1818 Chophouse
Location: OFallon, IL
Atmosphere: Upscale but eclectic
Food: its food.
Avocado toast with pickled onion and tomato, and an over-easy egg on top. Oh, and mimosas— obviously.
1818chophouse.com
Sometimes you just need a morning of being fancy and dressing up pretty and having -just a light- brunch with your best girlfriends; we call ourselves the “Brunch Bitches.” We venture out to the unsuspecting restaurants in a group akin to lioness out for the hunt— but we hunt for mimosas.
On this particular hunt, we tracked our prey to the lovely 1818 Chophouse in OFallon, IL. We settled into the (extremely) comfortable chairs and glanced over the offerings of brunch. The rest of the dining room clamored with couples and the servers darted around with trays of glistening drinks. Our table sat near the large windows, where all the light flooded in and danced on the eclectic, sparkling light fixtures. Imagine something out of a modern design magazine mixed with.
I don’t remember what else I had going on that day, but there was something food related happening so I wanted to keep brunch very light. Usually this is a bad idea because I can still throw down on some mimosas, but I -tried- to be good on this particular morning.
I chose the 1818 avocado toast, which came adorned with pickled onion and tomato. The avocado was mixed with lemon and salt, and I added an over-easy egg on top. It was actually really beautiful and I was sad to be destroying such a pretty plate. However, duty calls. The thick toast and smooth, creamy avocado were a wonderful juxtaposition, and the egg added an element of salt that offset everything. The pickled onion and tomato gave the other elements some competition as the tangy juice ran across my tongue next. All the flavors danced together; one of the reasons I love this kind of meal.
My toast did not last long… After the first bite I took the egg off and ate it piece by piece with a bite of toast, then mopped up the yolk with the last bite of bread. A few mimosas and great conversations later, we all made our way home. Sadly, this would be the last Brunch Bitches in-person meeting for a while due to the COVID 19 quarantine. But we will be on the hunt for brunch again soon.
