Photo by Eliesa Johnson
There are so many great brunches in these towns, I feel like I should start a brunch blog. With so many to be discovered, some slip under the radar, and one of those is the brunch at Sea Change inside the Guthrie Theatre building. As the sun rises over a chilly Minnesota winter morning, it's just a gorgeous spot to eat. And the service is amazing, warm and welcoming, helpful and attentive without being smothering—just like you want a leisurely Sunday brunch to be. Newly anointed chef Ryan Cook is a master with breads, and his brunch showcases his talents quite nicely.
WHAT TO ORDER
I’m pretty picky about my biscuits and gravy, and Sea Change’s entry is one of the best in town. Beautiful, light, flaky biscuits with a zippy house-made sausage gravy. It leans spicy (I love heat) so be aware of that. The kitchen’s poaching skill was quite nice as well; the eggs were awesome.
Don’t miss the crab cake benedict, it is a seafood restaurant after all. The crab is abundant, the dish is served with a heaping pile of spinach, and the muffin on the bottom is thick enough to stand up to the crab cake and hollandaise but airy enough to still have an elegance to it.
I also loved the smoked salmon tartine on top of lovely thick slices of rye bread: the smokiness of the salmon was balanced nicely by asparagus.
Make sure you try the bourbon caramel roll. The caramel still had a nice bourbon flavor but it was topped with a pretzel streusel—a salty, sweet combination that was absolutely incredible. At first I thought it was pralines—that’s the flavor profile. At $5 a roll, we thought that two would be enough for the eight of us (four adults, four kids), but we needed an extra.
WHAT TO DRINK
The drinks at Sea Change are also top rate: the Bloody Maria ($10) was great—I enjoy a tequila bloody mary. If whiskey is more what you need the Vieux Carre ($13) worked quite nicely for me on Sunday.
BOTTOM LINE
It’s a big place, so it’s never going to be jam-packed, especially during the Vikings v. Bears game. More people need to know how great this brunch is. And with the holidays here, I recommend bringing your family to brunch, then heading inside the Guthrie to take the Christmas card photo. The amber box is amazing, the endless bridge gives a nice overview of the Mississippi River, and the shop inside the Guthrie is perfect for gifts.
If you have another brunch spot that I should know about, make sure to post it in the comments!
Brunch Sa-Su 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 806 S. 2nd St., 612-225-6499, seachangempls.com
