Brunch on Boise's patios

No restaurant meal quite matches the tenor of spring and summer like al fresco brunch. Usually a little fancier and more expensive than breakfast, it also should be lazier and with less agenda. Dining outdoors just feels less formal. And theres implicit permission to imbibe, no matter how early.

Inspired by the season, I sought out regular restaurants that serve brunch every weekend which meant not just the ones that hit the big holidays. Daily breakfast places werent in the mix, either. A patio was a requirement, and was often the star. Here are four of my Boise patio brunch favorites:

DOWNTOWN AT THE MARKET

RED FEATHER LOUNGE 246 N. 8th St., Boise, 429-6340 Brunch: 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Brunch is not just breakfast with booze here. Red Feather serves the harder-to-find Saturday brunch as well as Sunday, the cocktails are of high design, and the menu is no obligatory punch list of morning standards. This is the place to go with friends to start your birthday or the morning after a great rock concert.

On Saturdays, the petite, umbrellaed patio is flush with the noisy pulse of the Capital City Public Market. Our dining group drank down sweet heirloom tomato Bloody Marys ($4 small/$9 large) and a carafe of mimosas ($6.50). A few feet away, a busker played Oasis Wonderwall twice in a row. Moments later, a man in a Superman costume strutted through the crowd on stilts.

Like the rest of the Red Feather menu, brunch is aimed locally and will satisfy the foodie with items like duck eggs with spicy braised kale and goat cheese ($8). But the food is not too proud to please broader palates. The pancetta-duck egg pizza ($11) is outstanding to share the yolks become a sauce, and the crust itself is only a breath or two away from the best pizza in town at Casanova or Tonys. Like a western incarnation of fried chicken and waffles, the crackling chicken on a biscuit ($9) is matched with incredibly rich cream gravy and a hidden layer of sweetness. One item in particular is a revelation. The oatmeal souffl ($5) is part buttery oatmeal cookie, part pillowy custard, and will change the way you think of sweet breakfast food.

Small details are attended well. For a dish like the grapefruit brulee ($2), with a torched pane of sugar, the challenge is to keep the fruit cold and it was. And out on the patio, in the cool building shadow at high noon, our server overheard two guests at the next table say they were a bit chilly. Without a word, he returned with fleece blankets.

BUFFET-STYLE

MURPHYS SEAFOOD & STEAKHOUSE 1555 Broadway Ave., Boise, 344-3691 Brunch: 10 a.m. 2 p.m. Sunday

The rest is here:
Brunch on Boise's patios