Brunch at Anthology

I always thought of Anthology as a nightclub for adults (and by adults, I mean people that go out to enjoy drinks with friends and listen to bands, not people who go out to get “so wasted”). However, I never knew that Anthology was a great place for brunch as well as music! With a new chef, Todd Allison, and a great atmosphere, Anthology is sure to become a go-to brunch spot for tourists and locals.

I’ve stated before that San Diego is a town with a lot of breakfast. It’s a beach community, so I get that there are plenty of people wanting a hardy meal to start their day. Tucked away in a corner of Little Italy, Anthology’s Sunday brunch offers a gentle wake up for patrons. The restaurant is very mellow, with a musician playing acoustic music, and the atmosphere is just…calming. Quite a nice change of pace from the usual chaos of many breakfast places.

Anthology has a new menu for all of its meals, and rather than go for a crowd of nouveau ingredients and strange concoctions, they have decided to go with classics, done in the best way. The offerings, like most brunch menus, are a combination of sandwiches and salads for lunch as well as breakfast classics, such as waffles and eggs benedict.



We were served some yummy chicory coffee quite quickly, and although tempted by the bottomless mimosas for $10, we decided to behave ourselves. I was in need of some protein, so I decided to go with the Dungeness Crab Benedict, and my husband, wanting something sweet, went with the Banana Buttermilk Pancakes.

Our food arrived quite quickly, and my word! My Benedict was a tower of crab, egg, and potato! The Benedict was stacked and covered with Maltaise sauce, a nice, unexpected departure from the traditional Hollendaise that is usually served with Benedicts. The sweetness played well with the salty flavors of the crab and hashbrown potatoes. The egg was a perfect example of poached, and some steamed spinach sandwiched into the whole thing made it healthy, right?

The pancakes smelled as good as they tasted! The first thing that grabbed me was how wonderfully sweet they smelled! Soft and fluffy, these pancakes were light and tasty. They needed no syrup or butter, but came with delicious rum (!) butter and maple syrup. The portion size was perfect; three pancakes, just enough to fill up and get your sweet fix without stuffing yourself (because it is seriously hard to stop eating them!).

I will certainly come back and check out their dinner menu (and a show!).