Coffee and a Conversation
As Told Over Brunch is a home for intelligent discourse from the twenty-something perspective - so the stuff you gossip about over mimosas on Sunday morning or over takeout on your friend's couch when happy hour ends too early. We love chatting about our lives, whether it be the relationships we’re building (or destroying), lessons we've learned at work, struggles at school, growing pains we've felt, or even the food we’re talking over.
One of my favorite dad jokes is to walk into an empty restaurant, turn to a friend and say, “Like how I rented it out for you?”
No one ever laughs, so I keep saying it, waiting for it to land. FINALLY my friend chuckled when I said it as we walked into Perch for brunch this Sunday. We considered making reservations, but since we showed up at 10:03 a.m. and the place opens at 10 a.m., we thought we’d be safe.
And that we were.
Read MoreI first heard about Salt & Forge from an old coworker, who's review was that it was, "Stupidly delicious!"
Caz and I both hit the gym separately, and then met up to undo all the good work we did at the gym at Salt & Forge.
Read MoreAfter months of planning, posting, eating and walking from door-to-door of over 40 restaurants (that last one was all Cazey), it's FINALLY Richmond Brunch Weekend. The only box left to check at this point is heading out to brunch on Saturday and Sunday, and we want you to join us! Not only will 15 percent of your order will go back to local cancer research at VCU Massey Cancer Center, but you might even win the ultimate Richmond prize package.
Intrigued? Here's how to win at Richmond Brunch Weekend:
Read MoreI am that hand you see in all the Instagrams holding the #RVABrunchBar. Wait. You don’t know what the #RVABrunchBar is? Well, grab a chair. You’re going to get so excited that you have to sit down. It’s a brunch-themed ice cream bar. Is there anything better in the world? I mean, probably. But it’s up there. We can all agree on that.
This March Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches, a local ice cream sandwich company, will be selling the Brunch Bar throughout Richmond. You’ll be able to find this sweet treat at multiple Richmond locations.
The bar will feature blueberry maple swirl ice cream (!!) and a French toast cookie crunch. Like I said, you need a chair! You don’t want to miss this bar – it’s only available in March, and best yet, 10% from each bar will benefit VCU Massey Cancer Center. So have two! Calories don’t count.
Read MoreThe two months right before Richmond Brunch Weekend are both the best and the most expensive, as Sara and I try to tackle brunch reviews at all of our newly participating restaurants. This year has been crazy so far as we have more than 40 restaurants onboard. Words do not do justice for how grateful we feel towards these restaurants for a.) giving back to VCU Massey Cancer Center and b.) helping grow a little dream Sara and I had three years ago just to get people to hear about our blog.
This past weekend my parents came up to tour the VMFA’s Terracotta Warriors Exhibit (which is open through March 11). My parents actually aren’t big brunchers, and my mom didn’t even know what a mimosa was until last year. When a waitress brought me coffee, my mom asked what it was. I told her vodka. So I take back saying they aren’t “big brunchers.” They aren’t brunchers. Period.
Read MoreIt's been over two months since Richmond Brunch Weekend happened! Honestly, we've been dieting ever since due to all those mimosas and omelets eaten Saturday and Sunday.
But we want to thank you all for coming out and supporting the first ever Richmond Brunch Weekend! In total, we had 24 restaurants participate and raised over $11,000 that will all go back to VCU Massey Cancer Center. We think these are awesome figures for an inaugural event, and we can't wait to plan for the Second Annual Richmond Brunch Weekend!
Read MoreI have never brunched so much in my life as I have in the last month. In the lead-up to Richmond Brunch Weekend, we have tried brunching at each of the 23 participating restaurant locations, or at least the ones we haven’t been to yet. Which is quite a feat considering how many restaurants that left us, whether we would be in town to brunch (brunching out of town doesn’t count), and finding friends to accompany us. Brunch is a group activity after all. Oh, and also money. Brunch is not cheap, people.
Brunching off of a list also has me being inflexible when it comes to brunching. A friend says we should get brunch, and I give them choice A or B: where would you like to go today?
Last Saturday I presented my friend Alyssa with option A.) Tarrant’s Café or B.) the Betty on Davis. But B.) doesn’t serve brunch on Saturdays (a tragedy that is all too common these days), so that brought us back to Tarrant’s.
Read MoreSince the fall, my Facebook feed has been spotted with friends’ Instagrams featuring trendy cocktails and aerial shots of flowers and/or food (warning: aerial shot ahead), all tagged at the Quirk Hotel. This past weekend I finally got to see the Quirk Hotel myself when I brunched at Maple and Pine, Quirk’s onsite restaurant and a participating restaurant in Richmond Brunch Weekend.
I feel not a lot of people know that Maple and Pine is the name of Quirk’s restaurant, or maybe I just need to namedrop Quirk Hotel, so every time I explained where I brunched, I go, “At Maple and Pine of Quirk Hotel.” Duh.
Quirk opened in downtown Richmond this past fall. It’s part of a hotel chain called Destination Hotels. So it’s not exactly a chain like the Marriott. It’s hard to really pin down what Quirk is, because it’s definitely more than a hotel: it’s a gallery, a restaurant, a bar, an event space, etc., etc. Its name should be “Trendy, Etc.,” to be honest because of how millennials on social media treat it.
Read MoreThe first Saturday of March, I suddenly realized Richmond Brunch Weekend is a lot closer than I thought, and ATOB needed to start reviewing all these participating restaurants. I called up two friends and we headed to Southerly Restaurant & Patio, which is the dine-in portion of Southern Season. Now Sara and I have been to Southerly one other time, but not for brunch. I’ve been meaning to go back, and it only took nine months, no biggie.
We arrived around 12:30 with no reservation, but were seated promptly. The first thing my friends remarked upon was how fancy Southerly is. Now it’s not fancy in the “you need to dress up” way, but it’s the sort of place “you go to after church,” my friend explained. “Or you take your grandmother for her birthday.”
I definitely agree with this. There were rosebuds in water on the tables. Southerly’s target demographic is not the hungover millennial demographic, but it doesn’t need to be. We have the Fan bruncheries for that. The Southerly is, like its name implies, a taste of the South – a brunch place to take your parents (or rather, they take you) and then have them buy you stuff next door in the Southern Season.
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