Farmer's Market, Part 2

(Disclaimer:  This isn't really about the Farmer's Market.  But since I had a post entitled "Farmer's Market, Part 1", I thought I needed to go ahead with a "Farmer's Market, Part 2" post.  The association to the farmer's market is loose, at best.)

The post before last, I described the experience Scott and I had attending our first infamous downtown Madison farmer's market.  It was really cool.

Really cool, but really crowded.  Kind of like being herded.

As we shuffled along with the crowd taking in all the farmer's market had to offer, we noticed that Brocach was open and hoppin'.  Brocach is an Irish pub & restaurant on the capitol square.  Here's the link if you want to take a peek: Brocach

Scott and I decided to venture in for brunch.  It was a little after 10 AM.

We sat down and when the server came over, I thought I would try to be brunch-appropriate so I ordered a Mimosa.  Scott ordered a Guinness.

Really?  A Guinness at 10 AM?  (A Guinness any time for that matter...yuk... I prefer beer that I don't have to cut with a fork/knife and chew.)

Anyhow, I made the comment out loud.  "Really?  A Guinness at 10 AM?"  The server responded, "Sounds good.  We get that all the time."

Really?  You get that all the time?  People ordering Guinness at 10 AM?  Well, all right then.

As I looked around at the other folks in the restaurant, I noticed the server was right.  Scott was certainly not the only one having a Guinness.  For brunch.  At 10 AM.

Now, I'm not a big fan of Irish food.  Brocach, however, has a lovely brunch menu with not-your-typical- run-of-the-mill ingredient combinations.  For example, Scott and I decided to split a sweet potato, feta cheese, and caramelized onion quiche.  Sweet potatoes, feta cheese and caramelized onions?  Who would have thought??  Can I just tell you-- it was the bomb!  OMG.  It was so good.  It was served with greens with some kind of light dressing and super thin potato crisps.

Dang, that food was good.  It was so good in fact (and I should be embarrassed to admit this), Scott and I went back the next day, Sunday, and had brunch at Brocach again.

The (not-so) funny thing about when Scott and I went back to Brocach on Sunday is that it was the day of the Madison half-marathon.

Scott and I parked the car in a parking ramp just off the capitol square.  When we got to the square, it was packed with people who had come down for the mini-marathon; either to participate in it, support people who were participating in it, or vendors.  We weren't exactly sure which direction to go to get to Brocach, but we knew either direction we picked would take us there since we would just be walking around the square.  Even if we didn't pick the most direct route, we would end up there eventually.

We went left.

That's all well and good.  And we did end up at Brocach.  Unfortunately, we had to cut across the mini-marathon finish line to get there. 

Couple things:

#1  It is very difficult to get the timing right to cut across the finish line of a marathon.  Since the runners come in at all different times and speeds, it's kind of hard to figure out when to make your move to cut across.

#2  I commented to Scott, "What's wrong with this picture?  All these fit, healthy people are out here running in a mini- marathon and the fat kids (us) are trying to cut across the finish line to get to brunch."

Scott chuckled.  I frowned, mostly at myself.  And then we ended up in Brocach for a repeat performance of the previous day.

Actually, just the drinks were a repeat performance.  I had 2 Mimosas.  Scott had 2 Guinness---what is the plural of Guinness?  Is it Guinnesses?  Guinnei?  Or, is it like the plural of "deer"?  Whatever it is, he had 2 of 'em.

We did order different food on "Day 2:  The Fat Kids Cut Across the Mini-Marathon Finish Line to get to Brunch".  I had a breakfast sandwich that was somewhat traditional in that it came on an English muffin, but somewhat non-traditional in that the egg on it was poached.  I do enjoy a properly poached egg, which is hard to do and rare to find.  The breakfast sandwich isn't really visible in this picture, but those super yummy  potatoes that came with it are, as well as the nice salad they serve with a lot of the brunch platters at Brocach.

Scott ordered Eggs Benedict.  Most of the time the meat on Eggs Benedict is Canadian bacon, which for all intents and purposes is ham to me.  But, as I mentioned earlier, Brocach has a lovely brunch menu with not-your-typical-run-of-the-mill ingredient combinations.  There are a variety of meats you can select with your Eggs Benedict at Brocach.  Scott chose crab cakes.  Once again:  OMG.  It was the bomb.  Perfectly poached eggs with crab cakes on top of an English muffin with Hollandaise sauce.  I have a tear in my eye.

 

So, the "Farmer's Market, Part 2" post probably should have more accurately been entitled "The Fat Kids have Brunch at Brocach, Parts 1 & 2". 

A final comment for now about Brocach.  The day that Scott left Madison to return to Columbus, a friend of mine from Columbus (who works for the same company as I do) came to Madison on business.  While she was here, we spent time together in the evenings socializing.  We ended up at Brocach one evening for dinner.  Not because we wanted to, but because this place...

...the Tornado Room, a seedy looking but highly recommended restaurant downtown, was too busy to seat us.  Since it was getting late in the evening, we opted to go some place else close by-- which happened to be Brocach.  I won't bore you with more pictures of the food at Brocach, but I do want to show you this sign that my friend and I saw upon entering the restaurant.

 

Is it just me, or does "Engine Research" and "Party" seem like an oxymoron?