There are still some of us around that remember the Class of '72, the restaurants opening the year that changed St. Louis dining forever. One of those prescient restaurants was Duff's. And if one of the folks who recall those days walks into Gooseberries like I did recently, they, too, would be taken back to the very, very early days of Duff's.
It's a storefront in an emerging neighborhood, and the Saturday brunch - note that it's not served on Sundays, please - partly feels like an impromptu party at someone's house, with crockpots set out in rows. But the service at the counter, where a guest presents him- or herself to choose an omelet and pay before moving on to the buffet, is warm and welcoming and knowlegeable. The room itself, a little dark, seems as spontaneously decorated as the brunch line, making it feel even more like it was recently a home.
Now, about those omelets. The list of possible fillings is lengthy. Very lengthy, to be precise. To perhaps save dithering, they've also offered up a list of suggested combinations, most of which are unusual. Unable to resist the name, I had a W. C. Fields. No chickadees were harmed in the making of this omelet, but it did have something else remarkable: A chopped up cheeseburger slider, thus the W. C.. The Fields were represented by sauteed spinach, kale and green onion. Done in the French style with a browned exterior, and arriving with packets of White Castle horseradish sauce and spicy mustard, it was pretty amusing. Fortunately, it also tasted very good.
On the buffet tables is an assortment almost equally uncommon. Tortilla chips fried in-house to make nachos sit next to pulled pork, smoky and moist, a thinnish beer cheese, and crunchy toppings of slaw, chopped onion and jalapenos. Really good bacon, thick cut, and, in an interesting move, there were very crisp pieces and others almost English style, just crisp around the edges. Canadian bacon, as well. The potatoes are chunks that are seasoned and fried, a little garlic note in there, although probably had they been warmer they would have been more endearing.
Do not pass up the biscuits. Nubbly-looking drop biscuits are so tender they crumble in the hands. Three kinds of gravy are offered, sausage, red eye and a vegetarian one, but it seems almost a sin to sully these angelic babes with anything more than some butter. Your mileage, of course, may vary, but do try them sans gravy. Chicken wings with a vaguely Asian feel stay moist despite the buffet, and there are a couple of tofu options. They, and two salads, one with kale, were untried, so much did the omelet fill me up. Pancakes and waffles, the latter rather tough but the pancakes, which looked ho-hum, turned out to have cherries in them, the tart red ones that go into pies.
Very good coffee, and a cold beverage that I suspect changes at the whim of the kitchen. This visit it was an orange mango spritzer that was flavorful and very unsweet, refreshing but not cloying at all.
One of my friends used to talk about a restaurant in the city where he went to graduate school that offered what they called a beggar's banquet, which was a bowl of soup, a homemade yeast roll and some butter. The price for this brunch is $13, which is remarkable in this town.
Gooseberries does breakfast and lunch, and an early dinner, rather sandwichesque, although not exclusively,Tuesdays through Thursdays. Brunch only on Saturday.
Gooseberries
2574 Chippewa
314-577-6363
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Breakfast, Lunch and early Dinner Tues.-Thurs., Brunch Sat.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Poor
Smoking: No
Brunch: $13
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