When you live in Manhattan, you truly begin to appreciate the weekend brunch. The wife and I never went for brunch in Oregon or California, but somehow in Manhattan we find ourselves drawn to this weekend eating activity. In fact, we have a favorite brunch place, Pigalle, that I know I’ve mentioned a few times. I’m a sucker for the Croque Madame.

But since the wife has been searching for places to go when the in-laws come to town, we happened across a review of Chango and had to check it out.

Weekend brunch is called the “Mariachi” Brunch and for only $14.95 it includes unlimited bloody marias and mimosas - plus, a real Mariachi band plays while you eat. Did I mention UNLIMTED bloody marias and mimosas?

For the money, the place rocked. For the food it was average.

For me:
Huevos Benedictos: Choice of tequila-cured salmon, smoked ham or spinach on corncakes with chipotle hollandaise sauce.
The Wife:
Huevos Rancheros: Two sunny-side up eggs over a crispy corn tortilla with guacamole & roasted tomato salsa.

The Huevos Benedicto plate was huge compared to the amount of food on it. The potatoes were cold and need a ton more salt, while the chipotle hollandaise sauce didn’t even have a hint of chipotle in it. The corncakes were nice and dense, slighty sweet which offset the remainder of the toppings nicely.

The wife loved her Huevos Rancheros but confessed it may have been the 3 mimosas talking. The service was excellent, with our drinks getting refilled without our even asking. I guess the idea is to have you drink enough so you don’t realize the food is mediocre. I brought along some Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot Sauce and kicked up the bloody marias the way I like em – the only hot sauce option there was Tabasco and for me, that’s never going to be my first choice.