Welcome to Bunches o’ Brunches, a semi-weekly series featuring superior brunch, breakfast, and booze from new restaurants and menus throughout Chicago and neighboring suburbs.
Gumbo, grits, and Sazerac cocktails. This city deserves a better New Orleans-inspired menu. For the past year, Chef Brian Jupiter has almost singlehandedly been working to correct Chicago’s unsavory past with Creole cuisine, but has he succeeded? Let’s investigate, starting with a boozy bayou brunch.
Chef Jupiter named his newest restaurant after his great-grandmother, who also inspired a few items on the menu. His childhood was spent by her side, in the kitchen, surrounded by the smells and ingredients integral to American soul food. He’s also the Executive Chef behind Frontier, a place where they’ll cook a whole chicken stuffed alligator for you, in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. In 2019, he earned a coveted position as a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef Great Lakes. To sum it all up, Jupiter is a man who knows his way around a kitchen.
In Wicker Park, a block away from the busy intersection of Milwaukee and Wood, sits Ina Mae, and it’s the type of spot that checks off each item on your hipster list. From the outside, it looks like any other college-kid tavern. Open the door and say “hi” to the coin-operated horse, just like the one you’ll find outside of K-Mart in your favorite 80’s television show. Vintage signs on the wall? Check. Wood floors and an extensive brown-liquor selection. Double check.
But how’s the food? I’ll be honest.
Ina Mae Brunch Review
Ina Mae Brunch: Starters
We begin with cocktails, as is mandatory for civilized brunch dining. I had the Bourbon Street, a lowball glass filled with crushed ice, berry-infused bourbon, gin, and topped with lime and mint. A lot of ice for my taste, but refreshing. It’s the perfect drink for someone pretending to enjoy bourbon whenever the liquor’s cyclical popularity finds it necessary.
Next, was the Killing Me Softly. Served in a highball glass and made with milk, rum, and Maker’s Mark, it’s easy to enjoy — like a bourbon Frappuccino.
Ina Mae isn’t the type of place that holds its beverage service to the same standard as its cuisine. (I mean, the ice was cloudy (!!!)). But sometimes it’s okay to be more cookout than prohibition, you know. Cocktails set the tone for the rest of the meal, and here everything is relaxed, familial, red Solo cup-ish.
I unbutton my sport coat and press on to the entrees.
Ina Mae Brunch: Main Entrees
“It’s all about the bread,” Jupiter told the Tribune when describing the restaurant’s Po’boys. “That was the biggest challenge. Po’boy bread is not a baguette. It has a crunch on the outside but breaks when you bite it, so everything doesn’t spill out.” Here, we see his prowess in action. He’s not ashamed to make a sandwich one of the most original items on the menu. The Breakfast Po’boy is crunchy on the outside bread stuffed with eggs (fried or scrambled), choice of protein (like thick cut bacon or avocado), cheese, and if you’d like a few fried oysters. It’s worth a trip to New Orleans by itself.
Deceptively misidentified, the BBQ Shrimp and Grits aren’t swimming in sweet sauce, which I first expected from the description. No siree bob. These are perfectly seasoned shrimp on a bed of creamy grits, corn, scallions, and parm. My brunch-mate ordered the shrimp and grits, and I snuck a spoonful or six when he wasn’t looking. It is my favorite item from the menu so far.
I ordered the Fried Chicken and Waffles, which-. I’m so sick of fried chicken and waffles that even a fluffy waffle topped with delicious fried chicken leaves me cynical. I’m over it. Don’t know why I ordered it. It was good or whatever. I will say, the chicken was so memorable that I came back for their all-you-can-eat fried chicken happy hour and bingo night on Thursday. Still, I’d recommend skipping this item. Have the courage to brunch harder than I did and order the Po’Man’s Seafood Tower instead. Serving 2-3 people, it’s a tiered tray of shrimp, oysters, crawfish, hush puppies, and potatoes.
Sidenote: The waffle maker broke down a few month ago, according to a rep for the restaurant. The chicken is now served with pancakes, which “people seem to prefer”.
Ina Mae Brunch: Dessert
Beignets. Duh.
Tip: Ina Mae makes their best fried donuts in the morning when they’re in higher demand. In the evening, they can be a bit greasy. IMO.
Kari’s Recommendations
– Drink: Straight bourbon over cloudy ice. (JK, I don’t care about the ice.)
– Brunch: BBQ Shrimp and Grits
– End: Beignets
Ina Mae Tavern & Packaged Goods
1415 N Wood St, Chicago, IL 60622
773.360.8320
https://www.inamaetavern.com
Disclosure: Ina Mae did not provide meals. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, Kari Herrera, and are not indicative of the views or positions of Ina Mae.
Nothing here feels new or inventive.
Solid selection served with southern hospitality.