If you’re looking for a new spot to try out for brunch or lunch, we might just have your number with new offerings at C-viche, Crafty Cow, Maharaja and North Shore Boulangerie.
C-viche launches brunch
Beginning this weekend, C-viche, 2165 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., will offer brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Menu items include the "Huarache" ($9.50) featuring flatbread corn dough, house-made chorizo, beans, rocoto sauce, aguacate and panela cheese with two eggs served sunny-side up; the "C-viche style Benedicto" ($10) with salmon cakes, spinach, and aji Amarillo hollandaise topped with poached eggs; a "BLT mas E" ($9.50) with bacon, lettuce, tomato and an over easy egg served with Chihuahua cheese, chipotle aioli and fries; and the El Gringo" ($12.50), a steak sandwich featuring a sunny-side-up egg and aji Amarillo sauce on a bolillo with chimichurri.
On the sweeter side, opt for tres leches pancakes ($8.95) or pan dulce French toast ($8.50).
C-viche also serves lunch daily, Tuesday through Sunday.
Brunch is crafty at Crafty Cow
Crafty Cow, a nifty spot at 153 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Oconomowoc that’s making a name for itself with its laid back atmosphere, "Juicy Lucy" style stuffed burgers and craft brews, launched a weekend brunch menu on March 5.
The menu includes a wide variety of options including shrimp and grits ($10) featuring creamy smoked Cheddar cauliflower grits; a pork belly breakfast torta ($8.5) with coffee marinated belly, Gruyere, fried egg and frisee on a Bolillo roll; breakfast ramen ($9.5) with soba, pork broth, sprouts and a soft-boiled egg; and a Benedict burger ($9) topped with a poached egg, spinach, peppered bacon and tomato hollandaise served up on an English muffin.
Pancakes are also available for $2 each in flavors including tropical (pineapple, coconut, mango), s’mores, "porker" (pork belly filled), whiskey blackberry and "Collossus" which includes an apple and candied walnut cake with brie and whiskey apple maple syrup. Plain "craftycakes" are also available with your choice of toppings.
As far as brunch drinks go, the menu is long and varied and includes four bloody Mary variations and a long collection of creative takes on brunch cocktails.
Brunch items are available both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., alongside regular menu options.
Incidentally, this Friday the craft beer bar and restaurant will also launch their first Friday night fish fry. Options will include hand-battered lake perch with fries and coleslaw or pan seared mahi mahi served with rice pilaf and broccolini.
Maharaja adds lunch "buffet to go" option
Maharaja, 1550 N. Farwell Ave., recently expanded its $9 lunch buffet option to include Saturdays. The buffet, which offers over 20 items, including appetizers, entrees, desserts and na’an, is now served Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Beginning Monday, March 14, it will also offer an $8 "buffet to go" option. Carry out customers are provided with a box for appetizers and entrees, as well as one for dessert items. The $8 carry-out lunch also includes na’an.
Sunday brunch, which includes an expanded selection of over 40 items, along with bottomless bloody Marys and mimosas, is available from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Expanded brunch at North Shore Boulangerie
North Shore Boulangerie, 4401 N. Oakland Ave., has expanded its Sunday brunch menu, which includes a small selection of soups and salads, as well as options like eggs florentine ($9.50) with poached eggs, roasted tomatoes and baby spinach served atop country bread and topped with hollandaise; a country omelet ($8.50) with baked eggs, spinach and Asiago cheese served with Pommes Anna; and Hachage de Boeuf ($12.50) with house cured corned beef, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, horseradish sauce and an egg.
Brunch drinks, including a bloody Mary ($6), mimosa ($7) and virgin Mary ($4) are also available. Brunch is served Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; reservations are recommended.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.