That it’s choosy about coffee and squeezes its own juice says something.
Deptolla: 3 stars overall for Mimosa.
A Sunday noon hour, outside the popular Mimosa Breakfast & Brunch restaurant in Franklin. We’re looking over the menu while my When Bowls restaurant group waits for a table. A opens to the public Monday in customer walking toward Walker’s Point, the health-focused the entrance asks, “Is this menu will indeed serve your first time?”
everything from breakfast to Yes, it is. “It’s fabulous!” dessert in a bowl. she says before heading inside. The menu by chef Nell Benton includes a number of vegan Well. That doesn’t happen and vegetarian items, with the every day.
aim of food that’s fast but not So, we ordered omelets typical fast food. and blintzes and potatoes and Benton, who also owns the more that day in the name of breakfast-and-lunch spot the science and when we returned National at 839 W. National to this cute, lightfilled Ave., said in January that the restaurant. Mimosa by restaurant came about in part and large is fabulous. It has because it was a challenge to what a breakfast/brunch lover find healthful takeout options wants: good food and good for herself. coffee (organic and fair The counter-service Bowls trade, by the way). Cups are at 207 W. Freshwater Way will refilled frequently by friendly be open for breakfast, lunch and roving staff — part of what an early dinner, aimed at commuters makes the service good here. on their way home. Besides And it doesn’t hurt that takeout, it will have online prices are reasonable and ordering and delivery, with 30 portions lavish, like a or so seats for customers dining Thanksgiving of breakfasts.
in. You’d think Mimosa was What’s in the bowls? Smoothies named for the brunch drink, with toppings, oatmeal, chia but restaurant owner Apostoli puddings, grain bowls and salads. Evreniadis named it for the plant that grows freely in A chocolate-peanut butter Greece, where he spent his smoothie bowl, topped with childhood.
fruit, almonds, coconut and granola, But Mimosa does indeed for instance, is vegan and serve mimosas, made with gluten-free. It and other breakfast fresh-squeezed orange juice, bowls are served all day. no less, and a choice of Spanish Lunch and dinner bowls include or American sparkling sweet potato with spinach, wines or French Champagne mushroom and over-easy ($4.95 to $15.95). It mixes a egg, and Thai green curry with solid Bloody Mary ($8.95), brown rice. too, with garnishes of a strip It’s not all meatless. One of bacon, pickled mushroom, bowl is built around fresh tuna; cheese and more, served another around beef. Customers with a beer chaser. also can add chicken, That it’s choosy about coffee salmon, steak, tuna, tofu or egg and squeezes its own OJ to bowls. says something about the The restaurant also has puddings place. Potatoes are another (chocolate or lemon-raspberry) of those signposts of a solid that are made with chia breakfast spot.
seeds instead of milk. Mimosa potatoes are like Prices of basic dishes range home fries that are basically from $7 to $12, with most items poached and ultimately $10 or less. Adding on meat, fish, browned in olive oil; they egg or tofu is another $1.50 to $4. spill across the plate as a side Regular hours will be 7:30 dish for many of the menu a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday. items. Add toppings such as the particularly delicious To contact: (414) 800-5667; combination of lemon, feta and bacon for a couple dollars more. (Other toppings are 50 cents or $1; potatoes a la carte are $2.95 to $4.95.)
Evreniadis has said they’re the same potatoes his mother, Katerina, always made at home. Lucky guy. (She and her husband, Taso, operated Spring Gardens restaurant on Milwaukee’s south side.)
Home-style cooking is beloved at breakfast, but Evreniadis wanted to offer dishes that aren’t the usual, he said.
So, one of the fluffy omelets on the menu is filled with good-sized shrimp, plus tomato, onion, bell pepper, pepper jack and cheddar cheeses, and garnished with slices of fresh avocado ($11.95). Another, the Hellene omelet, is made with young kale, feta and roasted red pepper sauce ($9.45). Tasty, both of them.
The menu covers the sweet side of breakfast with plates like stuffed French toast coated in corn flakes ($10.45) and oversize fruit blintzes ($8.95), topped with strawberries and wrapped around a cream cheese filling.
Pancakes, such as blueberry ($8.45), are another test of just how hungry a diner is: They’re stacked three large cakes to a plate, made from buttermilk batter that’s the restaurant’s own. Pancake syrup is the default, but real maple syrup at least is available on request ($2).
Thick Greek yogurt is served several ways; the Classic is topped with fresh berries, granola and honey ($5.95). It’s so satisfying that it could be a meal in itself, but it’s so rich that it’s good to share.
One of the very best plates was also one of the most basic, in a way: steak and eggs ($13.95). It was a bargain price for a terrific 7-ounce steak that was juicy, flavorful and a perfect medium rare. It’s a coulotte cut, from the top sirloin, and comes with potatoes or a fruit cup (generously sized, of course), and pancake or toast with butter and house jam, besides eggs.
Mimosa does have sandwiches and salads for lunch. Unlike the steak, burgers ($9.45 and $9.95) were cooked beyond the requested temperature.
Mimosa, which opened in February, does so well with so much that the burgers and another stumble seemed out of character (shredded chicken breast with the chicken chicken chorizo and eggs dish, $9.95, skewed dry, in need of juices or sauce). They should be easy fixes, though.
A couple of other dishes didn’t exactly hit the mark. The smoke was almost imperceptible in house-smoked pecans served with Belgian waffles ($8.95), though it’s an appealing idea, and red pepper sauce and pickled onions weren’t the right fit for the Irish Benedict ($11.95), with otherwise good components of house corned beef and perfect poached eggs on marble rye.
Those things don’t detract from the overall feeling, though, that Mimosa really is fabulous. Breakfast and brunch? It felt more like a celebration.