I recently joined the Chicago Food Bloggers group, and it has been one of the best things I have done! I’ve connected with like-minded foodies, made some great new friends and been even more networked into the local restaurant and bar scene.  Some of the best perks include getting invited to restaurant openings, exclusive events (such as the First Look For Charity media preview, read about it here) and other opportunities, all usually with free food and/or drinks. Yes please!

Recently, Public House invited the Chicago Food Bloggers to sample their new brunch menu, which was a huge hit! Public House is known in Chicago as a popular downtown bar and is usually packed for any major sporting event, happy hour and late night crowd. While Public House is probably never known just for their food, they do have a great, extensive menu. The restaurant really wanted to step-up and showcase their culinary talent and wide offerings, thus, the revamped brunch menu!

The Chicago Food Bloggers (CFB) special brunch event was awesome for many reasons:

CFB Brunch at Public House

1. In addition to passed dishes, a buffet was set up for our group with smaller tasting portions so we could try anything and everything our little hearts desired.

2. The servers and chef were SO attentive to any dietary needs and really went out of their way to make sure we were accommodated.

Public House Chicago Chef

3. The head chef spent time speaking with each of us to find out what we liked/ did not like and how they can better serve their restaurant patrons. What a nice, personal touch.

4. And last and most importantly, the food was wonderful and fantastic!

Of all the great options we tried, I would narrow down my absolute favorite to the sticky cinnamon bun and my second favorite was the breakfast sandwich.

Public House Sticky Cinnamon Bun

The sticky cinnamon bun was so ridiculously good! The regular menu portion size is ginormous, so make sure you split it with a few friends (or not). The gooey, warm bun is served on a skillet topped with amazing vanilla butter cream and toasted pecans. YUM! I wanted like 4 more of the mini versions that I tried. (FYI, my non-scientific poll results from the other bloggers indicate this was hands-down the winner from all the dishes. I’m just sayin…..)

Public House Vegetarian Breakfast Sandwich

The breakfast sandwich was tasty and I loved that the chef specially prepared this sandwich for me when he found out I was vegetarian (normally the sandwich has meat on it). Now, that’s called service! The sandwich had scrambled eggs, American cheese, fresh arugula, oven roasted tomatoes, shaved red onion and a hint of balsamic glaze on a toasted sourdough boulet. This sandwich turned out the be the perfect savory compliment to my immediate love for the sticky cinnamon bun.   A little savory and a little sweet!

If you are looking for new brunch options in the River North area, I definitely recommend Public House. Just please don’t leave without getting that cinnamon sticky bun!