Brick & Spoon

Brick & Spoon is the Canal Road outpost of a small Gulf South brunch chain whose motto is “allergic to boring breakfast,” and the Orange Beach location has earned local standing on its own. It bills itself as an upscale take on breakfast, brunch, and lunch — which in practice means Creole-leaning plates, a serious cocktail list at nine in the morning, and a wait on summer weekends. It’s a mornings-and-lunch operation only; sleep in too hard and you’ve missed it.

The bloody mary

The headline is the build-your-own bloody mary, and the build is genuinely yours: pick the vodka, the heat (mild, medium, or hot), up to five vegetables from the pickled-and-brined lineup, the herbs and seasonings, then the meat-and-cheese tier — bacon, sausage, shrimp, deviled eggs — and the rimmer. Over fifty options in all. It’s half drink, half event, and it’s the reason a good share of the tables order one without shame. Vacation rules apply. If that’s too much decision-making before coffee, the mimosa list runs seven fruit flavors, a trio if you can’t pick, and a St. Germain-and-orange-juice number called the Cock-A-Doodle Royale.

What to order

The menu leans Gulf: Shrimp & Grits with a garlic cream sauce and a poached egg, the Killer Creole Omelet with shrimp and tasso, the Bayou Fresh Catch on grit cakes, and a Crab Cake Benny. Menus vary a bit by location, so treat their online menu as the reference rather than gospel.

Good to know

Expect a wait on summer weekends — the whole island has the same idea between checkout and beach time, so go early or go on a weekday. Kids are welcome and the menu goes well past eggs. They do catering, if a condo brunch for twenty sounds better than the wait. It sits at the west end of the Perdido Beach Boulevard area on Canal Road; check their site for current hours before you set that vacation alarm. More morning options are on our eat and drink list.