Brunch fabulousness

This past weekend, Morgan and I made a trip to Boulder for brunch. Boulder has an astounding number of great restaurants - especially brunch places - and though we have many favorites, we wanted to try something new. That something took shape in Centro Latin Kitchen, a place that has been around for years but one we've always overlooked somehow. Centro is probably better known for their drinks/happy hour, but we were so intrigued by a Latin brunch concept that we just had to try it.

Centro opens at 9:30 on Sunday mornings, so we made sure to be there right at that time to avoid a crazy wait. Good thing, too - when we left about an hour later, the place was nearly full. Anyway, as we were seated, we were given a regular menu and a happy hour menu. Whaaaa? A BRUNCH happy hour? What a cool idea.

The happy hour menu featured a bunch of menu items (drinks, too) priced between $2-$4. We assumed that the super-low prices must mean that these dishes were mere bites, so we ordered several. < Wrong. The plates were surprisingly substantial; I could have ordered two things and been completely content, if not full. So clearly, this happy hour brunch is a smokin' deal for this place (especially since they have regular brunch menu items priced all the way up to $15).

The food: well, it was incredible. Each dish was just special - a creative fusion of flavor in just the right amounts. The sweet dishes weren't too sweet, the spicy dishes featured a delicious heat. Here's what we ordered:

Coffee (with horchata [cinnamon rice milk] instead of cream)
Smoked cheddar biscuits & chorizo gravy (the only item from the regular menu)
Hash browns with pork green chile
Chocolate-chunk pancakes with blueberry-tequila syrup (< gluten-free!)
Burnt (bruleed) grapefruit 
Breakfast taco w/egg and ranchero sauce
Coconut-battered banana with vanilla anglaise

In all, the experience felt so contently unique to the average brunch meal. The ambiance is cool, the food outstanding, and we walked out of there with a second meal's worth of leftovers -- and a final bill of $22. Freaking awesome!