Busy brunch restaurant Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club quietly opened a second location about a month after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker closed dining rooms statewide. If that’s not ambitious enough, the new cafe can be found inside a formerly troubled grocery store on the northwest side of Chicago. Plus the hybrid essential business (cafe and grocery) in the Belmont Gardens neighborhood opened ahead of schedule to keep as many employees working as possible.
Chef and owner Manny Mejia transformed the old El Mitote storefront market space (previously linked to drug trafficking) that’s bigger than a bodega. The new Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club on Belmont opened April 15, but the only signage you will find is a small sidewalk chalkboard. Mejia offers the same menu as his flagship Hollywood Park restaurant with brunch dishes that span the globe and his cooking experience at M. Henry and Jin Ju.
The Mexican immigrant chef and his team turn out chorizo skillets as well as savory Korean pajeon scallion pancakes and traditional American brunch classics, with eggs cooked to order perfectly every time, plus toast made with house-baked sourdough bread.
Normally I’d never recommend ordering eggs Benedict to-go, because that’s just asking for trouble, but these are not normal times. The lemon crab cake Benedict ($14) with tender crab cakes, verdant sauteed spinach and toasted English muffins, comes topped by precisely poached eggs and creamy hollandaise sauce, plus a bed of potato hash.
It’s a good thing we’re all living in pajamas right now, because you’ll want to curl up for a nap after just one more delicious bite.
You might want to shop for your groceries ahead of time at the attached Mercado de La Manzana. Former waitress Gaby Delgado, now reassigned as a cashier, said she will take your order by phone if you prefer, in English or Spanish, for curbside pickup or their own employee delivery.
Get breakfast and lunch until 3 p.m. and groceries all day. Remember to leave at least a 20% tip in your trunk for what will be seamless curbside service.
4459 W. Belmont Ave., 773-930-3068, facebook.com/pages/category/Restaurant/Bryn-Mawr-Breakfast-Club-on-Belmont-108792037459236