24. Brunch at Gargoyles

So, I learned today that this restaurant is closing after being in business for 15 years, which lit a fire in me to get these brunch blogs posted!  The head chef of Gargoyles is/was Jason Santos, who was the runner up on the TV show 'Hell's Kitchen'.  He actually just recently left Gargoyles to open Blue Inc., which is named after his infamous blue hair.  I guess Gargoyles had been planning on closing for a while, but the publicity from the show made them hold out for a little while longer.  Once Santos left, they decided it was time, apparently.


Ratty and I headed to Disco Brunch at Gargoyles on the Square in Davis to check off a new brunch place off my list but more importantly to sample their Red Velvet Pancakes.  I guess typically they serve gingerbread pancakes in the fall, but decided to switch it up for a two week stint that was featured in Daily Candy and various other Boston emails.  We got to the restaurant with about an hour left in their brunch and made a bee line for their coffee station.  We were [thankfully] seated in the front portion of the restaurant, somewhat cut off from the glowing disco ball and thumping music.  While I love a good theme, I was coffee starved and not up for a pulse pounding brunch.  The coffee station was covered with a glittery table cloth, feather boas and various other twinkly things that screamed 70s.

Ratty ordered the most ridiculous thing ever, which looked like a heart attack on a plate but tasted so so good.  It was a cast iron skillet full of eggs, waffle potatoes, cheese, bacon, more cheese, and lots of other things that are cardiac arrest inducing.  The moment is showed up to our table all the other guests around us started pointing and staring, even causing another diner to pull the waitress aside, ask what it was and request that he have that instead of his original order.  It was seriously a show stopper.

Now, onto the Red Velvet Pancakes.  They were super chocolatey, almost too chocolatey, covered in a cream cheese/sugar drizzle with chopped pecans.  I thought that they were good, but definitely WAY too sweet.  I personally liked just the pancake with the nuts and could have gone without the super sweet glaze all over them.  I kept having to steal a few waffle fries from Ratty's plate to try and break up the sweetness.  All in all, I am really glad I tried them, and I think that I'd really like to try and make them for myself.  I like playing around with ingredients and would like to try and figure out a way to make them yummy without sending people into diabetic shock.

Oh yea, and a side of bacon.  Always a side of bacon!