Barrio Brunch: Vegetarians Get Creative

Barrio instituted a weekend brunch earlier this month, and we ate there this past Saturday. At 10 a.m., we were among a handful of diners taking advantage of a rare sunny April morning here in Seattle. We chose a table overlooking 12th Avenue and observed two women meeting each other for brunch - one had just scored a great parking spot and both were trying to figure out how to use a credit card for the parking meter.

Brunch started off promisingly. Ever since reading Jonathan Kauffman's Barrio review last month, I had been wanting to sample the Michelada Barrio - made by mixing "a nothing of a beer on top of a quarter-cup of red-brown sangrita, then rimming the glass in crunchy fleur de sel and black pepper." It was a great improvement on a Bloody Mary and a drink for which I will make a return trip. The beer gave the drink some refreshing carbonation. As Eric sagely noted, I would probably have been as pleased with any brunch drink that gave me an excuse to have beer for breakfast.

In contrast to the abundance of cocktail choices, there were only a handful of vegetarian options for brunch. When Eric asked our waiter for a recommendation, he walked away promising to come up with something. He then recommended the huevos divorciados - two fried eggs, one with red sauce and the other with green. Eric said that the sour/tangy tomatillo taste of the green sauce overwhelmed the other ingredients. I had better luck with my choice - the chilaquiles of the day (sans the rib-eye). The chilaquiles were nothing like I had in Mexico. However, they were delicious in their own right - limey, cilantro-laced and delicious. Barrio uses the smaller, thinner-skinned limons used in Mexican cooking. The limons have less acidity and more aroma and sweetness. We both agreed that Barrio was worth a return visit - for the chilaquiles and the Micheladas alone.