NoMI : Brunch of Champions

NoMI - 800 North Michigan

If you know me (no pun intended), you know that a.) I get very excited about great food b.) I get extremely excited about large amounts of great food and c.) I'm all about hyperbole. That said, the Sunday brunch buffet at NoMI was one of the BEST dining experiences I've EVER had!

NoMI is one of those places in Chicago that I've heard of on several occasions, but had never really looked into until a few weeks ago. Wendy and I (Wendy > I) recently participated in a "cleanse" that limited us to only super healthy eating options, only one solid meal per day, no booze, no dairy, minimal carbs, etc. (more details at cleanprogram.com). We wanted to do something special to celebrate the end of what was projected to be a 21 day cleanse (I lasted 8). We looked into a few different spots, but NoMI kept coming up on yelp and other websites as an amazing place that we had not yet tried. Furthermore, we wanted to have an awesome Sunday brunch, and we found out that this is where NoMI really excels!

NoMI is located on North Michigan (hence the name) Avenue on the 7th floor of of the Park Hyatt, a posh hotel just west of Chicago's historic Water Tower. A former Michelin Star-winner, NoMI combines upscale Japanese sushi with fine French cuisine. The layout is incredibly spacious (and bathed in natural light), as they don't attempt to cram in a bunch of tables. The kitchen is open to the restaurant and vice a versa so the chefs can be seen happily performing their craft and constantly putting out amazing food for us to eat. We were lucky enough to be seated (in our cozy leather seats) by the window with a beautiful view of the Chicago Water Tower and Upper Michigan.

View from our table - Water Tower and North Michigan Ave

Now let's talk food. With our Sunday Brunch fee of $60/person(don't worry, it was worth it), all the food bars (buffet) are included as well as a choice of any of the ten brunch entrees on the menu (you could technically order all ten if you wanted to be an a-hole). The food bars are separated into a sushi/seafood bar, a hot bar, cheese/charcuterie bar, salad bar, and dessert bar. Let's break them down one by one...

Seafood Bar

Probably my favorite, and I definitely ate 60 bucks worth at this bar alone. The bar started off with our beautiful plates and chop sticks (the nice ones) followed by an awesome spread of fresh maki rolls (salmon/tuna) and sashimi (salmon/tuna/yellow tail). I'm not a sushi snob, per se, but I could immediately taste that the fish they were working with was as fresh as I've ever had. Then there was the beautifully displayed jumbo shrimp (and I mean jumbo), snow crab claws, and stone crab claws. The shrimp could barely be eaten in one bite (definitely not a bad thing). The crab was meaty and delicious, no condiments required. Raw oysters and asian-style clams rounded it out. I could have eaten a hundred of these oysters, just sucking them off the shell. The briny water and the delicate oyster meat took me to another place. I've never been to Maine, but probably there. Like I said, I could have spent all my time with the seafood and been very happy. But there's more...

Hot bar


This was where the more traditional brunch foods were to be found as well as some things there were a little more new to us. Fluffy scrambled eggs (mixed with cheese and peppers), crispy bacon, turkey sausage were the staples on the breakfast-y end of the bar. On the lunch-y end, we found a bread "pudding" with mushrooms and caramelized onions, potatoes au grautin, phylo wrap with mushrooms and goat cheese, crispy brussel sprouts with dried cherries, sweet potatoes. All delicious.

Cheese/Charcuterie & Salad Bars


Let's be honest, I'm not gonna be spending a ton of time at these spots when it's all-you-can-eat, but there were some noteworthy items here. The cheese bar was an impressive display of various cheeses (more than I could even come close to identifying) along with some spreads to create a sweet contrast to the cheese including peach preserves and crystalized honey. The salad bar had, well, salad, but also had some awesome open faced roast beef sandwiches (with arugula and dill cole slaw on a toasted baguette).

Cheesin' it up

As we were experiencing this rush of amazing food, our "main courses" arrived. We ended up ordering three. 1.) Arrabiata baked egg. This was a poached egg set upon a piece of garlic toast smothered in marinara and fresh grated parmesan with a duo of veal meat balls adorning the plate, a cool union of egg and red sauce that I've never experienced before. 2.) Eggs Blackstone. This was a benedict- style dish with thick cut bacon, arugula and stone-ground mustard hollandaise. Probably our least favorite entree, but still very good. 3.) NoMI Reuben. Not your typical reuben. Pear saurkraut was the secret ingredient in this amazing sandwich.

Eggs Blackstone

Dessert Bar

Just when we began to wonder if there was anyway NoMI could top what we had already experienced, we stumbled upon the dessert bar. Blown away. This may have been the most impressive looking food bar at NoMI. It was no slouch in the taste/texture department either. Various items that could be found here were chocolate caramel parfait with salted toffee, orange vanilla bean parfait, housemade candied chocolates, stollen (bread cake) with raspberry filling, chocolate bon bons, fudge, multi-layered chocolate cake, iced cookies, and much much more. What a great way to end a wonderful brunch.

Our experience at NoMI was second to none as far as brunches go. The amazing (and plentiful) food was easily equaled by the ambience and the view. Can we afford to go there every Sunday? Of course not. But this is a true example of getting what you pay for. Awesomeness.

Wendy and Romo