Scrapple, bacon, pork belly, and chocolate at Talula's Garden

Talula's Garden
210 W. Washington Square
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Neighborhoods: Washington Square West, Market East

The temperature made for a perfect summer's day. The sun was out. The sky was cloudless and blue as the sea. It was a sharp contrast to the leaden clouds and rain that greeted me upon returning to the US the previous day. It was a lazy Sunday, and lazy Sundays call for lazy brunches. 

With Washington Square at its footsteps, Talula's Garden offers both outside and inside seating. We were unable to get a table outside, so in we went. Inside, the three interior sections have their own distinct decor - just take a look at the ceilings and seen for yourself.

After placing our orders, we quickly received our drinks. An overly sweet vanilla cappuccino for my brunch partner, but a perfectly made "spicy virgin bloody" for me (I already had my Starbucks in the morning).

Then the waiting game began. To be honest, I wouldn't had realized we had already waited half an hour had the waitress not drop by to apologize for the delay. However, my brunch mate had just gotten back from the gym and had a flight to catch. After another 10-15 minutes our plates arrived. In return for our dishes, we gave the waitress our order of the melting dark chocolate s'mores & smoked ice cream for dessert so the kitchen could fire up the ticket.

My brunch mate's dish was the butcher shop brunch, a chopping of smoky kielbasa (way too dry), country bacon (crispy, crunchy, and a little burnt - but I tend to like my food a little charred anyway), scrapple (oh, yeah), potatoes, biscuits, and scrambled eggs. My dish was the BLT benedict with house smoked crispy pork belly (good enough that I'm about to drool), sticky tomato jam (read: ketchup), frisée (endives, I had to Google this), black pepper hollandaise, and poached farm eggs.

Much better than the desserts (maybe except for the toasted apple cake) at Serpico was the molten dark chocolate cake at Talula's Garden. Put a little bit of everything on your spoon and wait for for that "mmmmmm...."

P.S. The restaurant comped our dessert as a result of the long wait.