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it's hard to write/read about Gigi and not hop in your car and eat whatever your next meal is there - but hold off until brunch this weekend and go then.

Until now, I've thought that the great thing about Gigi is that they're open until the very wee hours of the morning and totally upped the ante on what late-night munchie food could be. It doesn't have to be soggy french fries, we learned, we can have mushroom buns or a shortrib sandwich post-club.

Turns out, I was wrong. The best thing about Gigi is their brunch. When there's a sectio on the menu called "Wake and Bake" and it includes corn bread with honey, bacon butter you know you're in good hands. Specifically, the bacon and eggs udon are what will keep me coming back. I'm an udon addict and it all started at Gigi with a shrimp and curry udon that was both buttery and not filled with butter. The udon, a thick Japanese noodle that's fatter than any Italian variety I can think of, have this creamy texture that I just couldn't master when I tried it at home from a box of dried udon I found at Whole Foods.

My search for udon at home was taken to a new level when I discovered the Japanese Market on the 79th Street Causeway (directly after my trip to Bal Harbour Beach, featured in my last post) where they sold premade udon in a pack of three. Those worked. I can share the recipe for my udon and cilantro soup if anyone is interested.

Back to Gigi. Basically, they got me hooked. Any kind of udon on their menu I will forever order. The bacon and egg udon is a combination that shouldn't work. Who in their right mind thinks to scramble up some eggs, cook up bacon and throw it together with a noodle base? A stoner lunatic, that's who and boy am I glad for it. I really appreciate the brunchy-ness of this dish. It's a true combination of breakfast and later meal elements - that's the way brunch should be if you ask me. I want a salad with a poached egg. A pancake with proscuitto (yes my friends, I've made that).

We rounded out this meal with some tuna hamachi plated with dragonfruit in tiny strange cubes that made it look like I was eating raw fish with dice - the Gambling Addict Special so to speak. You can't go to Gigi without some of their nice buns, I like my buns and so does my boyfriend so we went with the duck buns. They were as good as we expected. Gigi has the bun thing down. If you've yet to try them, the buns are a steamed variation of a hamburger bun, stuffed with whatever they feel like putting in them. The famous ones are the 'shrooms with hoisin, tahini and sweet chili but the duck ones really give them a run for their money. The pork ones come with peanut and cilantro and that is an absolutely unbeatable combination in my eyes, so that's my favorite.

Get some sleep, go to bed with the munchies and head to Gigi for brunch. If they don't have the bacon and egg udon - start a protest.

bacon and eggs udon at gigi