Brunch in Chicago is a great thing. What’s better than escaping the cold to 1. have waffles at 1 pm, 2. take some nice Insta photos, and 3.eat enough food for both breakfast and lunch and not feel remotely guilty about it?
I’ve tried a few other popular places, like Beatrix — which is great if you’re a small group — and Little Goat Diner — for when you want more comfort food but still want to name-drop. Cochon Volant supplies both bougie/trendy and comfort food, combining its French name and avocado toast with a comfortable yet upscale cafe-like seating.
We ordered drinks first, and this is when a problem was discovered: THEY DO NOT HAVE HOT CHOCOLATE. My friend Mahathi tried to order one, and the waiter’s response was “We don’t carry that, but I can try to make it,” to which my friend replied, “Sounds good.”
The waiter looked extremely frightened at that prospect and said, “Yeah, um, sometimes people don’t like that. I mean…we can do it, but I wouldn’t recommend it…” At this point, she just stuck with water.
Pictured: the Monsieur Foster waffle
The drinks arrived pretty quickly, as did the food. The shock and dismay over the lack of hot chocolate was soon replaced by awe and amazement over the waffles. I mean, they’re beautiful.
Pictured: Wild Mushroom-Kale-Gruyere Omelette
If you hate waffles and/or are Satan, they also have omelettes, featuring fancy ingredients like aged Gruyere, pulled duck, mushrooms, American cheese, and meat. Although they are delicious, if you’re like me and like hot sauce on your eggs, bring your own. All they have is something weak that tastes reminiscently like Tabasco. Just pull a Beyoncé and keep hot sauce in your bag at all times.
And yes, there is avocado toast, which they suggest with “medium to runny eggs.” The waiter seemed to really hate scrambled eggs.
In the end, it seemed that most of our problems originated from having a really sassy waiter. Huh. Anyway, the food outdid any of his sassiness (I say “outdid” and not “forgive” because sassiness is amazing and never needs an apology).
I’m not sure whether the fare was any better/worse than other similarly-priced (and delicious) spots like Wildberry, but it definitely gave off the trendy “brunch” feel without feeling a little too hipster.
