Brunch @ Il Cane Rosso

I went with some friends this past Saturday for brunch at Il Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum. I've been wanting to go there forever. It's just so far out... But a week or two ago I saw they had pumpkin pancakes for their brunch. Looked delicious so I made a point to go! They are closed on Sundays so the brunch is only on Saturday mornings until 3PM.

Il Cane Rosso
2612 Commerce St
Dallas, TX 75226-1402
(214) 741-1188
http://ilcanerosso.com/
Price: $$

I called for a reservation but they said they only take reservations for parties 6+. And if we get there before 2pm, they're never really packed. We arrived around 1:30PM. The place was bigger than I imagined. It was probably only 1/5th full. I liked the openness of the restaurant. It looks like a cool place to chill and hang out with friends.

For brunch they had the brunch menu, plus they had some salad options and all their pizzas available. They didn't have the pumpkin pancakes though.. that was a one time special. :( Oh well, there were plenty of other stuff that sounded delicious.

One friend ordered the Michelada $5~

It's basically a Bloody Mary with beer... Weird eh? He's not a big fan of beer but he really liked it. It had a nice spicy kick. Interesting...

Two of my friends shared the Luana Pizza (Italian tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, Jimmy's sausage, hot soppresata, mushrooms) $15~

Soppresata is like a pepperoni. The pizza was definitely a good size to share between 2 people. But I thought it was a bit pricier than some other pizza places. It was a thin crust pizza with really fresh toppings on it. I wish there was a bit more toppings though, especially the basil. I'm not a huge fan of thin crust, I like a bit more dough. So it was good but didn't meet the expectation that I've hyped up for myself. My friends liked it though. They appreciate thin crust more than I do. It did have a nice char on it. I think for thin crust I still prefer Grimaldi's.

I still chose their regular Pancakes (ricotta pancakes with Nutella mascarpone and fresh berries, crispy pancetta) $10~

The Nutella mascarpone sounds amazing. I love Nutella. The portion was huge. 6 fluffy pancakes on a large platter. The pancakes were definitely homemade, it reminded me of how my mom used to make pancakes for us at home on a portable griddle. They were light and fluffy. Not too sweet but you still didn't need syrup. The nutella mascarpone was also light and fluffy. Not enough nutella flavor though. If they didn't say nutella, I would've just guessed it had a hint of cocoa or something. It paired really well with the pancakes though. I liked the strawberry/blueberry mix on the side as well. Added some sweetness and tartness with the pancakes. The pancetta was nice and crispy and I ate it with the pancakes together. I love sweet and savory! Alone, the pancetta was a bit too salty. I liked this a lot. I still want to try the pumpkin pancakes though. The waitress said they might bring it back in the next week or two...

One friend got the Cane Rosso Benedict (2 over easy eggs with fried polenta, crispy pancetta and Calabrian chile gravy, oven-roasted potatoes) $12~

This was definitely an interesting twist on a benedict. Using the polenta instead of English muffin, they changed the texture of the entire dish. Plus the polenta was slightly sweet. The eggs were over easy instead of poached too. I guess it was "loosely" named as a benedict. haha. I loved the gravy. I think that brought the dish together. The potatoes had good flavor as well and they were nice and crispy on the outside.

We ended the meal with Coffee & Donuts (zeppole with powdered sugar, chocolate, strawberry and espresso sauces) $10~

The presentation was cute with the paper bag. It was a pretty big portion! The donuts were like mini beignets with powdered sugar and dipping sauces. The coffee part was in the chocolate dipping sauce I think. The chocolate sauce was fantastic. Slightly bitter because it was dark chocolate so it wasn't too sweet. The strawberry puree/sauce was fantastic as well. The zeppole itself wasn't sweet at all! So the powdered sugar plus the sauces definitely brought it all together. I actually liked just the strawberry and chocolate sauce together. Didn't even need the donut. hahaha. Just gimme a spoon!

We were stuffed, as always. :P It was a good meal. Everything was good and fresh. I would say I've had better versions of each in other places but I still enjoyed everything. I definitely liked the feel of the place too. And our waitress was totally cool. I'm glad we finally got to try it. Maybe I'll go back again whenever they bring back the pumpkin pancakes.

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