Food Pr0n: Brunch at Prairie Grass Café
Prairie Grass always has traditional eggs benedict and its signature eggs benedict with bacon and roasted tomato hollandaise, but for summer, this is the special benedict. Instead of an English muffin, the poached eggs are served over thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes. This special will last as long as the heirloom tomatoes do! Be sure to order a side of toast so you can sop up the eggs and hollandaise sauce.
This is the Traditional Smoked Salmon Plate. Tomatoes and red onion are layered and the plate comes with spreadable cream cheese.
If you want to get crazy, you can spread the cream cheese and make a smoked salmon sandwich.
This is a grapefruit drink with vodka and basil. The basil comes from the garden outside of the restaurant.
These are lemon ricotta pancakes. They are fluffy, lemony, and sweet.
The lemon ricotta pancakes are served with maple syrup.
There are four pancakes in a stack. Good luck trying to finish all of it!
This is a strawberry mojito. Again, the mint comes from the garden outside. The fresh strawberries are muddled right in the glass.
This is called the \"Local Omelet.\" It is farmer eggs with River Valley Ranch mushrooms and Capriole Farm goat cheese.
Inside the omelet, the eggs are fluffy. The mushrooms are small and nutty tasting. The goat cheese studs the omelet and finding a piece as you eat is a wonderful treat. The omelet is served with greens.
This is Ancho Chile Spiced Sausage. It is made in-house. It is roughly the size of a bratwurst, much larger than a traditional breakfast sausage.\r\n
The sausage is slightly spicy.
These are the breakfast potatoes. They are seasoned.
The Traditional Smoked Salmon Plate is also served with a toasted bagel. It comes with raspberry jam and butter.
The pies at Prairie Grass are based off recipes written by Chef Stegner\'s mother. This is blueberry pie with homemade ice cream.
The interior of Prairie Grass emphasizes wood and natural light. The clientele spans the generations.
As you can see, the exterior of Prairie Grass actually has prairie grass! The kitchen uses some of the herbs grown in this outdoor space, just to the left of the door.
Chef Stegner surveys the peppers.
This is purple basil, which is used in some of the dishes.
Chef Stegner visits with some brunch guests.
What is it with brunch lately? We don't know, and we don't care. Just keep it coming. We recently had brunch at Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook, and we gotta say, it was fresh. Prairie Grass emphasizes local food and farms, which is not surprising given Chef George Bumbaris and Chef Sarah Stegner’s heavy involvement with the Green City Market.
City dwellers might be reluctant to go all the way up north to Wisconsin Northbrook, but why not make a day of it? Have brunch at Prairie Grass and head over to the nearby Chicago Botanic Gardens. Take your girlfriend. Or her parents. Take the whole family. They're going to love it.
Enjoy our photos of brunch at Prairie Grass Café. Descriptions are included in the captions.
Prairie Grass Café is located at 601 Skokie Boulevard in Northbrook. Brunch is on Saturday from 10-2 and Sunday from 9:30 to 2. Prairie Grass Café is also open for lunch and dinner. Reservations can be made online.
