Waking Up At Noon
East Dallas fave Lounge Here launches brunch in true rock star style
In what feels like the fastest year ever elapsed, hipster hangout Lounge Here is celebrating its one-year anniversary with the introduction of a brunch service, which it will debut on October 1.
Lest you have forgotten, Lounge Here is the bar-restaurant with spectacular cocktails and a '70s retro-mod design from Julie Doyle, singer and manager of Polyphonic Spree, and Tony Barsotti, artist, musician, and furniture designer. Its opening on Garland Road has offered an oasis of cool in an area mostly lacking.
In their original gameplan, Doyle and Barsotti had brunch in the back of their minds as a vague possibility — "but we didn't know if we could pull it off," Doyle says. But they've fielded requests for brunch since they opened. Their hiring of new chef Megan Foley, working in tandem with manager Julie Moore, helped make the impossible possible, Barsotti says.
"There's just not that much over here for brunch," he says. "Brunch is a whole 'nother beast, and we have a very small kitchen. When conceiving the menu, we had to factor that in and blend what we already do. It's kind of like a puzzle, and Megan is the one who made it happen."
They describe their cuisine as "Southern refined," and some of the items on the brunch menu come from their regular menu including shrimp and grits, deviled eggs with smoked bacon, pimento cheese with house-made potato chips, and hummus with veggies and tortilla chips.
But then there are dishes such as breakfast potatoes smothered with bacon, eggs, and 5-cheese sauce; and an egg white frittata with mushrooms, tomato, ham, and goat cheese.
You can still order their regular burger and their veggie burger, but they also have a house-cured salmon croissant. There's a grilled shrimp and arugula salad, broiled grapefruit, and a granola parfait.
And in a superb example of "going local," there are doughnut holes from Hypnotic Donuts, whose ice cream stand Hypnotic Emporium is right across Garland Road from Lounge Here.
Among the new brunch-centric cocktails created by Brad Bowden are mimosas, bloody Marys, and an aperol spritz.
As part of the October 1 festivities, they'll have live music from 12:30-3:30 pm.
Every Sunday evening, we have musicians Mike Finkel and Bach Norwood, but with our one-year anniversary and brunch launch, they'll be performing during the day, as well," Doyle says. "They're a big part of our Sunday crowd. It's instrumental music, with an array of Paul Weston and His Orchestra, Percy Faith, Frank Sinatra, and many other gems."
Moving forward, regular brunch hours will run from 12-4 pm. Forget that 10 am stuff, this is rock stars we're talking about. Brunch begins at noon.
