Brunch: Chicago Public House

As previously mentioned, I recently joined the Chicago Food Bloggers organization. This is a fantastic way of combining my love of eating with my new hobby of blogging. I’m truly excited for the opportunity to share my passion for food while meeting great people! I attended my first ever Chicago Food Bloggers event last weekend with my gal Christine of apartmentpants.

The event was brunch at Chicago’s Public House. As a lot of us bloggers have been mentioning, who knew Public House served brunch? I think brunch must be a city thing because I definitely have noticed I am more jazzed about it now that I live downtown!

Unfortunately life got in the way a bit, and Christine and I arrived halfway through the event….not the best way to kick off our first event as members! Nonetheless we made the best of our situation and sampled a few of the tasty dishes Public House was serving up. Behold:

Chicken and Waffles: southern fried chicken, caramelized waffles, hot sauce, maple syrup

I've never had "chicken and waffles" before. While I was excited about the seemingly genius combination of savory and sweet, this was a pass after the first bite. The chicken was tough to cut and the waffles weren't anything special. 

Parfait Pint: granola, greek yogurt, fresh berries

This was lovely. The granola wasn't overly sweet and the fresh berries were yummy. It's always good to have something semi-healthy on the table! 

Doughnut Fried French Toast with a cream cheese glaze, seasonal market jam and fresh fruit

I was surprised by this dish. I usually chose savory over sweet but was hooked after one bite. The French toast had just the right amount of crunch around the edges and the cream cheese glaze was heavenly. 

Crab Cake Benedict: jumbo lump crab cakes, garlic spinach, poached eggs, hollandaise

This was my favorite dish. The crab cakes were delicious with just a bit of a kick. All of the flavor combinations pulled together wonderfully. I would not hesitate to order this the next time I brunch at Public House! 

Overall I was impressed by the setup of the event. From the moment we walked through the door the staff was friendly and accommodating. They gave us a handy sheet that detailed the menu as well as space to write comments, document that the dish had been photographed and sampled, and cute hashtags for each dish! There were serving stations set up with mini sized dishes for all of the bloggers to try. 

Public House clearly marked the names of their dishes and arranged full size plates for us shutterbugs to go crazy. And I literally cannot handle how cute this mini cast iron pan is-

I really enjoyed the environment that the bloggers created. It’s fun to be in a room full of people who also have a habit of taking snaps of their food : ) I can’t wait for the next event and to hopefully meet more fellow bloggers! Visit Chicago Public House at 400 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654 and check them out here.

Note: I attended this event as a part of Chicago Food Bloggers and free of charge, however the opinions in this post are solely my own.