Chopbiscuit on the road dining review: Orange - Chicago, IL

Orange in Northalsted

Welcome to another delightful Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls, dive bars, food trucks and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.

I like eating. It fascinates me. I sit and look at the food for hours. I often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is my tweeting, except it's much cooler. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. I eat because I'm hungry. I eat because it's my job. I go out to these establishments to consume their lineups.

I then judge it.

Orange

3231 N Clark St

Chicago, IL 60657

(773) 549-4400

Cuisine: Contemporary brunch
Neighborhood: Northalsted Chicago, IL
Price: Under $20

Another week, another trip back to the second city. Work has once again allowed me to visit one of my favorite cities and I took a chance to visit one of my favorite breakfast haunts in all of the land, Orange. For many locals, Orange is known as home of the frushi (fruit sushi) and the pancake flight. Orange has been around for over 10 years and has 5 locations in the Chicago metro area. If you're ever in town, and your craving a great brunch, head on over to one of their locations with an empty belly.

The interior has a feeling of a hip, artsy vibe with a young and vivacious staff that looks like your typical coffee barista in the west village. Hints of Orange all around reinforce the fact that fruit and fresh produce play a significant role in their concept.


What I ingested:

Hollandaise is always better with clarified butter and lemon

  
I decided to go with the Tijuana Benedict sans the donkey show. This dish is an english muffin topped with white bean puree, fresh pico de gallo and poached eggs with chipotle hollandaise and garnished with fresh cilantro. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. After I was finished it looked like my golden retriever on plate cleaning duty. The hollandaise was rich with nice snap from the lemon and the eggs were poached perfectly. A few weeks prior I also visited the establishment and ordered the peppercorn-raspberry egg sandwich which was also a great savory option with a hint of sweetness from the homeade raspberry sauce. 


Orange is known to throw some creative spins on the standards. The coffee brewed with fresh orange peel and the orange-rosemary french toast and the jelly doughnut pancakes are a few of the favorites that keep the locals flocking when their taste buds are feeling a bit creative.


Just to get your creative juices flowing, check out their online menu here....