Review: The Whippoorwill, the latest Bloordale brunch spot

The Whippoorwill  ★½ 1285 Bloor St. W., 416-530-2999

Bloordale’s newest brunch spot deploys all the ubiquitous diner-kitsch cutery—red vinyl booths, checkered floors, Formica tables—without overdoing it. (We only noticed one taxidermied moose head.) The kitchen offers satisfying riffs on traditional brunch fare. Soft buttermilk biscuits sit under two runny poached eggs, fresh watercress and an expertly lemony bearnaise sauce. Eggs come with the crunchiest potatoes you may have ever tasted, spicy, ’nduja-chunked braised beans, and scrapple, a Pennsylvania Dutch dish of pan-fried, pork-studded cornbread. It’s crisp and salty, but far too rich to be doled out in such massive servings. Service is friendly and speedy— but make sure to get there before 11:30, when the line snakes out the door.