Mother's Day Brunch at Tupelo

Celebrating Mother's Day with a member of the GRITS club (if you're a non-Southerner like me, you won't know that it stands for Girl Raised In The South) called for a special brunch at Tupelo.

Andrew and I were excited to return to Tupelo and try their special brunch menu, which offers different items from their dinner menu and more importantly, share the restaurant with his parents.

Although this is not my usual type of breakfast choice, due to the dozens of positive Yelp reviews, I decided to go for their fried chicke and waffle combo with bourbon maple syrup and spiced cream - it lived up to the hype with great fried chicken. The waffle and syrup I thought were good, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Both of Andrew's parents opted for the smoked sausage and roasted veggie hash with scrambled eggs, french bread and jalapeño aioli - I had a bite of Charlotte's dish and it was delicious! The aioli was too spicy for her liking, but Tom eagerly ate his serving and her's as he loves spicy food:

A look at Andrew's crazy plate, which was an Oyster Po'Boy sandwich with jalapeño aioli, house pickles and slaw:

Here's a look at Tupelo's grits served two different ways - the fried grits special is on the top, which the waiter described as "polenta-style". We dipped the piping-hot cubes in hot sauce as an appetizer. Andrew got a serving of the cheddar grits as a side-dish.  Growing up with a Southern mom and plenty of trips to Georgia in the summer has definitely influenced Andrew's taste for grits - me, I'm still not a convert.

We almost didn't get dessert since we had another White's Bakery cake waiting at our house but Tom wisely convinced us to split one of the dessert specials - a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie with Bourbon ice cream on the side. This hefty slice was enough to feed the four of us. And honestly, may be one of the top five restaurant desserts I've had. I don't even like chocolate desserts usually since I find them overtly sweet and I feel like they don't usually taste like chocolate. This was more like a cake in texture - it very moist sections and chewiers sections and the taste was just so balanced and so good. The bourbon ice cream on the side was the perfect touch.

A shot of me with the guest of honor - Charlotte, who I am very blessed to have as my future mother-in-law and a mother figure in my life.

Our dining partners - Tom and Andrew, both looking pleased at the wonderful meal we experienced.

It was a bit of decadent afternoon of food, since we grabbed a pint of Christina's coffee oreo ice cream to enjoy with the cake as a second dessert back at the house. Can you say food coma?

A special thank you once again to Charlotte for being an excellent mom for Andrew, Adam, Amanda and now me! And another thank you to my own Mom, who was in a good mood despite being woken up by me with a 7 am phone call (darn time difference between the US and Japan).  I hope everyone took the time to appreciate all the moms in their lives today!