Breakfast in KC (Stop 13/16)

I'm getting close to the end of my Best Breakfasts in KC list - there are only three to go! With that in mind, I'm trying to decide what I want to do next. I've found a list entitled "10 Places To Eat Only The Locals Know About in Kansas City" and I think that may be the next venture. I love brunch, and I don't think I'll ever stop going, but I think I'd like to venture out and try a few other restaurants that may be better known for other things.

This weekend, we tried out Julian in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City. We had heard great things about the restaurant, including but not limited to the fact that is houses James Beard Award-winning chef Celina Tio. The restaurant is named after Celina's grandfather, Julian, who taught her how to use a chef's knife when she was eight years old. She has competed on Food Network's “The Next Iron Chef” and Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters.” You can find a lot more information about Celina Tio on her website.

We are to the point in the year when we are able to eat outside when we brunch, so that was the obvious choice today when we arrived at Julian. After perusing their menu, we decided to start off with Julian's fair-trade, organic French press coffee and an order of their Doughnut holes dusted with ginger sugar.

 

 

For the meals we went with Drop biscuits with meat gravy and a Brunch style cheese burger with fried egg, house bacon, and hollandaise sauce. Overall, we were pretty pleased. It was a cozy environment, good food, and great coffee. Here are some things that we didn't like:

• The portion size of the biscuits and gravy
• They did not have a current liquor license so we were unable to have cocktails
• The burger was open faced, which was not what I thought it would be

After reflection, we would DEFINITELY visit Julian again. To us, great service is REALLY important and we got that, no question. Celina Tio was running food and seating tables herself and I thought that was really neat. When you combine that with comfort, good music, and good food, we're sold.

 

We would give Julian an 8.5/10.