Sunday Brunch at Annabel's

Today’s choice off the Breakfast Menu was Annabelle’s

Today the wife and I decided to try someplace close and new, mostly because we got a late start today. We ended up at a nice little place called Annabelle’s where the wait was long but service was wonderful and the food was delicious. Overall it set the standard for one of our best breakfast experiences so far.

Restaurant:

Annabel’s is a little restaurant in Mount Lookout. It has a very small dining area with about 11 tables so it can’t seat a lot of people, but the place is very clean and posh. It seemed like one of those spots that serves a hipper crowd. The prices were affordable and the menu was light but full of things I wanted to try.  Our lovely waitress informed us that all the food was prepared by a single chef, the namesake Annabele. The place was also adorned with some pretty good photography that the menu said was taken by the owner’s father Alex Stolley.

The breakfast menu isn’t too diverse as far as different selections go, but what they offer is pretty unique. Rather than regular pancakes they offer buttermilk corn cakes, which I had never had before, as well as a “carrot cake faux toast” which they called “French roast without the French.” I was curious about this but didn’t try it. They offer three other egg dishes including a veggie frittata, a scramble du jour and a breakfast croissant. The signature egg dish was called the “Love eggs, which I ordered.

The Food:

I ordered the Love eggs along with an order of the Corn Cakes with Bananas and blueberry’s baked in. Nicole ordered the breakfast croissant. They also gave us a free slice of blueberry almond coffee cake for our wait.

According to the menu:

Buttermilk Corn Cakes Fluffy Pancakes with a bit of a twist. Served with Honeycomb butter, brown sugar maple syrup.

Breakfast Croissant Scrambled eggs, with spinach, onion, cheese, a spot of roasted tomato sauce and a sprinkling of grated Romano.  Your choice of bacon, sausage, or gimmie lean.

The verdict:

The food was simply amazing. The corn cakes had a very different flavor and texture than I was accustomed to but they tasted great. They were banana flavored and I typically don’t like banana flavoring but these corn cakes were delicious. The banana flavor didn’t over power it but it gave it an edge that I appreciated.

The Love Eggs were divine. It was probably the best egg dish I have had so far. It was well seasoned and cooked well. The spinach and feta cheese complimented the dish well. I really enjoyed the dish, and couldn’t have imagined any way to improve it.  My wife devoured her croissant. It tasted very good when I had a bite. The egg was again well cooked and seasoned

The coffee cake was one of the best I have ever eaten. It was rich and moist, which I don’t usually expect from a coffee cake. I typically expect all coffee related sweets to be dry and flavorless but this treat defied that rule. It didn’t really taste of almonds but I could not let the wife have any because she’s allergic to nuts. But the blueberry flavor was sweet and perfect in each bite.

Overall Experience:

I give the whole experience 5 out of 5 broken eggs, A Breakfast Menu First:

We really had a great experience there. The staff was great, the food was great, it was really top notch. We really enjoyed ourselves. We had a brief talk with the waitress after we were finished eating and she informed us that it was their busiest day ever and that we helped contribute to that. I was surprised that a restaurant like this wasn’t always packed to the gills, particularly with such a small dining area. Our waitress encouraged us to return, and we told her we would definitely be back.

For more information on the location:

Annabel's

Hyde Park/Mount Lookout

1004 Delta Ave

Cincinnati, OH 45208

(513) 417-8669

Hours:

Wednesday-Saturday 9am-2pm,

Sunday Brunch 9am-2pm

(No Website)