Racking our brains for a Sunday brunch spot in Wilmington (that's
always a good brain-racking), I remembered that a friend mentioned his pleasant surprise at a recent brunch at
Blue Parrot Bar and Grille in the Little Italy neighborhood.
I've never been to this New Orleans-themed Cajun bar and restaurant with street-side patio, but walk past it all the time when picking up from
Capriotti's. Blue Parrots walls are dark blue and deep coral hung with framed posters paying homage to Mardis Gras, and strings of beads hang on the wall in about the most tasteful way one can hang bead necklaces on a wall. If the neon Voodoo Bar sign hanging over the long bar and the digital jukebox on the wall doesn't give it away that Blue Parrot is a restaurant
and a bar, the band setting up and performing sound check for their gig starting at one in the afternoon on a Sunday surely does.
Since we visited on a rainy, icy day the weekend before Christmas, I can't judge the popularity of Blue Parrot's Sunday brunch, but we were the only ones there when we arrived just a hair before noon. Two other groups (and a band) did arrive later.
My partner ordered a bloody mary and asked for it spicy. He enjoyed the drink, but thought they could have made it spicier.
Blue Parrot has a
brunch menu, and starting at noon you can order anything from their
regular menu. There are a few standard veggie options on the regular menu, like veggie burger and pasta, but you won't find any thing like tofu po' boys on the menu. We stuck with the brunch menu filled with the classics -- omelets, pancakes, waffles, and eggs Benedict.
These unsolicited cake-like muffins with a small hunk of chocolate in the bottom arrived to our surprise to tide us over before our brunch orders arrived.
I ordered the Belgian waffles with vanilla ice cream, maple syrup, and whipped cream. I was very glad to see the ice cream and whipped cream on the side, as I wasn't sure I could handle all of those sweets at once. My waffles were stone cold, the maple syrup was cold and too thick to be maple syrup, the whipped cream was from a can (I actually don't mind that), and the vanilla ice cream was decent, but obviously not premium. I was beyond bored with my order of cold waffles and Log Cabin.
My partner ordered the Bayou omelet with crab, shrimp, crayfish, and creole sauce that comes with a side of home fries and your choice of white, wheat, or sourdough toast. The omelet was hot, but the home fries were cold. It's very sad when a kitchen cannot coordinate three items (waffles, an omelet, and home fries) to all come out of the kitchen warm when those are the only orders in the kitchen.
My partner ignored the hash browns since they were cold and bland, but enthusiastically ate his
huge omelet stuffed to the gills with seafood and cheese. His only complaint was that the shrimp were chewy and of poor quality (probably frozen), and the Creole sauce could have been spicier.
Not sure if I'd go back to Blue Parrot for brunch. OK, no, you won't see me there again. But more importantly, I'm not sure I can trust my friend again for brunch recommendations. For the record, the friend had the eggs Benedict.
Blue Parrot Bar and Grille
1934 W. 6th St., Wilmington, DE
302-655-8990
Tues.-Sun., 11am-1am; Sun., 10am-1am
