Nashville Food Friday: Brunch at The Lipstick Lounge

If you've tried to go out for brunch in East Nashville at some point in the last year I'm sure you know how frustrating it can be. With waits over an hour and a half by 11am, going to brunch can become a fierce battle. Scheming and plotting to beat the crowd, anticipating the spot with the shortest wait time... all this can become exhausting and cause the average Sunday brunch-goer to throw their hands up and scream, "I give up." 

Places that I've been frequenting without a problem for the last 4.5 years now have lines out the doors. To combat the War on Brunch, some places that you would 't even think would serve up biscuits and eggs have opened their doors to the starving masses on Sunday morning. Such was the case last Sunday, after to planning to meet a group of friends for brunch at Biscuit House (finding out there was over an hour wait), and then moving to Mad Donna's (only to find out their wait was even worse). Just as were about to give up we saw a sign in front of The Lipstick Lounge announcing weekend brunch. It was an oasis in the desert of mimosas and pancakes, the coveted spot without a wait, where we were seated immediately.

The Lipstick Lounge is Nashville's only lesbian bar and it's a pretty good time at night. During weekend daylight hours the place is transformed into a bustling dining room. The decor looks like a bar with high-top tables, which makes sense considering it's a BAR. The place was packed out and we were lucky to snag a table, because right after we sat down a line started forming. 

The brunch menu at The Lipstick Lounge is heavily Mexican-influenced. Which is fine by me considering salsa and eggs are a beautiful thing. I ordered the Killer Chilaquiles (eggs, tortillas, and salsa served together) with potatoes and refried beans. Off the bat I was disappointed: on the menu it said "Corn tortillas sautéed in tomatillo salsa, topped with eggs to order" and when I ordered this dish with eggs over easy I thought I had made a wise choice. Nothing is better than runny yolks falling over tortillas. I was bummed when the waitress came back to the table to tell me I couldn't choose the way my eggs were cooked because everything was scrambled together. I decided to go with my original order even if it meant forgoing runny yolks. The resulting dish was still pretty tasty (I love tomatillo salsa) and the eggs were light and fluffy. I wasn't a big fan of the refrained beans as they tasted like they came out of a can and were sprinkled with processed cheese that did not melt. The crispy potatoes were nice! I just wish they were a tad bit more spiced-up to go with the Mexican theme.

Steve ordered the burrito special that had eggs, beans, chorizo, salsa, cheese and sour cream. The burrito was HUGE. The ratio of ingredients was great, and Steve felt it was very satisfying, but the best breakfast burrito in town is still hands-down Mitchell Deli's Sunday special.

It's nice to see more places jumping on the brunch bandwagon. The more restaurants with open doors on Sunday, the less I'm going to have to wait in line. While the brunch at lipstick lounge was ok, it wasn't my favorite. Everything we had was tasty, but it wasn't mind-blowing awesome. It was a solid Mexican-style brunch without the wait. Keep The Lipstick Lounge in mind when you're driving around looking for an East Nashville spot to brunch.