Weekend Brunching: Pop-up Brunch at KTCHN 105

There was a time when catching up with friends meant long drawn out dinners over many many bottles of wine, or hanging purses on tiny hooks below the bar and mingling and reminiscing till the wee hours of the morning. It was a time when weeknight fun and early mornings were of no consequence to us, and bed times and hem lines were blurred along with our visions. The greasy diner breakfasts, which were eventually consumed after these nights, more out of necessity than any epicurean delights. Now, I am in no way saying our carefree days are over, I'm still in my 20's for god-sake, what I am alluding to is the fact that nights like this are becoming fewer and far between. I am also not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, for as I mourn the loss of my early 20's rablerousing, I find myself comfortably nestled in my new station in life as a late (well later) 20's weekend brunch-er.

This past weekend, after having gone far too long without a good catchup gab session, my dear friend Molly and I decided to meet for brunch. I did a quick yelp search for restaurants downtown and was intrigued by the reviews for a brunch spot I had never heard of. KTCHN 105. The concept of a roaming pop up brunch sounded intriguing but the photos of previous brunch fare really sealed the deal for me. Waffle BLT with pears? Yes. Yes please. After finding out that their pop-up loft location was up and running every weekend in November I promptly made a reservation.

After hugs and greetings early (ish) Saturday morning we sat down to eat. The space, located in a loft apartment near the produce section of Downtown LA, is cute and homey. My eyes were immediately drawn to a Bloody Mary bar with jars or fresh celery, pickles, olives and peppers. I of course couldn't resist the appeal and ordered their house Bloody Mary (they also serve a Bloody Maria made with, you guessed it, tequila) Molly ordered a Mimosa made with fresh OJ. Menus were opened. The rotating menu meant none of the dishes I had read about on the yelps were available, but you know what? It all ended up just fine.

Ok foodies, here is where this story gets interesting.

The drinks came, and I don't want to oversell or simplify this but, hot damn! It was a good Bloody Mary. Not just a good BM (hehe) but It was without a doubt the best Bloody Mary I've ever had. Simple, spicy, refreshing and strong. I was warned to NOT bite into the habanero pepper that was rustically speared and placed inside my drink, which I obliged. I quickly noticed however, that not only was the pepper a lovely accoutrement, sandwiched between two pimientos, it also was functional in that it helped me gage the spice level and let me pull out when the heat got too intense (please feel free to expound your own sexual innuendos here).

Ok Ok FOOD. Molly dear ordered the egg sandwich, 2 eggs, baguette, potatoes. Pretty straight forward, but sounded great. After some indecisiveness I ordered, or rather was persuaded by the delightful waitress to order the beat hash. Along with our mains, we ordered the fruit trio as an appetizer.

As we were eagerly chatting and catching up, the fruit plate was dropped in front of us and looked absolutely beautiful. This is the point in the story in which I must apologies, as I haven't really given into the whole taking pictures of your food at restaurants craze, but since I am part of a food blog, I should maybe think about getting over myself and changing my ways. That being said, imagination will be key for this bit; the fruit trio consisted of minted melons atop a creamy yogurt sauce, homemade granola in a creamy sweet coconut milk, and sweet grits with berry fruit preserves. All of it was amazing and the flavors all very layered and delicious. We both agreed the highlight of the plate were the amazing sweet grits that almost tasted like a rice or tapioca pudding.

After more chatting and communing, brunch arrived. Again, apologies for the lack of pictures, but please take my word for it, the plates were dressed beautifully. Mine, a huge mound of roasted beets, crispy homestyle potatoes, soft scrambled eggs with goat cheese, horseradish creme and wilted dressed spinach. A lovely brioche roll with homemade lemon clotted cream and preserves accompanied. Molly's, looked equally delicious, two beautifully baked eggs on a crispy bread with a beautiful mound of those perfectly done and seasoned potatoes.

As we dug in the chatter stopped momentarily to let the flavor wash over us. Delicious. Transcendent, even. All the components of my dish worked together and built off each other. A party in my mouth, if you will. It was evident that a lot of thought and many steps and labor were involved in constructing each of our dishes and the results were much appreciated by both myself and my fellow bruncher. As the drinks were finished off and the bill (given to us with two fresh cookies) handled, I couldn't help but feel completely fulfilled by my morning, it was truly, lovely. As I got in my car refreshed and nourished by both my meal and my interaction with my friend, I thought to myself, 'If this is growing up, I think I like it.'

KTCHN 105 will be serving brunch through November 27th at;

1250 Long Beach Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90021

Also please check out the website as they also do cocktail and cooking classes.

*Picture taken off of Yelp.