If You're Feeling Fancy, Hudson House's New Seafood Brunch Will Hit the Spot

For those of you who crave a solid plate of oysters, crab and shrimp, Hudson House is your place. And now, you can get that alongside brunch.

The restaurant debuted Saturday and Sunday brunch on Feb. 2, with the expected chicken and waffles, bagel plates and plenty of seafood.

The atmosphere is a nice one: Plenty of natural light flows through windows, and the décor is a tasteful white and navy that makes you feel comfortable as you take your time.

The top of the brunch menu starts with what Hudson House labels “A West Village Brunch,” with an arrangement of bagel options: gravlax ($12), cold-smoked lox ($14) and lobster ($22). They’re all served with a bagel, cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, onion and capers. You get to choose your bagel out of plain, gluten-free, sesame or everything. The smoked salmon provides a good execution of the standard breakfast. The tomato slices were too thick and it seemed like there was more onion than salmon, but a little rearranging on your own can fix those issues.

If you can’t make up your mind on that portion of the menu and you’ve brought three to five people with you, you can try the Hudson tower ($115). You’ll get six bagels, all protein options and all toppings.

Because we still haven’t let go of this trend, there’s a toast section. The avocado version ($8) gets you mashed avocado, onion and marinated tomato chèvre. The smoked salmon ($12) with scallion cream cheese and balsamic glaze sounds tempting, too.

The eggs section promises a plate that sounds decent enough: The pastrami and eggs ($15) comes with a whole-egg frittata topped with crisp wagyu pastrami, crispy shallots and an arugula salad.

The menu says there’s also deli mustard, but every dry bite seemed to belie that. The egg was also slightly overcooked, a taste no one ever needs to experience, especially when you’re paying for it. It was bad enough that the server took it off our tab.

If chicken and waffles is your thing, Hudson’s version ($12) is a red velvet Belgian waffle with honey butter, maple syrup and double-fried chicken. Then you have all your sweets, including lemon pancakes ($14) with lemon ricotta, powdered sugar, a cream cheese glaze, blueberries and whipped cream.

It would’ve definitely hit our table if we hadn’t been full already. But we started the meal with an item on the regular menu: The Junior platter ($45). While not on the brunch menu, it was the highlight of the outing, with specialty oysters, cracked king crab, shrimp cocktail and grilled pineapple.

The oysters are fresh and marked with colors to coordinate with the list on your table. The crab is easy enough for a small child to eat and delicious enough to make your day, the shrimp cocktail is extremely jumbo and that grilled pineapple is something you’ll want with every meal.

The real letdown of the day was surely "THE Royal Bloody" ($17). If you’re going to use all capital letters in the title — and charge $17 — we expect greatness. The description of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, a house-made bloody mix, blue cheese olives, shrimp cocktail and a shucked oyster with a chili rim sounds good.

The oyster and giant shrimp were good but got drowned in the drink, drifting down the bottom of the glass when it arrived and overflowed onto the table. Too much ice in small chunks that melted quickly made this a watery, decidedly un-spicy drink pretty quickly.

Overall, if you stick to seafood (on a plate, not in a glass) Hudson House is worth your time.

Hudson House, 4448 Lovers Lane (North Dallas). Brunch served 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.