Bongo Room at 5022 N Clark. Credit: Jeremy Bressman

I’ve said it before – I don’t quite understand the Chicago cult-like brunch culture, that has no qualms of waiting like zombies 20, 30, 40+ minutes patiently for brunch.  After all, its just eggs and toast, right?  When I’m hungry and craving my coffee fix, the last thing I want to do is stand around, staring at others enjoying their food and caffinated beverages as my tummy growls at me in dispair.  That being said, I decided to give Bongo Room, Andersonville’s newest brunch spot which is notorious for long waits at it’s two other locations a shot.  We decided to try to get there a bit earlier than the masses, but alas, even at 10am on a Sunday the wait was over 20 minutes.

To make the wait more palatable, Bongo Room offers customers the option to pour their first cup of Joe while they’re waiting, but of course I didn’t take notice of this until AFTER we had been seated.  Rookie mistake, but now noted.  After putting in our time on the sidewalk out front, as there is no room to wait inside, we were offered two seats at the service counter.  We were quickly greeted by a busser with water and our server followed right there after to take our beverage orders.  My dining companion and I both opted for coffees, and I also ordered a fresh squeezed orange juice.  The coffee was tasty and hot, Intellegencia, and the OJ too was delicious.  I was, however, a bit taken back by the fact that I was paying $5 for “fresh squeezed” OJ and it came out of a large plastic gallon milk jug and had no pulp.  Maybe it’s “freshly” squeezed earlier in the day, or by somewhere other than the restaurant (does that still count as fresh squeezed?), but for five bucks I want it squeezed to order as places such as Nookies on Bryn Mawr do.  Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Nookies, where I don’t usually have to wait…ahem.

The menu isn’t huge, but don’t think that you’re going to have an easy time deciding what to order as it includes both savory and sweet items along with daily (or weekly, or monthly) specials as well.  Figuring I needed to get past my “its just eggs” perception of brunch, and after hearing about how Bongo Room is known for its pancakes, I decided to go the sweet route for a change.  And sweet I got.  That picture below is not a birthday cake or caramel macchiato, it was my pancakes with bits of chopped pretzel topped with a white chocolate and caramel sauce.  For someone who prefers savory dishes I ended up on a completely different planet, and kinda liked it.  To stay on balance, I also opted for a side of bacon – as if that was needed after this mass of sweet goodness.  The dish was amazing, think salty (from the pretzels, and even more so the added bacon) & sweet but I couldn’t even eat half of it.  My dining companion opted for the vegetarian croissant sandwich, which was also massive, featuring spinach, tomato, sprouts, mushrooms, cheese and an egg.  The “house” breakfast potatoes have dill in them, which is a nice unique touch, and I may have stole a spud or two from his plate.  All in all it was a great meal and most definately anything but ”just eggs.”  Worth the wait?  I think so.

They really did a nice job with the decor, as well.  It has a modern feel and flows nicely with seats in the front, an open cooking area and then more seating in the back and a beautiful patio that we hope to check out one day (it was about to rain while we were there).  All in all, Bongo Room is a nice addition to the neighborhood and fills a void of breakfast options on the south side of the Clark Street strip.  Now I understand why Chicagoans are bonkers for Bongo.