Brunch time: 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday
Cost: $17 per person with a cocktail
The scene: If you’re young, straight and single—and, frankly, who isn’t these days?—you probably already know this newish River North gastropub. It’s from the Eat Well. Drink Better restaurant group, which also is behind post-college favorites Grand Central, Bar Celona and others. Low on pretension, English packs in afterwork and weekend crowds. We were surprised, however, to find that even weekend brunch is crowded. Then we realized that at its heart, this is a football bar—and, despite the name, we don’t mean the Manchester United-David Beckham kind of football. There are 10 63-inch plasma TVs with the ability to screen up to eight different games at any one time. The bar is agnostic when comes to collegiate allegiances, so if you don’t see your game on, just ask the staff to hook you up. And if you ask nicely, we’re sure they’ll flip the channels to find that other kind of football for you.
The cuisine: The brunch menu consists of an odd assortment of breakfasty items presented as a one-sheet addendum to the everyday menu. After sampling some of it, I finally got the joke behind the name "Eat Well. Drink Better." The food at English seems to be "just OK" by design. But paying $6.95 for what English calls the Wimbledon—fresh mixed berries topped with cream, a play on the traditional Wimbledon breakfast of strawberries and cream—was pricey enough to send me into a John McEnroe tirade. The eggs Benedict ($9.95) was not only pricey too, but it was also actually a crab-cake Benedict. The rum- and banana-infused waffles ($8.95) sounded promising, but I had trouble detecting the flavor of either rum or bananas. At least I wasn’t paying in pounds sterling.
Better than a bloody mary: The Pimm’s Cup ($4), served with strawberries, cucumber wheels and mint is a bargain.
The wait: None.
Loved it: Rack ’em up! English has pool tables on the second floor.
Hated it: You’d think a place called English would at least make a proper eggs Benedict—that is, on English muffins.
[ Chris LaMorte is the Metromix dining producer. ] clamorte@metromix.com
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