Shenanigans Brunch Review - Tacoma 2015

It was a lovely August morning. We had 9:30 reservations for brunch at Shenanigans on Ruston Way in Tacoma. We drove into the virtually empty parking lot about five minutes early. Peg and I chatted for a couple of minutes and noted couples and groups going up the steps and entering the double doors of Shenanigans. We joined them and were seated withing three or four minutes. We chose a table for four by a window with a great view of Puget Sound and Vashon Island. The Olympics were masked a little bit by clouds.

We haven't been to brunch for some time at either Shenanigans nor the Lobster Shop, so we were looking forward to a great buffet. Dining at Shenanigans started on a slightly sour note with a table that needed washing. We wiped away crumbs for the previous night before heading to the food.

Peg didn't understand why the crepes were pre-made. Why have a crepe bar? Enjoyed the lox and capers. Both the bacon and sausage link were excellent. Peg hated the little bagle. It was bland and just didn't stand up to the cream cheese and salmon. When she returned for a little more lox she chose instead the pita bread. This combination gave her a complete thumbs up and was probably her favorite offering from the Shenanigans brunch.

It doesn't get much easier than lox, cream cheese, capers, and lemon . . . on a crispy cracker or a piece of flatbread. And it doesn't get much better.

I didn't sample everything, but chose items I thought should be good and generally were. I could have done without the scrambled eggs and the peeled shrimp, but really liked the lox and pita, the deviled yolk on a spoon, the deviled eggs, as well as the prime rib and creamy horseradish.

Calling to me, but didn't get answered were the steamed clams. I had work to do on the Sunday, but if it were a Seahawk Sunday, I might have eaten a bit more and planned for watching TV and napping in the afternoon. I did appreciate the fact that there were plenty of lemon wedges to be had. They are always an excellent additions to seafood.

Peg retrieved three desserts for us. There was a custard, an apple crisp, and what was probably an almond cake. She picked up the custard because she knows I like bread pudding. We both enjoyed it, although it wasn't bread pudding. On our not to try again was the apple crisp. The probably canned apples had a somewhat chewy not crispy top. Lemon juice didn't help the overly sweet apple filling.

Best was the pastry or almond cake, whichever it was. If we had known, we would have probably had a couple each of those. With my coffee I could have sat there another fifteen minutes to enjoy. I did bemoan the fact that they weren't offering little samples of their key lime pie. As we walked out Peg grabbed a plastic cup of what we thought might be our favorite, but no when we arrived home, it turned out to be vanila pudding. So disappointing.

What wasn't a disappointment and in fact was my favorite brunh item was the surprising oyster shooters. They were perfect. They tasted fresh and had just the right sauce with them . . . plus a little lemon wedge for squeezing. I picked up two initially and when Peg went back, she brought back one for her and another for me. Peg probably rated the shooter just behind the lox, but it was close. I thought the shooters were worth the price of admission. I probably could have made a complete meal out of the shooters, the lox . . . and some steamed clams followed by the almond pastry and coffee . . . and then simply sat and enjoyed the wonderful summer morning and view.