Hough’s Sports Bar ($5-10 breakfast)
www.barsmart.com/houghs
4 out of 5 stars

563 Greenfield Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15207
(412) 586-5944

Brunch at Hough’s is a new thing that I’ve heard was motivated by the start of the Steeler’s Season. The basic idea: open up for brunch at 10:00am to get the ball rolling and get non-football junkies (like me) in and out. Then, get ready for the onslaught of people looking to enjoy the game with an excellent selection of beer close at hand.

Some basics with A lil’ bit of New Orleans. At first glance, the menu seems fairly standard. My new-found friends had mentioned the dirty rice ahead of time, but the menu also includes everything from french toast or pancakes to what they call a Sausage and Broccoli Frico. Other notable items included Eggs Benedict and The Greenfielder (apparently a breakfast sandwich with , steak, banana peppers, and cheese piled on Italian bread). Of course you can also just take the reins for yourself and build your own omelet or burrito.

While there I was actually introduced to the menu’s creator: Jesse Sharrod from over at Corduroy Orange. He’s spending the first four Sunday’s of brunch to help train the Hough’s staff. If you read his blog and want to sample his work, definitely stop by and give it a try.

Limited veggie options—unless you build your own. One big ding I’d have to give the menu is a lack of vegetarian options. Of course, they do have french toast or pancakes, I lean vegetarian for the sake of my health—so neither of those is really an option. I decided to build my own omelet with a few veggie options, but I would really like to see at least one pre-assembled vegetarian dish.

Right-sized portions. Especially with breakfast, there’s a tendency for restaurants to load up enormous piles of eggs and potatoes. The whole thing my be delicious and beautiful, but I find that it’s almost always more than one person should be eating. Judging from the menu, I was a little afraid that would be the case at Hough’s. Luckily, it wasn’t. The portion sizes were quite reasonable—not too big or too small. Now that I know that’s the case, I’m thinking I might dive into the Sausage and Broccoli Frico. I’ll bet they’d make it without the sausage if I asked.

Plenty of flavor but a little discolored. When the food came out, the home fries were really the first thing I noticed: little pieces of carrot and celery joined the more typical onions to make for a pleasantly colorful presentation. They also carried plenty of flavor—more spice than I expected, in fact. As mentioned earlier, the omelet was a pretty reasonable size and carried enough flavor to eliminate too much of a need for me to augment with mustard. That said, the color was a little off—an undesirable brown, so it tasted far better than it looks in my picture. I can’t tell if the issue was too much heat or not enough oil, but I suspect that over time some of these little kinks will work themselves out.

What about my companions? Eggs Benedict and a breakfast burrito.

Overall, I’m a big fan of Hough’s and especially liked the new brunch. I can call out a lack of healthy/vegetarian options in the menu and a slightly over-browned omelet but neither is really a death blow. Just keep in mind that they can’t serve alcohol until 11:00am, so you’ll need to plan accordingly if you’re itching for a Bloody Mary. You might also want to account for any Sunday Steeler’s games. If you’re not into football, be sure to head in early (before 11am) to avoid the crowd destined to show up just for the game.

Will I go back? Without a doubt. In fact, I’ll even bring my parents there. My parents love brunch and make a point to head out any weekend they can. The next time they visit, I’m sure walking down the street to Hough’s will be at the top of our breakfast list. Then again, I’ll probably find myself there for dinner or a beer with a friend before the next time I make a point to head out for brunch.