nestled in the Itasca Country Club. The small one had never heard of the word "brunch" was intrigued by a meal that combines pancakes and French fries, and any option in between. It's basically like learning Willy Wonka's factory is real, and it served the greatest hits of every meal you love.


If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't never known where the Itasca Country Club was. It's an impressive, tree-lined estate complete with shiny Bentleys in the parking lot. Situated on the ground floor of the clubhouse, the eatery is open to the public and has a really sophisticated downtown vibe inside. There's a great patio looking out onto the golf course that would've been lovely in warmer weather. Instead, we admired it from afar via floor to ceiling windows.


My sister and I kicked off our meals with mimosas on the recommendation of the super helpful manager, Mark. They were also celebrating the Kentucky Derby, so Katie and I split a mint julep. The fresh mint made for a thirst-quenching cocktail worthy of the event.

As for our meal, Katie and I were set on breakfast. The small one was overwhelmed by choice and went with the grilled cheese, which was not your average kids menu offering. It was a toasted artisan bread delivering a mix of melted cheese, alongside fries and a pickle.


It was around this time that she learned the first rule of blogger brunch is you can order what you want, but I have to take a picture first. When I was working on this post, she typed the following in-depth review: we love it.

Katie's dish was the winner, in my opinion. The Santa Fe wrap had scrambled eggs, chorizo, avocado, pico de gallo and pepper jack cheese with home fries. She generously let me take a bite and it was awesome.

For my contribution to our tasting I got the sampler platter, which had all of my breakfast favorites: pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. I shared with Katie and made it about halfway through before crying uncle on all that good stuff. The pancakes were my favorite: clearly homemade and griddled to perfection before landing on my plate with warm maple syrup.

As full as we all were, only amateurs don't leave room for dessert. Upon the recommendation of the manager, we went for the bread pudding. We were not disappointed. Despite being super full, the three of us demolished the plate of caramel-topped concoction. The kiddo said her favorite part of the dessert was the ice cream and whipped cream on top, so the jury is still out on if she likes bread pudding in itself.


Thank you to The Fox & Turtle for the awesome brunch with a view. I hope to get back on a Tuesday night to try the half-priced Itasca chicken and $6 Moscow mules!

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