Brunch at Nightwood

The scene: Most often, brunch is a neighborhood affair. You're there to catch up with friends. Maybe you just got out of bed, or maybe you're running late. None of this encourages a trek across town for yet another variation on brioche French toast. But every now and again, a brunch comes along that's more like dinner. It's a destination.

That's Nightwood's brunch. You might say it's destiny. The month-old brunch comes from royal lineage. A Sunday-morning seat at Nightwood's Logan Square sibling, Lula Cafe, is among the most sought-after in town. But despite its impressive ties, Nightwood sidesteps Lula's shadow, offering its own brand of brunch fare in a more sophisticated setting.

Whether you're lucky enough to live in Pilsen or Nightwood truly is a destination in the get-in-your-car-and-drive sense of the word, you'll be in good company on Sunday morning—the sunny corner dining room nears capacity at the peak of service. For now, the semi-enclosed outdoor dining area distributes the crowd nicely. When cooler weather sets in, we expect a wait.

The cuisine: Chef de cuisine Jason Vincent makes the most of seasonal ingredients, so the brunch menu changes a bit from week to week, though not as dramatically as the dinner menu, which changes nightly.

That means you can come back again and again for the chicken and waffles ($12), an execution so original we forgot we're nearly over the chicken-and-waffles trend. The succulent chicken wings have a crisp but nearly greaseless exterior seasoned to play off sweet vanilla creme anglaise and soft waffles. On our visit, the dish took sweet and tart accents from stone fruit compote and candied cashews.

You'll also want to return for the corned beef hash ($12), a shallow bowl of house-made corned beef and diced potatoes luxuriating in light cream sauce, crowned with two poached eggs and served with a hunk of crusty baguette. The only thing that pulled us away from the important task of sopping up every last bit of flavor with that baguette was the house bloody mary ($8), a rough, spicy concoction that delivered more than our usual daily allotment of vegetables.

Like so many things at Nightwood, the most unassuming dishes are those you remember most. A single chocolate glazed doughnut ($4) left a lasting impression, so light and sweet that it melted away as we bit into it. Our server let slip that the kitchen's experimenting with maple-bacon doughnuts—and that's all the additional encouragement you should need to make Nightwood a destination.

***

Loved it: Griddled pound cake with sweet cream cheese ($4)

Hated it: Nothing

Brunch time: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $20-25 per person, with tax and tip

Wait: None ... yet

M. Kathleen Pratt is the Metromix dining producer. kpratt@tribune.com

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