THE WHIPPOORWILL RESTAURANT

For some reason, my brain kept remembering The Whippoorwill as The Whirlpool. This made for some confusing Google Map searching while on our way to brunch with my best friend. I then started calling it The Whip-poor-will. Better, but it wasn’t until my friend’s mom, a biologist, pronounced it correctly (whiper-will) and described the bird to me that the name finally stuck.

Atmosphere: Much of the interior furniture is the same from when the space was The Bloordale pantry. The restaurant is long and narrow. The front is split between a long bar on one wall and cozy single person booths along the other. Larger booths and tables occupy the back of the restaurant. Fresh cut flowers adorned each table and the servers were casually dressed.

Service: Reservations are not taken for brunch on the weekends. We arrived at around 11:30 and were the only ones waiting for a table. It was only a 15 min wait and we were able to grab the two tables at the front window of the restaurant. The tables were meant for couples but so close together that we had no issues enjoying our meal and passing plates back and forth to sample. We were there at the right time as by the middle of our meal there was a crowd of people waiting for tables. The service was friendly and relaxed.

Food: It’s nice having a boyfriend and friends who like to order together and share dishes. I really wanted to try the “best of Toronto” burger but then I also love poached eggs. My friend and I decided to split the two dishes and the BF ordered the Two Eggs any style with scrapple, beans and wedges.

The poached eggs were served on buttermilk biscuits with a brown butter hollandaise sauce, maple bacon and fried brussel sprouts. I appreciate the popularity of brussel sprouts these days. I’m sure after being fried they’re not the most healthy, but they still make be feel like I’m having a more balanced meal. The biscuits were buttery rich and flakey and great for soaking up hollandaise and egg yolk. It was a great breakfast dish.

The Whippoorwill burger really was very good. The ingredients are simple but fresh and assembled perfectly; melted cheese, leafy lettuce and a loose packed patty. I snuck a few bites of the BF’s scrapple and potatoes, which were delish. My only other experience with scrapple was at Grand Electric and while both were flavourful, at The Whippoorwill the texture was looser packed. The BF has continued to rave about the crispy potatoes so needless to say, they were a hit.