Last week Hilary was writing about what she misses when living in the country.  Well one of the things I miss most is Brunch.  A good ol fashion American style brunch with eggs a million different ways, pancakes, french toast and mimosas.  I think Americans are more obsessed with brunch than any other culture.  It’s a Sunday morning ritual, just like reading the NYT in bed.  Gather up your girlfriends and spend a few hours gossiping over breakfast and booze.In SF so many mimosa brunches exist that I became slightly obsessed and naturally had to try them all. Laughing, giggling, eating, drinking and just spending time together with your friends.  But here in Amsterdam, such a concept is nonexistent.  Unlimited mimosas are unheard of and pancakes take on a whole new meaning as they are more like savory or sweet crepe rather than breakfast food. I had pretty much given up hope until I started poking around a little more in the Amsterdam foodie community I’ve started to find online.

What I found was Jason Hartly, who is the mastermind behind lovefood.nl.  Lovefood is a “Pop Up” restaurant concept that does a Sunday Brunch.  A Brunch.  A REAL BRUNCH.  Jason is English, but his menu is a great mix of American, British and just all around amazing breakfast items such as Eggs Florentine,Eggs Benedict, French Toast, and wait for it…..yes….a Breakfast Burrito.  I thought I might be in heaven.  So clearly, I needed to go to this brunch if nothing else, then research for the blog and our ghetto-gethers which eventually we’d like to bring to a restaurant near you.  I secured reservations for two before he sold out 100 people in 3 days (amazing!).  Grabbing my friend Rima we  excitedly arrived at Brasserie Vlaming for an 11am brunch slot.

They seated us at a table next to the front door on a cold day.  If anyone reading this knows my family, they know that this is clearly unacceptable.  My mom will change tables if it’s not her ideal table.  She’ll also send things back if they are not hot enough or even too hot.  If something was supposed to come on the side, or didn’t.  If she was waiting too long, or they got the order sightly wrong.  It’s rare that when dining with my family, something or other is not comped on the bill.  They’re a tough crowd and possibly have eaten a lot of spit.  But I digress.  So when faced with sitting by the door I could keep my mouth shut, or complain like my mother clearly would.  I decided to live with it, the place was very busy and I was here for the food.  Rima, however, love this girl, is like me, but said something. We were quickly shuttled off to our delight to a much better table.

Dreaming daily of the breakfast burrito, I eagerly ordered it with a mimosa and Rima ordered the Mikey, a gratifying meal with all the IHOP / Denny specialities that come on one plate:  bacon, sausage, pancake, scrambled eggs,  hash browns, southern style biscuit and gravy and poppy-seed cake.  But the similarities between Lovefood and IHOP end there.  At this brunch everything was home-made.  Jason makes all his own sausage and it is juicy, flavorful and delicious.  The biscuits were fluffy and literally could have come out of the south.  Hash browns, like I love them, were crispy shredded potatoes.  Crunchy thick cut bacon that was very well sourced.

The Mikey at Lovefood Brunch

And the breakfast burrito.  My god.  Filled with spicy chorizo, eggs, and spinach were excellent, but the real treat was black beans (can be difficult to source in Holland, whenever I use black beans here I have to soak my own), home-made guacamole, and spicy red salsa.  This guy is English?  Honestly he’d give LA a run for its money in breakfast burritos.

Breakfast Burrito

Jason cooks like I aspire too.  Everything made in-house from well sourced ingredients and just plain fresh.  It comes through in his food.  You can tell there was a lot of thought put into each dish, how it was designed, made, and where the food came from.  Being a pop up restaurant I like the idea that you can take a little bit more time to make the food as good as it can be without the demands of doing it on a daily basis.  Of course there are always downfalls with a restaurant that’s not really a restaurant – the service seemed to suffer (but not really any more than anywhere else in Amsterdam) and it was a little overcrowded.  But really a small price to pay for the only damn brunch I’ve found in this damn city.

So like Hilary, when I don’t have the conveniences I’m used to having, I’ve got to take matters into my own hands.  If there’s not proper brunches here (besides lovefood) then I need to make my own.  And I am not a breakfast cook.  I never have been and I probably never will be.  Besides from the occasional brunch, I don’t eat much eggs (high cholesterol) and never really fell in love with the breakfast food as much as the brunch ritual.  But when you don’t have something, you do miss it.  So inspired by Jason’s brunch my friend Jen came over and we thought we’d make a little much missed brunch.  I was always a fan of the scramble and hash browns (like Jason’s and Denny’s, the shredded ones rather than chunky potatoes) and of course, Mimosas.  So I gave it my best shot.  It’s not as good as lovefood, but I did put my own love into the food, made it all from scratch, the hash browns turned out more like potato latkas, but in the end it was secondary.  It was about spending some girl time, gossiping, giggling and pouring the champagne.  What every good brunch should be about.

Vegetable Scramble with Hash Browns and Toast

Easy Egg Scramble with Vegetables

• swirl of olive oil in the pan or 1 tbsp butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• Handful of shredded cheese, cheddar or any mild chees
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Heat the butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, turning frequently with a metal or plastic spatula, until onions are soft. Add chopped pepper cook for another 2 minutes then add the chopped tomato and the spinach. Turn the heat down to medium low and pour the eggs onto the mixture. Using the spatula, gently toss the eggs and the mixture together until the eggs fully scramble. Add cheese at the end, and let the cheese melt on top for about 2-3 minutes.  Sprinkle with Green Onions as a garnish Serves 2.

Home-made Hash Browns

• 1/4 c. finely chopped onions
• 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper
• 3 medium potatoes (1 lb.) such as russet or yellow
• 3 tbsp. butter

Tagged as: egg recipes, hash browns, lovefood, pop up restaurants, scrambled eggs