3 Speed is one of those pubs/restaurants that if you were not looking closely for the sign, you would miss it. In fact, the first time I went there to meet friends, I passed it 3 times. The irony. Seriously though, the sign is that inconspicuous.

I have been to 3 Speed on several occasions for dinner, and soon after I learned that they were also offering brunch, I had to check it out. The first time I visited them for brunch was around February of 2012. Regina and I arrived at around noon and were seated within 10 minutes.  While we waited however, we checked out their specials. On their specials for the day they had “fresh” sugar donuts. I was ecstatic. I love hot and gooey donuts! I was already imagining myself biting into this delicious goodness when a waitress went up to the board where the specials were written and she put a line through the ‘donuts’ and wrote “sold out” beside it. NO! How can this be? Brunch does not end until 3pm! When we were seated I scanned the room and noticed that some tables had plates with donuts piled on top of them. Those greedy bas%*ds! Arghh! Already I was starting brunch on the wrong foot. Regina tried to calm me down, but to no avail. Once I am pissed, I am pissed. Yeah, I am working on my anger issues.

I looked through their regular menu and decided to go for my usual favorite, the Eggs Benedict. Specifically, it was an Eggs Benedict on Portuguese corn bread, with home fries, grilled tomato, and from their choices of peameal bacon, spinach and arugula, or smoked trout, I chose the smoked trout.

Eggs Benedict, $10.

The only thing I did not like about my meal were the potatoes. But that was only because I dislike onions and the potatoes were cooked with onions. I also did not like how chewy the bread was. I guess I was expecting the bread to taste like corn bread; the type I have when I eat soul food. Instead it tasted like regular bread to me. I did enjoy the salad and the dressing they used to dress it. Overall I found the meal to be fine. Not great but not bad either.

Regina on the other hand chose to get one of their specials from the board. In all honesty, I can’t remember what it was called. I refused to look at the board after my donuts were sold out. But it basically looked like egg rancheros to me. It consisted of 2 poached eggs in  a tomato salsa, home fries, a salad and toasted bread.  Regina seemed very happy with her meal. There was a slight disappointment when one of the eggs at the point of cutting it open did not ooze out as we expected it to, but we figured it was because it got cooked while it sat in the salsa.

$11

So what was my verdict? I was on the fence. I still wanted to try those donuts!

In July of 2012 I returned to 3 Speed. Well, actually, my friend and I had planned to go to a different establishment and they were closed, and the only other brunch place that I could think of in the area was 3 Speed. So off we went. The weather was nice so we chose to sit in their patio. The patio was nice and cozy.

So guess what I did first when we entered 3 Speed? Yep, you got it. I checked out the specials and scanned for my donuts. My heart broke. Donuts were not on their menu. Seriously, what did I do in my past life to deserve this? So I sat down where my friend was reading the menu and sulked.

When the waitress walked over to us I asked her about the donuts. “We do not have donuts today, but we do have choco-cranberry mini muffins, and they are very popular.” “Okay I will try one” I told her, though I told my friend after she left, “I hate muffins!” Shortly after she came back with this “muffin.” Does this look appealing to you? Well let me tell you, it tasted just as bad as it looks. I had one bite and then put it aside. Not even my friend wanted to try it.

After the muffin disappointment, I looked through their menu and specials and decided to go with their eggs Benedict with avocado and bacon from their specials. But see, I learned my lesson from my last experience and asked them to omit the potatoes and to give me extra salad instead.

Bacon and avocado eggs Benedict, $10.

My friend got the smoked salmon eggs Benedict from their regular menu.

Smoked salmon eggs Benedict, $10.

When I received my food you could clearly see on my plate the void where the potatoes would have been. Did I not say to omit the potatoes and trade it for salad instead? Hence, double the salad?

Overall the food was good. There was nothing spectacular about their hollandaise sauce, and I believe that the quality and the creative approach a chef takes with the hollandaise sauce can take an eggs Benedict from being good to being  great.

So what did I think? 3 Speed offers a good menu, with good prices and decent food. At this point I am just tired of looking for these donuts.