Five kinds of hashbrowns, including sweet potato hashbrowns

Hashbrowns is located at 731 W. Maxwell St. in Chicago. Located near UIC the parking was easily accessible, and there was no wait to get in on a Saturday around 10am.

Hashbrowns has been on my to-do list for a number of years, it has been reviewed in many places. I love a good gimmick, I mean LOVE, and five kinds of hashbrowns is exactly the kind of gimmick I am interested in.

Tasty hashbrowns, low-key brunch, classic breakfast favorites

We were seated promptly. Our waitress was prompt, but not pushy. Sadly eventually the got busier than one person can handle, and my coffee cup was not refilled until the end of our breakfast. Which was sad. Part of that was my fault, I took longer to sip than the Fiance so did not get the obligatory breakfast is served warm-up.

Looking at the menu it was clear they specialized in classics, not trendy new items. So I went with one of my breakfast classic favorites, the Veggie Omelet. Their veggie omelet is called “The Northsider” and features bell peppers, spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, and swiss cheese, and comes accompanied with sweet potato hash browns. The omelet was good, basic, but good, and reasonable sized. Sometimes omelets are cooked into oblivion to be chewy, or worse yet (in my opinion) a little gooey and undercooked, theirs was done just right. However I am fairly certain the cheese was not swiss, and if it was it was a very bland swiss. Still it was tasty. Notably, the hashbrowns were excellent as expected. They tasted like a shredded thanksgiving entree with sweet potatoes and tasty cinnamon and other spices.

The fiance ordered the 18th Street Omelet, a tribute to nearby Pilsen featuring chorizo, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, & cilantro. He substituted the Rosemary Hashbrowns with red potatoes and fresh rosemary and garlic. Tragically for Hashbrowns we happen to live by one of the best places in Chicago for breakfast with a Mexican flair (a review for another day), this was good but not anything particularly special. The Rosemary Hashbrowns were delicious…home fries. They were cubed not shredded as is traditional/expected with hashbrowns, but the flavor was excellent.

The decor was casual, bright, and welcoming. There was a wide variety of people inside from families with younger children to an off-duty cop, his wife, and his work partner to a couple having a wedding planning meeting. The area was spacious, which is unique at brunch where people are often elbow to elbow packed in.

Overall:

Food:3/5-will I come back with my potato loving best friend when she visits, absolutely, is it especially unique beyond the hashbrowns, no

Service:4/5- our waitress was wonderful and responded quickly to requests, when she was able to come by which was not often once it got packed.

Ambiance: 4/5- I liked that it was a brunch place that wasn’t trying to take itself too seriously, but hadn’t gone to far to kitsch.