Brave Horse Tavern
310 Terry Avenue North

This is one of the Tom Douglas chain of restaurants.  Although they are all different, they all seem to share some of the same qualities - good and bad.  This is one of the two I have never tried before (and totally coincidentally, I will be trying the other one next Saturday).

It is a bar really - a brew pub - that happens to serve brunch on weekends and breakfast on weekdays (the difference being mainly speed, I think).

Food:  It's been my experience, in a Tom Douglas restaurant, that the menu is limited and odd and sometimes the selections are too odd to be good but often they are just artfully delicious as was the case today. The menu is not extensive and, really, there was only one thing that really caught my eye - the normal two eggs over easy selection.  But with the Tom Douglas touch, it was perfection.  I mean really creative and delicious and beautifully done.

The "hash" cakes were really inventive and good potatoes.  They were the size of golf balls and crunchy on the outside and soft and flavorful on the inside.  And the toast was wonderful.  Thin sliced and buttered and crunchy delicious.  All in all a very satisfying and nice meal.

Service:  The joint was fairly empty as it had just opened up for the day and, I gather, tends to get a more lunch timey crowd on weekends.  Even so, the wait staff was kind of off and on.  I waited a fairly long time before anyone seemed to notice me.  My coffee came quickly and my order was taken promptly.  My meal came rather quickly and the second cup of coffee rolled in like slow, cold molasses.

I tipped as if the service was better than it was and I'm not sure why.

Everything else:  This place is located in the middle of massive offices and condos.  The only parking really is in the parking garage which was one of the worst I've ever encountered.  Apparently it was built during The Great Sign Shortage.  It was quite tricky to get out of and the cryptic messages about paying made it sound far more complicated than it actually turned out to be.  In fairness, it is surrounded by excellent bus and trolley service... heck my car is probably small enough to fit on the trolley... but I did not want to take the time to come home and then head out again on the bus.

I will be making the same trip next week as the other Tom Douglas restaurant is only a couple of blocks from this one.  But I will have learned some tricks from this time.

The parking was $2.50 but separate from the restaurant bill.