Review and photos by Kurt Kwon
I love brunch! Breakfast and lunch combined into one? What's not to like? Throw in drinking allowed, with mimosas and Bloody Marys? It really is the perfect meal! Unfortunately, there haven't been a whole lot of places within walking distance for brunch in downtown. That was until recently. Many Esplanade residents' favorite restaurant is the Pacific Grill, who announced a few months back that they would open for brunch. This was the influence from their former sister restaurant, Smoke + Cedar.
As expected, the menu items were expensive, ranging from $8 to $20. They have many of the same happy hour items, like Stan the Man's Killer Clam Linguine, cheeseburger sliders, fish and chips and much more. But I like eggs with my brunch, so I chose the Waddell Omelet. It included cage-free eggs, Dungeness crab, brie, scallions, lemon hollandaise sauce, and their version of hashed browns (regular potatoes with crispy potatoes on top). You would think this dish would be heavy, but in fact, it was quite light. The lemon hollandaise sauce was a perfect balance of decadence and creaminess with a fresh lemon finish. The Dungeness crab was plentiful with big chunks of crab legs. I would highly recommend it.
What's brunch without Bloody Mary's? Well, they have a special Bloody Mary for brunch. One for $10 or for an extra $5 you can have all you can drink. Well...this pricing system kind of forces you to get the all you can drink! The drink was good, but not outstanding. But, I'm not complaining about all you can drink. Speaking of complaints, my group had two egg dishes that were severely undercooked. We had to send both back. They came back along with the manager to apologize and make it right. They ended up taking the two dishes off our bill. This is where Pacific Grill shines - they provide outstanding service for a sometimes inconsistent kitchen.
If you want to treat yourself to a nice brunch close by, I would recommend the Pacific Grill.
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