Brunch is the most social of meals, built for leisure and stretching out the day. It may be the most challenging to eat alone, though I’ve done it happily. (When you focus on your French toast completely, it’s a different experience, and eavesdropping on the next table is juicier after a night out.)
Now that Bittersweet (828 I St., Arcata) is host to Food with Hoy on Saturdays, options for lazily eating (patio sunshine optional) have expanded and — vitally — shifted from morning to the more reasonable noon to 3 p.m., so that friend might make it on time. (OK, yes, me.) Last weekend, DJ C4 was in the corner, keeping the mood mellow for conversation but with enough energy to make you feel like you’ve Gone Out. Customize a soda order with something from the seemingly endless columns of fancy syrups and retreat to the relief of Food with Hoy’s comparative haiku of a menu.
Hoy’s go-to is the smashburger and you needn’t skip it for breakfast fare. The Beast ($13) is a messy monster on an English muffin: a beef patty and browned onions, American cheese, a fried egg, a deep-fried oval hashbrown and pink “smash sauce.” Before taking the first bite is a good time to prod a companion into a long story because putting the Beast down and picking it up again is a challenge. Once you’re in, you’re in.
The most social option on the menu — or any brunch menu, possibly — are the Loaded Brunch Tots ($12). These render the smashburger both breakfast-y and shareable, with crunchy, deep-fried Tater Tots topped with white American cheese, a smashburger patty and a fried egg, the creamy, golden yolk of which will join the burger drippings and smash sauce seeping into the potato. Extra plates and a knife are a good idea.
Share your tips about What’s Good with Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her), managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in 20 Years at the Playhouse.
