tasty n alder
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Tasty n Alder (Portland, OR)

Brunch is supposedly a big deal in Portland on the weekends. Meeting up with an old friend, he suggested having brunch at this place, one of the most popular spots in town. Tasty n Alder is part of John and Renee Gorham’s restaurant group that owns and operates a number of concepts in town (Toro Bravo, Tasty n Sons). Even though we thought we got to the restaurant relatively early (9:30), our party of four still waited 90 minutes for a table (Heart Coffee Roasters across the street was a great place to kill some time).

breakfast sandwich @ republique
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Republique (Los Angeles, CA) [3]

It’s been over a year since I last visited Republique; I’ve been twice for dinner, but this was the first time for brunch. I’ve heard great things about brunch here, the combination of Walter Manzke’s cooking and Margherita Manzke’s pastry program.

Brunch service is very different from dinner with a focus on efficiency – no reservations are taken and there is no table service. Rather, you place your order at the front, grab a number, find a seat and wait for your food to be brought to you. It’s a very popular brunch, indicated by the lengthy line at 10:30 on a Sunday. It moved pretty consistently and we were able to place our orders in about 30 minutes.