On Sunday morning, Emily and I swooped up my long-time friend, Shayne, from her hotel and headed to the brunchiest brunches of all brunches at South Congress Cafe. Shayne and Emily had met years ago, so it was a nice little reunion for all of us. An even nicer little reunion when the ginger mango mimosas arrived. Seriously? Seriously.

I hadn’t been to South Congress Cafe since my apartment hunting trip last February, which was totally ridiculous because their brunch is the best around. I stuck with a classic benedict that had finely sliced ham and perfectly poached eggs. I’m more of a meat-liker than a meat-lover, so the proportions of this dish were 100% my style.

Emily ordered the steak & migas and had a little love-at-first-sight moment when they arrived. Perhaps we all did, they were b-e-a-utiful.

And Shayne went with the daily special of gouda grits with pork shoulder and poached eggs. A day prior, I had just finished ranting to Emily about Austin’s inability to provide a solid cheese grit. After tasting Shayne’s grits, I had to eat my words and then eat more cheese grits – they were phenomenal!

And a little P.S. bonus… The wait will most likely be long, but the hostess will get your digits when you arrive and give you a ring when you’re next on the list. We were able to pop into a few shops while we waited, which made 45 minutes fly by.