Coal Vine’s
2404 Cedar Springs Road • Dallas - 75201
(214) 855-4999 • www.coalvines.com
When Executive Chef Samir Dhurandhar of the Nick & Sam’s Restaurant Group asked me to sample the brunch at Coal Vine’s in Uptown, I was a little hesitant. They are known for their awesome pizza, but I didn’t really think eating pizza for a Sunday brunch sounded like a good idea…I was wrong. The Sunday brunch menu at Coal Vine’s is incredible.
Out on the newly expanded patio, the Sous Chef prepared 13 varieties of homemade pancakes for only $8 and custom omelets with 14 ingredients to choose from for only $7. Chef Rex Turner started our brunch off with Strawberry/Watermelon Mash Mimosas (just $3). A little stir perfectly combined the fresh watermelon flavor and real strawberries with the Champagne. Quite refreshing!
There are a dozen starters and appetizers to choose from that make a great first course to share for brunch. The Smoked Salmon Tartar was a sphere of freshly diced fish, goat cheese and avocado in sweet pomegranate vinaigrette. There’s also Seafood Risotto Cakes, Calamari, Caesar and Baby Spinach Salads. The homemade granola is the best in-house restaurant breakfast cereal I have ever sampled. Chef Rex explained that the granola is best served in one of his pancakes. He gave us a tour of the newly created private dining room, a private cocktail bar and a large 12 seat wine room for small party dinners. Now Coal Vine’s can easily handle the daily overflow of customers waiting for one their 17 fabulous pizza combinations and over 3000 bottle selection of wines.
All pizzas are available for Brunch; the coal-fired oven finishes the pie with an extra crispy crust while maintaining a smooth moist layer of toppings. Coal Vines’ regular pie is anything but regular! Our favorite is the White Pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and oregano, and the White Special is even better, adding sliced tomatoes and fresh garlic. The Bolognese Pizza adds a béchamel sauce to the Bolognese meat then you can pile on pepperoni, wild mushrooms, sausage, anchovies, cherry peppers, olives, basil, red & green peppers, spinach or tomato slices for only $1.50 each.
The brunch entrees compare or exceed any in the Uptown neighborhood in taste but especially in price at only $8-$9 each. The Stuffed French Toast is to die for with caramelized bananas and Grand Marnier maple syrup. I was too stuffed devouring the Nova Scotia Scramble, a fluffy omelet creation with mascarpone & chives to fight my wife for more than a few bites of the French toast! I could tell that all of the other egg-influenced Brunch items such as a Sunday Quiche, 3 Egg Frittata, Breakfast Calzone and Joe P Special brought smiles on the faces of the customers around us!
Wine-o’s need to view owner Joe’s private Wine Cellar with grape values incomparable in the neighborhood. A 2006 Cakebread Napa Valley Cabernet for $115 and a 2004 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet at $150 are both on my recommended list. The bottom line is that there is now plenty of room at the newly-expanded restaurant so that I will now gladly go the wine and pizza route at Coal Vine’s for Brunch as long as I can still add a Stuffed French Toast and Nova Scotia Scramble and eat it too!
