Brunch at Punch Bowl Social PDX

Every weekend my friend T and I brunch. We alternate who chooses, and sometimes I am completely uninspired. On one of my uninspired mornings we ended up at Punch Bowl Social PDX. 

This is definitely more of a late night spot - their slogan is, "if you can do it over a beer, you can do it her." They have bowling, shuffleboard, darts, and pretty much any bar game/activity you can think of. 

Bowling! In the mall

We were kind of crunched for time, and I figured brunch at a HUGE restaurant (it takes up an entire floor of the Rotunda at Pioneer Place Mall) in a mall would be pretty uncrowded on a Sunday - and I was right. There were three people drinking a liquid breakfast at the bar when we arrived - they were the only ones there that weren't employees. 

When we were seated we were presented with buttermilk biscuits with pepper jam.

Not being a fan of buttermilk biscuits, I can't vouch for how these were, I tasted one but it was SO buttery I could only manage one bite - however I'm pretty sure the buttery/flaky texture is something people appreciate about buttermilk biscuits, so these may be delicious and I just can't tell. 

It was kind of cute and fun that beverages are served in mason jars. It makes me want to go back in the evening for a cocktail to see how they're served. 

True to his usual preference, T ordered the sweetest thing on the menu, the Monkey Bread French Toast ($10.00). It was pretty much just a GIANT square of gooey monkey bread drenched in syrup that was more caramel sauce than syrup. The bacon was thick and good, the scrambled eggs were a little strange in both appearance and texture. He wasn't a fan of the eggs or the "french toast", he ate enough to get a massive sugar high, but wasn't a huge fan. 

I ordered the closest thing to a Benedict that I could find on the menu, the Ham & Eggs on Toast ($12.00). 

This kind of looked like a mess - but was very, very good. The ham was super salty, balanced nicely with the rather bland Hollandaise sauce. This was one of the better breakfast items I've had anywhere, but it was so incredibly rich and salty that I couldn't quite finish half of it, which was a shame. 

The Ham & Eggs on Toast was served with "punch potatoes."  I typically find potatoes to be bland, boring and tasteless - these however, even though they look iffy, were quite good. They were very well done and almost crispy, covered in salt and herbs, and were deliciously savory. 

I honestly didn't think Punch Bowl Social would have good food, but I really liked my brunch. I would definitely return. I think I'll hit Punch Bowl on a weekend evening for Happy Hour or Dinner, and also check out the karaoke - there is nothing better than listening to awful karaoke. 

If you'd like to check out Punch Bowl Social for yourself, their website is www.punchbowlsocial.com/pdx and they're located at 340 SW Morrison St in Portland. They are open Monday - Friday from 11:00am - 2:00am and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am - 2:00am. Happy Hour is every day from 3:00pm - 6:00pm and 10:00pm - 2:00am.