Little Bear in Little Tokyo: Amazing Huevos Benedictos with Spanish Chorizo + Short Rib Eggs Benedict

Who woulda thunk that a Belgian beer spot could offer such a fabulous brunch? Little Bear in Little Tokyo's up and coming artsy district is that kind of place. By day, it offers standouts like Huevos Benedictos and by night, it's a gastropub with an impressive beer list from all over the world. And there will be hipsters. I had a hard time deciding between this creative take on eggs benedict, the breakfast burger and the waffle burger. Yes, it exists. In the end, the burger fiend in me was defeated by the chorizo lover -- and boy, am I glad it did.

Here's another shot of the dish so you can dissect it any way you desire. It's a beauty, isn't it? The first surprise was that the chorizo was a Spanish chorizo. I was expecting the Mexican-out-of-the-case-loose-spicy-ground-pork kind. I wished the eggs had been more underdone so there'd be more oozing but it hardly mattered when I sliced into the egg, chorizo and English muffin and slathered the trio with the Hollandaise sauce and salsa it came topped with. Ok, the salsa was pretty bland but that didn't matter too much either. Combine the salty, meaty chorizo with a soft poached egg and neutral bread and I'm in brunch heaven. The slice of avocado added a nice touch, although I feel like they should try a Mexican chorizo version just to see how it'd taste. Maybe I should try it at home.

The mimosa we started with seemed like some of the bubbly had gone from the champagne but my brunch companion said it tasted fine. It was ok. But her short rib eggs benedict (must be a chef favorite -- there were a total of four variations. I'm not complaining.) was fantastic. The rib meat was tender and salty and paired perfectly with the soft, poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. What a brilliant idea. Why don't more spots think up of and offer this dish? I also liked that the Hollandaise sauce wasn't so dense and creamy so it tasted lighter although I'm sure butter was still pretty well represented.

The mushroom scramble that had three different kinds of mushrooms including shitake, crimini and oyster mushrooms with bacon, red onion and pepper jack cheese was good but nothing special. I could easily make this at home.

Now for the bad. The accompanying potatoes cut into little cubes were definitely sub-par. They were far too greasy and tasted like they had been fried too many times so they wreaked of oil. It's hard not to crave a good potato side when you're having something like the Huevos Benedictos but alas, I couldn't eat them after a few bites.

I plan on returning for happy hour to try that extensive beer list but more importantly, must return to try the breakfast burger, that comes with a fried egg and potato hash patty. Gotta love that concept. Hope they deliver on the potato next time.