Le Petit Dejeuner (191 King Street East & George)

I admire Le Petit Dejeuner for striving to deliver something a bit different: potato rosti instead of home fries, apple-slaw instead of fruit or salad, organic sausage terrine instead of bangers; the kitchen at Le Petit Dejeuner thinks outside the pan. Unfortunately it doesn’t really work.

Once you get passed the exposed-brick, plastic-upholstered booth-seating, happy tunes (Beatles and the like) fast’n friendly service, and the obvious popularity proven by the line of bated-breath brunchers waiting for 10:00, PD’s relaxed atmosphere and popularity alone could not make up for where the experience fell short - flavour and value.

Where to begin. The Eggs Benny with sautéed bell peppers and onions was extremely disappointing. The hollandaise was bland and far too sparingly poured. The accompanying rosti was innovated but again bland, and the apple-slaw, while tasty, was not nearly tasty enough to compensate for the rest of the lacklustre meal. Perhaps the weirdest part of the meal (and the worst call on my part) was the side of breakfast meat - the organic sausage terrine. Having never particularly thought to eat hamburger or meatloaf for breakfast (okay that's a lie), I would not order this again.

Not only was the food mediocre but the value was worse. The side of bacon (three scrawny pieces) cost a bank-breaking $4.00. That’s more than a dollar-a-piece. The $4.00 terrine (read: burger/meatloaf) was also small and overpriced. The nail in the coffin was the syrup. Pouring table syrup on bacon and bangers is a sacred element of brunch, but PD doesn’t have table syrup and uses this as an excuse to charge $1.50 for the absolute most miniscule portion of "organic" syrup.

While Petit Dejeuner gets points for trying and possibly even for creativity, the menu really doesn’t work and the value is hard to justify. I’m all about paying a bit more for a creative meal, but it’s got to taste good too.

Edward Levesque’s Kitchen (1290 Queen St. E. & Leslie)

Un-renoed and 1960s-tacky, the vibe at Edward Levesque’s Kitchen is atypical of a popular Toronto brunch spot. Maybe that's what makes Levesque’s so great: unlike the come-to-be-expected-deliberate chaos of a trendy brunch place, where a canvas of items "found in grandma's attic" are used to fill the space and create ambiance, Edward Levesque’s genuinely understated interior of yellow walls and neat hardwood tables and chairs creates such a neutral decor that the joint clearly survive on its own merits. The authenticity and success of Levesque’s are only further proven by the diverse crowd this watering hole draws: fellow brunchers spanned all of society’s proscribed pop-cultural groups and ranged from groups of seniors to middle agers to young brunchers chasing the eggs-benny-dragon in pursuit of the tomorrow's coolest new brunch (but theirs yesterday).

Brunching at Levesque’s was a success. Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by the talented-and-always-charming chefs whose cooking station hung over both Queen Street and the restaurant’s waiting area. We were seated quickly and service was quick throughout. Each table was accessorized with a jar of artisanal Danish fruit preserve – our table had blueberry but we also borrowed the ginger from our neighbours. Perhaps as another signature Levesque’s move, each table was also set with its own “vintage” dish towel folded squarely under a water pitcher.

As for our meals, the food was a mixed bag. Karina’s smoked mackerel, carmelized onion and chive scramble was flavourful but appropriately controlled and its accompanying salad was fresh, satisfying and simple. Karina had to order a side of toasted Ace Bakery walnut bread to eat with the preserve because the dish came with no home fries or toast. Leora’s weekends-only poached eggs with Italian sausage, corn bread, home fries and chilli-sauce was an interesting, but not repeat, order. The sophisticated simplicity of poached eggs and corn bread was lost under the yummy, but overpowering, tomato-sauce, which seemed far more Italian than it did Southern. The sausage also overpowered the eggs and cornbread and seemed to belong more in an Italian pasta sauce than on a brunch menu– bangers may have been a more complementary pairing. The baby was not thrown out with the bath water. The consensus was that Leora simply ordered the wrong thing for her taste, as this dish is one of the most popular items on Levesque’s brunch menu.

Home fries: burnt and immemorable. Coffee: drip, and not fantastic. Toasted Ace Bakery walnut bread with butter: fabulous. Danish preserves: very very yummy.

The quasi-unsuccessful order only made us more intrigued to return and sample more of what Levesque’s serves up. With such reasonable prices and surrounded by so many antique furniture shops we could see no reason not to. 3/5.

Lady Marmalade (898 Queen St. E. & Logan)

After a long blogging-hiatus we found our way to Lady Marmalade in Leslieville on Queen East. We’d been warned by Karina’s sister, Stace, to get there before 9:00 (AM!) if we weren’t interested in waiting endlessly for a table. The consensus was that 9:00 did seem a bit early for a Saturday, but we made it to Lady by around 9:45 and, even with two parties ahead of us, were sitting by just after 10. Although we must warn: by the time we left around 11:30 the line-up was clean out the door, past the entire storefront, and who knows how far down the block.

The atmosphere at Lady Marmalode was a combination was fun and make-shift– neither in a way that we hadn’t seen before. The lime green wood-panelled walls were cascaded with local art and the floor plan was decorated with an eclectic smattering of 1950’s-style kitchen tables and vintage chairs. The lay-out was really spacious and so we never felt like we were listening to other people’s conversations or eating off of strangers’ plates. For better or for worse. The music was a mixture of indy tunes (most of which we’d never heard before) and generally the mood was upbeat, boisterous and cheery.

One of the factors that made Lady so great was her mixed crowd: young families, middle-agers, post-middle-agers, and singles alike filled this one neighbourhood joint. There was a low-hanging chalk board and kids books near the door along with a selection of different newspapers.

Another exciting thing about Lady was the kitchen’s skill in preparing drinks. Mark ordered the mango lassi which was blended with mint leaves and, unlike many-a-lassi, it was not too sweet. The same went for Karina’s chai latte and Leora’s London fog (which is not necessarily a given on a brunch menu in this city). Drinks were satisfying and really flavourful thanks to not having been overwhelmed by sugar.

The food was all good although some orders were more successful than others. The most successful order all around was one of Lady’s many interpretations on eggs benny which included bacon, aged cheddar and mango in a lemony hollandaise. This dish was fabulous. The hollandaise was perfect and generously ladled over the dish, and it seemed like the mango was either baked or carmelized. Whatever it was, this dish really worked. It was also garnished in fresh chives which added a nice touch.

The huevos rancheritos was a bit of a disappointing order. It came with soft scrambled eggs, black beans, guacamole, whole wheat tortillas and a chipotle salsa. The dish did not stand out and the salsa was too watery.

The poached egg BLT with chipotle mayo, roasted tomatoes, bacon and avocado on whole grain bread was good but not spectacular. The chipotle mayo had kick and the flavours worked well but because the sandwich couldn’t be picked up it ate more like a benny.