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Egged on by her parents to find spots with all-you-can-eat breakfast foods, Erin hunts down the city's bargain brunch buffets.

Monday Sep 17, 2007.     By Erin Brereton

Lifestyle Feed

Every time my parents come into the city for breakfast, they request a buffet. They think buffets offer more dining "options" (which really means "a large mass of sausage"), so time and time again, I'm sent scrambling to find a restaurant with a decent all-you-can-eat price—and warming tins.

As such, I'm always on the lookout for buffet deals, since the smorgasbords typically cost more than ala carte brunches. But that makes sense; at a buffet, it somehow becomes appropriate to ingest three meals in the time you'd usually finish one, and that's got to affect a restaurant's overhead.

As part of my ongoing quest, last weekend I sampled the brunch fare at Stanley's Kitchen & Tap on Racine in the West Loop. I've heard about the Lincoln Park Stanley's for years but never tried it because of the rumored long wait. The newer Stanley's had no line and parking.

And the price was right; it's the best brunch buffet deal I've found. For $11.95, you can snack on—or openly inhale—country-style cookin', with items like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese (which I may have eaten enough of to fill a small vehicle), biscuits, waffles with various fruit toppings and more.

Considering I ate so much that I wasn't hungry again until darkness fell that night, I'd say I got my money's worth. But Stanley's is by no means the only buffet bargain in these here pancake parts.

My meat-loving parents (whom I've often said would eat a cow, alive with a fork, were one to wander into their backyard) went crazy for Corosh's Sunday brunch. Its $14 buffet is chockfull of carnivore delights, from sliced turkey and ham to bacon, salmon and Italian sausage. And although as a vegetarian, I doubted I'd have much to eat except that little loop of paper wrapped around the silverware and napkin, I actually left quite full. Corosh serves the usual breakfast suspects—hash browns and fruit—and you can order pancakes from the waitress as part of the deal.

For $14.95, you can dine on Bucktown's Riverside Deli's buffet with a Mexican flair—think tacos and tamales—and big bagels, creamy cold salads and desserts (which included the kind of snack cakes you'd get for lunch in grade school, and I didn't even have to sit through show-and-tell after eating one). Bonus: You can eat in Riverside's quaint outdoor garden when the weather is nice.

Hotel brunch buffets usually aren't cheap: The Park Hyatt's brunch at NoMI costs more than $50; the Ritz-Carlton's is around $60. The Omni Hotel's brunch, though, served in its 676 Restaurant and Bar, runs just $19—and it's tasty. Held on Saturdays and Sundays until noon, the buffet includes hearty homemade granola, omelets, a wide array of sugary breakfast pastries and more. Plus the dining room has some phatty views of the Michigan Avenue shopping district below, where you should promptly head after eating to spend all the money you saved on breakfast.

And, should you want to head out to the 'burbs for brunch, may I suggest El Meson Mexican Cuisine in Schaumburg, which has a Sunday brunch buffet with freshly squeezed oj, an omelet station, waffles and a wide array of Mexican treats, from churros to fresh guacamole.

It's a family favorite: My dad, after failing to think of a Mother's Day plan—despite a grueling four-minute brainstorming session—took my mom there twice last May. It's just $12.50, and there usually isn't a wait. Which is the one thing my parents want to avoid when brunching. Other than no lines, my parents really have few requests; as long as they've got an unlimited morning food supply, forks and ample space to recline and discuss why I'm not married, it's sure to be a good time. For everyone but our pants.

Erin Brereton is our resident urban cowgirl on a bi-weekly search for life on the cheap. If you know of the mythic happy hour that she missed, do clue her in.