Breakfast Bao and Kimchi Bloody Marys: Smallwares Debuts Brunch

Exciting news from the brunch front: Smallwares will debut a Saturday brunch menu starting Nov. 1. Chef/owner Johanna Ware will be bringing her "inauthentic Asian" spin the breakfast hour with dishes like scrambled eggs with chewy rice cakes and sambal, and breakfast bao with sausage, a fried egg and gravy. "It's kind of like a play on biscuits and gravy," says Ware.

She's also going to offer a few of the regular menu items, like ramen and oysters on the half shell. "The fried kale we'll breakfast up with a maple syrup fish sauce. And we'll have a breakfast congee with granola and Chinese sausage," she says.

Smallwares, and its sister Barwares in the back, is known for its cocktails, so you can expect a lineup of boozy brunch drinks and Thai style coffee. "We'll bring back our kimchi Bloody Mary. It's made with fish sauce and kimchi juice," says Ware. "It's served with pickles from our pickle plate and daikon kimchi, and you can add on a raw oyster skewer. We had it on our happy hour menu but it doesn't really sell at 5 o'clock."

But you can bet it'll be a different story for the 11 a.m to 3 p.m. brunch. So far, the menu is only available on Saturdays, but Ware says she'll add Sundays if there's enough demand.

"We'll have all kinds of fun dishes. The menu will change. We'll definitely have fun with it. It's going to be a different brunch than you can typically get in Portland."