It's been a long time in the making. "It's just something we have been thinking about for some time," explains manager Dan Allen. "We have been working on putting something together that would work for our customers." And when the lineup wasn't quite ready, they postponed brunch's debut first one week, then another.
Although Avenue Grill has long been open for lunch on Saturday, serving brunch was never on the table -- not officially, at least. "On Saturdays we did a daily special for a little while geared more toward brunch," Allen recalls, "and this was before brunch was even a glimmer in our eye."
Once they decided to give brunch a try, they worked for months to create the right menu. "What we would do to come up with the dishes is ask ourselves and our customers, 'What do you think when you think of brunch?'" he recounts. "And then we would go, 'Well, eggs Benedict, how do we take eggs Benedict and make it our own?'"
Finally, they decided to "do a play on classic brunch items and with some creativity," he explains. "We have tried to do something different, and I think the customers like it. We have been able to tweak things there and there, like sauces and things to really just nail it."
The Saturday brunch menu will have the Avenue's takes on traditional brunch items, as well as some new sandwiches and salads and a few crossover items from the lunch menu. And whenever possible, they're using local ingredients, such as a local yogurt with housemade granola.
No brunch is complete without drinks, of course, and the Avenue bartenders have put their own spin on the classics. The Denver Blinker, for example, is local whiskey, fresh squeezed juices and grenadine. The Oaxacan Southside "has a Mezcal base, which is similar to tequila," Allen says. "On the tart side, we have grapefruit and lemon juice, and then for sweet we added agave nectar and mint."
For now, brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. "Stay tuned for Sundays," Allen concludes. For more information, call 303-861-2820.
