After two weeks and two posts covering the semi-upscale brunches of Nectar and Greenup, we turn our attention to a restaurant offering a more standard brunch fare: SUGAR 'n' SPICE. This classic Cincinnati establishment sits on Reading Road in all of its Pepto Bismol colored glory, right behind the sock guy and his mountain of 3 for $5 socks.
The interior is a cross between funky 50’s diner and a children’s story book about breakfast cooking. With its old timey cash register, hospitable waitresses, and expertly muraled walls, the atmosphere is half of the attraction.
This week our party was limited to three, so we were unable to sample 80% of the menu as in previous weeks. Not to mention the fact that the menu is of the diner variety: tons of items, categorized sections, a million combinations of the same items and sides, actual prices rather than whole numbers, etc. The pancakes and lunch sandwiches are really cheap ($3.50 for a half order of pancakes to $5 or $6 for a sandwich), but certain items like their omelets, breakfast burrito, and corned beef hash are a little more expensive than what you might expect to pay at a no-frills diner ($6-$8).
Luckily SUGAR 'n' SPICE is one of the few places that understands the importance of offering both sweet and savory in a single brunch dish. One of our biggest complaints when brunching is that too often you are forced to choose between the sweet dish (pancakes, waffles, etc.) or the savory (eggs, bacon, omelets, etc.), when really all you want is a little bit of both. The Breakfast Special at SnS fulfills this simple, yet oft ignored desire. With two eggs, meat, and two wispy thin pancakes, the Breakfast Special is a manageable portion at a reasonable price. The corned beef hash and poached eggs hit the spot this past Saturday for some reason, but it was hard to ignore the fact that we were shelling over $7 for them to crack open a can of CBH.
SnS is successful with another brunch rarity: The Saturday Brunch. In fact, if we aren't mistaken, breakfast/brunch is offered whenever SnS is open (7am to 3pm daily). We are currently tagging the establishments that serve Saturday brunch, so that they are easier to search.
Finally, one of the best elements of the SUGAR'n SPICE experience is the people. SnS is one of the asterisks to the notion that our city is separated into Black Cincinnati and White Cincinnati. This puts SUGAR'n SPICE firmly in the realm of Tucker's, Park Chili, etc., where the diversity of the clientele only makes the homogeniety of most dining experiences all the more obvious.
The Sugar n Spice website-a shining example of customer and community appreciation
It was a beautiful day on Sunday and therefore the best kind of day to experience the ever-charming Greenup Cafe. Located in the Covington historic district and close to the Ohio River, the Greenup Cafe is flanked by views of the Roebling Suspension Bridge and Libeskind's Ascent building. Depending on your mood, you can choose its quiet, floral courtyard; the Parisian-style sidewalk tables; or sit indoors near one of their full height windows.
We have eaten at Greenup before, so there were not too many surprises. Their coffee is always great and they offer traditional brunch options with a French twist.
I ordered the eggs benedict, John got the BLT, and our co-diners got the goetta puff, the tart du jour, and the fruit cup.
John was really pleased with the BLT. He thought it had delicious tomatoes, cut to a perfect thickness and good quality side greens. Plus it helped that he was in the mood for a BLT (and to be perfectly honest, so was I, but for the sake of review variety, I got something different). He also requested a fried egg in the sandwich, creating a perfect breakfast-lunch combo and further inciting my envy.
Normally I'm very satisfied with the food at Greenup, but I was just not impressed by the Benedict. It was fairly bland- the hollandaise sauce was hardly noticeable, and the tomatoes did not seem very fresh. There was one thin slice of Canadian bacon and ample bread. Maybe this is the way French eggs benedict are supposed to be prepared, I don't know.
The goetta puff, according to our friend, could have used more goetta, so maybe there was a meat shortage on this particular day. On a brighter note, the Tart du jour, which is a pastry shell that on this day was filled with chorizo, garlic, and banana peppers, was delicious and looked like a more flavorful, dynamic dish. Finally, the fruit cup looked like standard caterer's fare (cantaloupe, melon, pineapple. Repeat.). A four dollar fruit cup, in my opinion, should warrant some creativity...at least a strawberry or two would have been nice.
This isn't meant to be a total slam on Greenup, I've had really tasty dishes there (the French toast is always good, as are the quiches), so I don't want to discourage anyone from dining there. With dishes priced between $5.95 (BLT) and $9.75 (Huevos Rancheros; Eggs Benedict), it is also on the cheaper side of the fine dining brunch places around town.
Greenup Cafe website
It was surprisingly not packed and very relaxed, unlike most brunch places on a Sunday. This is in no way a reflection on their food, in fact we realized later that many of the restaurant's patrons were sitting on the patio out back, go figure! It was a beautiful day.
The eight of us ordered a pretty good spread of the menu. Between us, we ordered the salmon eggs benedict, vegetable frittata, Croque Madame, burger, chorizo scramble, goetta mash, and french toast. Everything either tasted good or looked good, with the Croque Madame probably being John's favorite- ("I only had one bite of the Madame, but the prosciutto, fried egg, and sweet pickle were delish!")
I had a vegetable frittata and John had the smoked salmon Benedict. The best part about Nectar was the freshness of their ingredients and the medley of flavors each dish had. They use locally grown, in season vegetables for their dishes.
Another interesting thing about Nectar is that they truly understand the concept of brunch being an intersection of "breakfast" and "lunch". Many brunch places forget to have substantial lunch items, but Nectar had a good mix of both lunch items and breakfast items. One surprise on the menu was a Green Acres Angus Burger, on which you could get white cheddar, goat cheese, guacamole, and bacon for an additional 50 cents per ingredient.
I loved the frittata because of the crisp chunks of veggies, the freshly grated parmesan cheese, and a touch of pesto for a kick.
The Croque Madame actually looked light and "healthy" (read: it did not come on a buttered croissant), which is not what I usually think of when it comes to that dish and it also came with a side of fresh greens.
In fact, most of the dishes were fairly light, which is a rarity with brunch fare. But nearly all the dishes were perfectly proportioned to satisfy your hunger without leftovers. The coffee was good, not great. We prefer it a little stronger. Beyond that, the only negative aspect of the experience was that the dining room was a little dark for a Sunday morning.
Overall, we would highly recommend Nectar. It competes nicely with the types of places that have upscale dinner entrees in the $20s, but have more reasonably priced brunch options between $8-$13 (think Honey, Lavomatic, etc.)
Nectar website
