Last Sunday, I was hanging out at the Saucer as usual, and I got into a discussion with my friend Kacy. I thought the discussion would make a good Sunday morning topic. The topic is, what’s the difference between lunch and brunch?
It’s not the hours. Brunch on Sunday usually runs from 11 to 3, or maybe 10:30 to 3 – hours that are normally considered lunch hours.
Is the food the difference? I know that “brunch” is “breakfast + lunch,” but when I go to the Majestic for brunch, I usually order off the lunch menu. Meanwhile, there are places that will serve breakfast food at lunchtime – Blue Plate, Denny’s, IHOP. People usually don’t think of those places as “brunch.”
A couple of weeks ago, Kacy and her friends were out on a weekend day, looking for a place to eat lunch, meaning “let’s get a quick bite to eat.” They couldn’t find anyplace they liked, so Kacy suggested, “Let’s do brunch instead.” So they went to a restaurant – I forget where, think she may have said Boscos – and they sat down. Kacy ordered lunch.
And a mimosa.
That’s the difference. Brunch is not really lunch + breakfast.
It’s lunch + ALCOHOL.
Now, we need to refine this idea further. Is lunch + beer brunch? This to me seems to be a gray area. Sometimes on a Saturday afternoon I’ll get hungry and stop by the Flying Fish to eat. I’ll pull a can of PBR out of the refrigerator to purchase as my beverage. That to me seems more like lunch than brunch.
On the other hand, if you’re having a mimosa or Bloody Mary, it’s almost certainly brunch. It seems like other mixed drinks would fall into this category too. My friend John D enjoys a screwdriver with brunch every once in a while.
Actually, that makes me think even more. Most of the time, John D doesn’t order food, but just the screwdriver. Even without the food, is it still brunch?
Just something to think about this fine Sunday morning. Better get out there and enjoy it before the rain moves in!