I love brunch. It’s Sunday morning service for belly-worshipers, a celebration that you survived Saturday night. I especially loved brunch in Santa Fe, where I’ve been living for the last four years until this summer, which tells you where my palate is at. New Mexico brunch is a whole different animal–not the limp parade of tired Benedicts and boring mimosas that you find in many places. So I was excited to try the summer brunch at Dos Olas, the upscale Mexican spot at the Pendry Hotel in Park City. Their new brunch service promised to hit my craving for spicy, yummy southwestern comfort food.
Instead of a mimosa, I started with a Palomita, a refreshing mix of El Jimador Reposado tequila, grapefruit juice, and soda. It’s the hair of a lighter dog, the kind of drink that you can sip before noon without feeling like an incurable booze hound. I’m not a big bloody mary drinker, but Dos Olas offered something I haven’t yet seen in Utah–a full-service build-your-own-mary bar complete with every possible garnish I could imagine.
You start with chips, salsa and guac, right? Dos Olas brought out two salsas, a blended pico de gallo and a smoked chipotle. Both were yummy, with a good hit of acid and spicy but not burning–for that, you can request their ghost pepper salsa. The guac was smooth, fresh and lemony, without too much tomato, a pet peeve of mine. I also sampled the queso fundido, which comes topped with crumbled chorizo and accompanied by fresh corn and flour tortillas. Rolled-up little melted cheese taquitos are a good way to settle a hungover stomach.
My breakfast sweet tooth got hit by the Tostada de Caprirotada. It’s made with cornbread, which provides a crunchy texture to sop up the fresh fruit, whipped cream and syrup. My craving for sweetness is modest by Utah standards, so it was a good thing that this version of French toast had that rich cornbread flavor that stood up well to the syrup.
For my chile quotient, I ordered up a plate of Huevos Divorciados, or divorced eggs. The two eggs come floating on a sea of Christmas-style chile–red on one side and green on the other, just like I order my plates in Santa Fe. Tasty rice and beans support the chile sauce, and mine came with a Denver steak, cooked to a nicely charred morning-appropriate medium and sliced to show off plenty of tasty red meat. It cut through the middle of the plate, separating the two eggs like a restraining order.
Though I was reaching my “wafer-thin mint” point, I did have to try the street tacos. The barbacoa was exactly what you want, deeply tender beef simmered to a near-marshmallow softness in a pair of tasty corn tortillas. Then, to wrap things up, there was fresh fruit sprinkled with Tajín salt or a plate of cinnamon-crusted mini-churros served up with melted chocolate dipping sauce.
Dos Olas’ southwestern-style brunch is a nice n’ spicy alternative to the brunch rut that can make what should be a decadent weekend-after-payday treat an otherwise mid affair. It hit my chile craving while still offering up some fun alternatives to the classics. Sunday brunch runs 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a beer garden aimed at the mountain biking crowd and held in the plaza in front of the restaurant. That will carry you through until 7 p.m. You could spend much of the day up on the mountain just eating and drinking in the warm summer sun. Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re in Santa Fe.
When you go…
Dos Olas
2417 W High Mountain Rd, Park City (Located in the Pendry Plaza)
dosolasparkcity.com
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