Food Hussy Restaurant Review: Brown Dog Cafe, Blue Ash

Sometimes Facebook can come in handy – I found out my friend Kelly, that I met at a blogging conference earlier this year, was in town from Houston for the tennis tournament! Thankfully she had a little Sunday morning window in her schedule and we got together for brunch!

I thought we’d head over to the new park in Blue Ash – they’ve really done it up over there. I’ve been for the MADD Walk the past couple of years but haven’t had a chance to enjoy the dining – they have Senate, Nanny Belle’s, Tahona Kitchen + Bar and Brown Dog Cafe.

I haven’t been to Brown Dog for years so I thought it was about time to revisit – especially since they moved to Summit Park.

Kelly got the Huevos Benedicto ($12) that featured grilled Cuban bread, poached eggs, fresh salsa, cotija cheese, guacamole, lime cilantro chipotle sauce and asparagus. Kelly got no cotija because of a dairy allergy.

This was a beautiful dish for sure – that poached egg just oozed and gooed over everything perfectly. She practically licked the plate clean so I think she liked it! It definitely looked delicious!

I had a hard time choosing – the Salmon Gyro sounds amazing but I was in a breakfast-y mood so I went with the Florentine Omelet ($13) filled with spinach, wild mushrooms, shallot, smoked garlic and got cheese. It’s served with local dressed greens and Blue Oven Bakery toast.

It was fine but nothing to write home about – a lot of spinach – very little goat cheese and very little mushrooms. It needed a sauce or something – it was just bland. My bad on a choice apparently. The salad dressing was basically nothing. The toast was great. All in all – it was fine but I should have tried something else – like the gyro!

It was great getting to spend time with Kelly again – I love the girls I met at the conference and it was fun to get to connect with her again!

Why Should You Go? If you haven’t been to Summit Park – I would definitely check it out. There is a great kids park – one of the most creative I’ve seen and numerous restaurants. They were doing yoga and zumba when we were there on the green as well. As for Brown Dog – I didn’t love my dish but I know they do a great job with entrees so I’d like to go back for dinner.