Kitsch'n on Roscoe

Well, I have two hours to kill as I wait to meet my son, so I had brunch at Kitsch’n on Roscoe in Chicago, and now you get the benefit of an incredibly detailed review of the one item that I ate!!

I ordered the “Candied Bacon Brunch BLT”.

Wow, it was delicious, and I recommend that you try it if you eat here.

Here is the menu description: Scrambled egg, candied apple-wood smoked bacon, tomato and romaine on butter-griddled Brioche with honey-mayo, accompanied by Danish hashbrowns.

Although the bread looks like ordinary white bread, it’s actually brioche baked into a sandwich loaf shape. “Butter-grilled” makes it soft, not crispy. Soft might also be a general feature of brioche, I’m not sure. I was satisfied with the soft texture, but normally I prefer crispy toast for a BLT. Keep that in mind if you, too, have a crispy/soft preference for BLT toast.

The scrambled egg was delicious. Technically a “folded egg”, meaning I could see that it was cooked thinly and then folded over twice to give it a nice height and volume. I think that also makes a tidy sandwich, as chunks of scrambled egg don’t fall off the sandwich when you pick it up.

There was a generous amount of bacon, delicious, and the sweetness was subtle, probably appropriate for a sweet/savory sandwich like this. It seemed like maybe it was brushed with brown sugar while frying, it was not thickly coated with a candied crust or anything.

The tomato and romaine were generous, fresh and crisp.

The honey-mayo was thin and subtly sweet, not heavy handed.

Danish hashbrowns are awesome and delicious, I loved them. They are thick cubes of skin-on potatoes, prepared with purple onions, red peppers and lots of fresh rosemary. These are very strong flavored and well-seasoned, so again keep that in mind if you prefer traditional shredded hashbrowns, or breakfast potatoes that are milder.

I’m here at 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon on a Wednesday, so the place is empty. But they can be quite busy during normal meal times.

Kitsch’n on Roscoe is a “famous” restaurant that’s quite popular, it’s been featured on at least one television show, and has a great local reputation. The retro environment is wonderful. I suppose it’s an “intentionally kitschy” planned décor rather than “these genuine articles have been here for 50 years”, but it’s definitely comfy and charming.

I had an awesomely friendly and competent server. I saw other reviews indicating that some servers here are not always so.

When it comes to the price of restaurant food, I’ve totally lost perspective regarding what is “bargain”, “appropriate” or “overpriced”. Lately, to me, everything seems expensive!! The entrée I described was $9.50. That’s probably normal for this type of restaurant in Chicago’s Roscoe Village, Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.

I agree, this is a pretty decent restaurant if you are able to end up here in the absence of stroller moms and their spoiled brats. One of the few good restaurants in Roscoe Village (though we still miss the greasy spoon that was here before--name??).

bean wrote:I agree, this is a pretty decent restaurant if you are able to end up here in the absence of stroller moms and their spoiled brats. One of the few good restaurants in Roscoe Village (though we still miss the greasy spoon that was here before--name??).

Do you mean Brett's (which used to be where Orange is now located)?

One of the few good restaurants in Roscoe Village

Volo, Turquoise, and Victory Banner are all decent. Not a whole lot of options in Roscoe Village overall really.

I would recommend checking out newly opened Endgrain as well (Addison & Wolcott)--I haven't had breakfast there yet but my dinner earlier this week was excellent. And they serve donuts!!

boudreaulicious wrote:I would recommend checking out newly opened Endgrain as well (Addison & Wolcott)--I haven't had breakfast there yet but my dinner earlier this week was excellent. And they serve donuts!!

I have high hopes for Endgrain.


The kitchen there is >tiny< (I worked there a bit when it was that pasta place--I've managed to block the name from my memory)

Darren72 wrote:

bean wrote:I agree, this is a pretty decent restaurant if you are able to end up here in the absence of stroller moms and their spoiled brats. One of the few good restaurants in Roscoe Village (though we still miss the greasy spoon that was here before--name??).

Do you mean Brett's (which used to be where Orange is now located)?

No. The place I remember was named after a (French?) woman. We had an absolutely horrific dinner @ Volo, complete with raw sweetbreads and being given the check from the table next to us. No offer of compensation. Although I know and like the owner (he also owns Kitsch'n) I doubt I'll be back.

Ah! Yvonne's was where Kitsch'n is now!

Turquoise is OK if you can avoid the pushy owner.

Kitsch'n is a great place to take kids, if you can tolerate the occasional jackass or the collection of the hungover citybillies.

Had brunch here today with a friend. Like the Yelp reviews all say, you walk in and are hit with an overwhelming mildew smell, and the glasses and cups sit mouth down on the table.

Food was fine, my friend had the pancakes which she liked very much, I had the candied bacon BLT. I found it tasty but overwhelmingly sweet (sweet bacon, sweet bread, sweet mayo). The potatoes today were fried shoestrings, not cubes, tossed unevenly with roasted red pepper, onions and rosemary.

Service was friendly but not attentive - I had to go up to the counter get a coffee refill while one of the waitresses was eating her breakfast.