The morning after

For the hipster herbivore

Last night was a blur of Pabst Blue Ribbon and plaid. You got drunk while having an intellectually enriching conversation about…something. It’s likely you were getting inebriated at Vita Café on Northeast Alberta Street with their fantastic Wednesday Night Special—$2 wells, $3 drafts and specialty cocktails for $5.

But this morning your tiny head is pounding and all you need is some nourishment. So you jump on your fixie and go back to the scene of the crime.

Vita Café’s breakfast is just what you need: grains like homemade vegan granola and three different kinds of corn cakes, including Thai-style with bananas, ginger, cilantro and coconut syrup. Classic scrambles like the Greek and Denver can substitute eggs for tofu or tempeh. If you really want to replenish yourself and still fit in your skinny jeans, the New Years Breakfast is for you—balanced with your choice of protein (eggs, tofu or tempeh), seasonal steamed veggies and finished it off with corn cake or vegan French oast. Better yet, substitute that for a perfectly sculpted ball of brown rice accompanied by Braggs Soy Sauce, and the perfect English muffin. Oh, and your loser friend who eats meat can enjoy all the free-range eggs and bacon she wants.

Vita Café
3023 NE Alberta St.
Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Weekends, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Breakfast served from opening until 4 p.m. everyday
4 out of 5 stars

For the gourmand guzzler

Belly, on Northeast MLK Jr. Avenue, has happy hour Tuesday through Saturday any time of day if you sit at the bar. You kept sipping on their cocktails, handcrafted by an expert at the bar while you munched on their happy hour menu. Oops! You may have been trying to show off with your food knowledge so much that you forgot you don’t know as much about drinks. You ended up ordering every single cocktail with a cool name—including The Angry Napoleon (Jameson, Pommeau de Normandie, lemon juice, ginger ale and bitters) and The Lifted Kilt (Dewar’s, Dubonnet Rouge, maraschino liqueur and bitters).
 
Your head’s pounding today but you know just the cure. A brunch menu from the very culprit, Belly.

Their brunch crowd is bustling (it’s only served on Sundays), but a kind server keeps your growling stomach quiet by offering a bacon corn muffin. You choose to order from the Build a Biscuit section, deciding on silky white cheddar and crispy bacon, knowing well that The Nap Maker (biscuit, sausage, scrambled eggs, cheddar, mushroom gravy and Tabasco) was all too true to its name last time. Your less-indulgent friend can get a Farmer’s Scramble with chanterelle mushrooms, chèvre and fresh herbs since it is the lightest choice offered. After this meal, you just might come back to life.

Belly
3500 NE MLK Jr Blvd.
Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
5 out of 5 stars

For the kid-toting mama

It’s early. The sun is leaking into the kitchen and you had way too much chardonnay when your two friends came for dinner last night. Your husband’s out, and both kids are starving. Luckily, there’s Genie’s, an easy walk from your Southeast home. Genie’s has helpful and attentive service, which is great since you’re fussing over one kid and then the other, and then the other, making sure they don’t make a mess or scream too loud.

The Crab Scramble with chives and tomato is light and filling, as is the Veggie Scramble with house-smoked tomatoes, spinach, onion, artichoke hearts and feta. And when you’re having that kind of morning you can have a Bellini with fresh juices or an Emergen-C Elixir with orange-infused vodka, Emergen-C, muddled lemon and a splash of cranberry. All your girlfriends love their coffee cocktails as well, like Ellen’s Coffee: vanilla- and coffee-infused vodka, Irish cream, hazelnut liquor and coffee. What about the kids? They’re well-behaved now with their white chocolate and hazelnut pancakes. On your way out, as the morning turns into afternoon, college students line up at the restaurant’s accompanying bar, hungover faces staring into Bloody Marys. Ah, the good old days.

Genie’s Café
1101 SE Division St.
Coffee bar opens at 7 a.m.
Restaurant hours, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
4 out of 5 stars