5 day forecast
Munch goes to Murray Avenue Grill
Share with others:
This past Sunday, as you dear readers hopefully did not forget, was Mother's Day, a holiday that, for Munch, conjures up a deep and emotional longing for brunch.
Brunch on Mother's Day is such a tradition that the day's arrival makes Munch's prodigious stomach crave a synergy of breakfast and lunch. Problem is, Mother of Munch (MOM) lives far away and one cannot enjoy brunch over the phone.
There was only one solution: Munch had to assemble a crew for a motherless Mother's Day brunch.
Mooching Friend of Munch (MFOM), whose ears prick up at the mention of "free meal," eagerly anticipated the outing. MFOM's mother lives in-state, but MFOM does not have a car to drive to see her and must mooch rides as well as meals.
We were joined by Co-worker of Munch (COM), whose mother lives even farther away than Munch's own, and we set off to Squirrel Hill. We elected to try the Murray Avenue Grill, which advertised what appeared to be an interesting brunch.
Our trio got a booth amid the families and began to pore over the offerings. MFOM elected for the hobo hash ($7.95), a concoction of scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese and diced tomatoes, all melded together. It sounded brilliant. We're already combining breakfast and lunch, we might as well combine the ingredients, too. MFOM reported this dish to be quite delectable, even though he doesn't usually like tomatoes.
COM was enticed by Murray Avenue Grill's rotating omelet of the day ($9.95). On this day, it was crab meat, asparagus and Colby cheese. That seemed almost to stray into dinner ingredients, leading Munch to briefly ponder what such a meal would be called (brinner? dineakfast?) before concluding that the combo sounded just wild enough to work.
COM generously allowed Munch to sample the intriguing omelet, and Munch concurred that, by any name, it was scrumptious. The brunch dishes all came with potato pancakes -- fried just right -- and a bagel, a nice change of pace from the traditional hash browns and toast.
Munch was leaning toward the breakfast end of brunch until Munch spotted a waitress delivering a platter full of burgers to a neighboring table. They appeared massive and juicy and Munch cannot resist a good burger -- especially with the knowledge that Munch could steal from the breakfast selections of Munch's tablemates. And isn't the ability to select a range of food the inherent beauty of brunch?
Munch thusly chose the Wilkinsburg, a half-pound of ground beef topped with a slice of Canadian bacon, Colby-Jack cheese and smoky chipotle sauce. The dripping masterpiece was surrounded by an ample bun and came with excellent shoestring french fries.
The package is certainly worthy of consideration as one of the best burgers in Pittsburgh, although Munch is perfectly willing to try many, many more burgers until deciding on a thorough ranking.
For dessert, our table elected to share a large apple dumpling baked in a flaky crust. Garnished with two scoops of cinnamon ice cream and a generous helping of whipped cream, it disappeared quickly.
Brunch is nearly impossible to botch, but Murray Avenue Grill put its own spin on the meal to provide a tasty bounty. Munch might even bring MOM one of these days.
First Published May 14, 2009 12:00 am
