Brunch isn’t a meal. It’s a lifestyle. No one knows that better than Dining Divas and Over Easy and Cheesy, two groups of friends that fried the competition in our quest to find The Brunch Bunch, metromix’s next Reader Review team. Now you get to choose which group will dig into everything from lavish hotel spreads to all-you-can-eat buffets, dishing on everything from the food to the service every Wednesday in metromix/ RedEye. Meet the contenders, then go to metromix.com and vote for your favorite. But hurry! The poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. We’ll announce the winners in Wednesday’s RedEye and online.
DINING DIVAS
Christina Fleming, 23, commercial lending and college student
Neighborhood: East (Ukrainian) Village.
What’s more important, good coffee or a good Bloody Mary? Coffee gets you through the office hangovers. Nothing is worse than being hungover under fluorescent lighting surrounded by co-workers that want to talk to you about, of all things, your job. Can’t they see I’m busy dwelling in self pity and drowning my sorrows in a cup of Starbucks?
Difference between brunch and breakfast: Breakfast is an individually wrapped pseudo-healthy compressed bar of foodlike product eaten on the “L” while jammed between a sweaty fat guy and, oh look, another sweaty fat guy. Brunch is an excuse to drink at 10 a.m. as your friends fill in the blanks from the night before: “I did what with who?”
Christopher Blum, 23, speech coach, office director, student and worldly traveler
Neighborhood: Lakeview, where the boys go to play.
Favorite pork product: Obviously sausage. But don’t tell my mother.
What our team brings to the table: Five unique individuals who have been the best of friends for more than 10 years. And we’re hungry. Really hungry.
James Finnegan, 23, travel coordinator
Neighborhood: Bucktown.
Best way to start morning: Let’s be honest, the best way to start the morning is in the afternoon.
Difference between brunch and breakfast: Brunch is a nice way of saying you couldn’t get your butt out of bed in time for breakfast.
What our team brings to the table: Class, glamor and a passion for brunch. And by that I mean vulgarity, a hangover and a passion for free food. And we hope to find a solution to bring Ben and J.Lo back together.
Josie Yousef, 23, office manager
Neighborhood: West Town.
Best way to start the morning: With a nap.
Difference between brunch and breakfast: It is socially acceptable to drink at brunch. When I order a Bloody Mary with my Egg McMuffin, the 17-year-old server gives me a funny look.
What’s more important, good coffee or a good Bloody Mary? If I were to substitute my pre-workday coffee with a Bloody Mary, I would probably enjoy my job a lot more, but quickly get fired. Now, a Bloody Mary on a day you have nothing to do but lay around in your PJs and think about cleaning your apartment is clearly more important.
Amy Leuenberger, 25, paralegal
Neighborhood: Gold Coast.
Best way to start the morning: Calling in sick.
What’s more important, good coffee or a good Bloody Mary? Definitely a good Bloody Mary. Coffee just wakes you up and makes you remember the night’s events more clearly–not always wise.
What our team brings to the table: I am not afraid to have a picture taken of me eating food that has been dropped down my shirt.
OVER EASY AND CHEESY
Madi Torruella, 30, administrative assistant/musician
Neighborhood: Livin’ on the Edgewater.
Best way to start the morning: Beyond Orlando Bloom rolling over and asking me where I want to go for brunch, it’s waking up late on a sunny day, gathering a friend or two and enjoying good eggs Florentine in a kitschy neighborhood restaurant.
Difference between brunch and breakfast: Brunch is 11:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, freshly squeezed OJ, chatting with friends over beautifully presented eggs and pancakes and rating the hotness of my fellow diners. Breakfast is 6:45 a.m. on a Monday morning, hunched over a bowl of oatmeal, my hair bigger than Christina’s in the “Lady Marmalade” video.
Eric Tammes, 34, assistant VP for student services at Roosevelt
University
Neighborhood: Albany Park.
Favorite pork product: Mmm … bacon. It’s what keeps me from being a vegetarian. As a native Iowan, I’m expected to worship at least one pork product.
What’s more important, good coffee or a good Bloody Mary? It’s more important to have good coffee after several good Bloody Marys (heck, even bad coffee might do), but good coffee wins me over every darn time.
Sean Archer, 27, musician
Neighborhood: Uptown, ’cause that’s where Christie Brinkley hangs.
Best way to start the morning: It involves a Russian gymnast and her best friend, but barring that, a Belgian waffle and a side of sausage patties followed by a monkey on a unicycle.
Difference between brunch and breakfast: When you’re having brunch, you’re probably not eating leftover pizza while shaving in the bathroom mirror.
Marisa Tantillo, 23, actress/Starbucks barista/odd-job queen
Neighborhood: The wonderful world of Lakeview.
Best way to start the morning: Being able to sleep past 4 a.m., catching an episode of “What Not to Wear” on BBC America, then trading a Carnation Instant Breakfast for an opulent omelet and mimosas with friends.
Difference between brunch and breakfast: Bea Arthur eats breakfast. Rue McClanahan eats brunch.
What our team brings to the table: Fabulous style, a love of anything chocolate and flair for turning any conversation into one about bodily functions.
Audrey Billings, 24, Starbucks barista (with Marisa)
Neighborhood: Boystown.
What’s more important, good coffee or a good Bloody Mary? Coffee is life. Sorry, no alcoholic gazpacho for me. I don’t care what the food triangle says, if your day doesn’t have at least six servings from the java family, then you’re living dangerously.
What our team brings to the table: Our Brunch Bunch team will bring five reviewers who can tell the good toast from the soggy, the fluffy eggs from the runny and the firm potatoes from the mealy. We’re ready to take the bullet for you.
