Chef’s Corner:

A legend on the Chicago restaurant scene, Chef Ina Pinkney—aka “The Breakfast Queen”—founded and operated Ina’s Kitchen, a well-known restaurant in Chicago’s trendy West Loop Market District, for 22 years. She is known for spearheading changes in the industry, and she has appeared in articles in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Details Magazine, Vogue, and many more.

This month, she delves into the topic that helped make her famous: brunch.

Let's talk about the future of brunch.

Chef Ina:

I think if we get some historical perspective, it will help us when we think about how we're going to move forward, because things come in cycles. So you're going to see some things that happened in the past that faded out and then came back again.

Chef Eleonora:

It’s a meal that we really enjoy here in this country, socializing and staying connected with friends on a weekend morning. Do you think it’s something that’s sustainable for the future?

Chef Ina:

I think that’s definitely never going to go away, but what’s going to happen is, based on the kitchen staff and based on the limitations and the food costs, it’s going to come back to more of a breakfast menu. It’s going to go back to simpler menus. It’s up to us to figure out how are we going to make pancakes better, different, and more exciting. I kept remembering when I was doing this, when we would do gingerbread pancakes for the winter, they were so unbelievably delicious, and I went to the trouble of making a really great lemon curd cream to go with them. People would stop when they would taste it, and you could see that we changed the experience of pancake for them that moment. So I was thinking maybe this is a good thing to think about, ways of taking it up a notch but making sure that it's identifiable and making sure that the taste memory is still there but giving them a surprise.

Chef Eleonora:

It's great advice for operators. Everything that you describe, we pretty much have in our kitchens. I believe, with the economy right now, you don't want to be bringing in ingredients that are exclusive for your brunch that you may not use throughout the day. We've been testing a lot of turbinado sugar as a syrup. So that's a good example of something that you already have in your kitchen. We do it here with waffles or pancakes and people go, "Wow, I never thought about it," - new ideas to be innovative but using the same ingredients you have in your kitchen.

What kind of menus or food do you see, other than the traditional, coming up in brunch menus?

Chef Ina:

So here are two dishes that I’m crazy about that I’ve had recently. One is a breakfast fried rice, except [the chef] uses bacon and ham, and the flavor profile is big. The second is an heirloom tomato benedict. So there’s no bread in it. He puts a big piece of toast on the side. The heirloom tomatoes are gorgeous, and then he makes a pesto out of arugula and walnut, and cuts up avocado in there as well, and then makes two poached eggs on top of the tomatoes and a sprinkling of a hot chili powder. At the end, you have to eat it with a spoon because it’s so delicious that all the juices have melded, and you just want to eat the whole thing.

Chef Eleonora:

That fried rice is a great idea, and I think chefs are incorporating those dishes, traditional dishes, to brunch. Chef Ina, you've probably seen it as well, the breakfast pizzas prepared for brunch with eggs and sausage and bacon with some fresh vegetables. What else do you see evolving in the brunch menu?

Chef Ina:

I would add more globalization to a menu. So yes, there are eggs, but also shakshuka. I would lean into things that are inexpensive to make but would raise the level of the room.

How can brunch enhance people’s experience?

Chef Eleonora:

Some places that I've been, I've received a little plate of small donuts or little mini muffins, and they set them up as an appetizer for you. I really like that idea as well, just a little something to get your appetite going.

Chef Ina:

Not only that, but to raise the blood sugar a little bit because people are hungry. I was having breakfast out the other day and a couple came up to me and said that it was 30 years ago that she had her bridesmaids there for a brunch at my restaurant. It was lovely. But what she said was, "You know what I miss? The little basket that you'd put on the table that had cut-up pieces of coffee cake and cookies and things like that." Look, 30 years and she remembers everything that was in there, and I think that's an extraordinary idea.

Chef Eleonora:

It's your experience, how they make you feel.

Chef Ina:

I had even thought about it, that if you did nothing more than a little baby corn muffin or a little tiny muffin, a little mini, and welcomed people with that, I think that is the best thing you could do. That would be my first choice, to put something sweet on the table.