Adventures in Bed-Stuy: Brunch at SCRATCHBread

Once in a while, I get a desire to explore other neighborhoods.  Of course, this sense of adventure is almost always 100% driven by food.  My trek out to Bed-Stuy one Sunday morning was no different.  I have long heard about this STOOPBrunch offered by SCRATCHBread in Bed-Stuy.  The menu had all the right elements (in my mind at least): soft egg, hand cut thick bacon, kale pesto and grits.  On top of that, the build your own breakfast option is always a winner in my eyes.

So onto the L train to the G train into Brooklyn I go to meet MF.  This is actually my third time in the neighborhood and it’s always fascinating how different things look in daylight isn’t it?  The streets almost seemed a little desolate in the bright sunlight, as if everything went into hiding.  Life began to pick up as I neared SCRATCHBread’s tiny little store front and, bam – I turn the corner and find a long line waiting in front of STOOPBrunch.  So that’s where all the living souls in Bed-Stuy gather on a Sunday morning.

Now, if you are expecting a restaurant, nay, a cafe of some sort for you to park your tired and wary feet while enjoying brunch (much like I was), you will be sorely disappointed.  STOOPBrunch,  like its parent bakery, is just a single window where busy workers dole out food for the soul to us hungry brunch seekers.  Along one wall was a thin strip of wood that act like a counter and directly across the ordering window were two park benches.  They are first come first serve and thank goodness that MF was there early enough to save one for us while others looked on with jealousy.

There were a plethora of options for brunch, including the much anticipated build your own grits/potatoes/oatmeal cups.  The prices were so reasonable that we couldn’t resist ordering two per person – after all, who knows when I will be back again.  My brunch course 1 was a toast slathered with a creamy chicken liver mousse and topped with a perfectly soft boiled egg and a scattering of crispy bacon.  This was much larger than I was expecting and quite messy and unwieldy to eat while trying to balance coffee in between my legs.

Brunch course 2 for me was a single serving of grits topped with spicy broccoli salad, charred jalapeno sauce and another soft boiled egg.  It might have been because I spent too long wrestling with the chicken liver mousse but my grits weren’t quite as piping hot as I would have liked.  On the other hand, the charred jalapeno sauce and the spicy broccoli salad carried such a punch that I started to feel the heat even though it was barely 50 degrees outside.

MF concocted her version of the grits bowl with kale and pesto – a much kinder combination on the palate.  In addition, she supplemented the grits with STOOPBrunch’s version of kale Caesar.  I snuck a bite and loved how the kale held onto its crisp and crunch despite being well dressed.  It might seem strange that these were all served in paper cups but as we were getting ready to leave, the reason became more apparent.  Despite our best efforts, our stomachs were once again defeated by our desires/eyes and so any leftovers became instantly transportable in the paper cups.  How convenient!

STOOPBrunch/SCRATCHBread | 1069 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY | http://scratchbread.com/