If you order Mikro Depot’s Sunday brunch in Hamden and can’t decide which breakfast food you are craving most, you can ask for the French toast and get the flavor of multiple breakfast foods all in one order.
“The idea for me is breakfast,” said Mike Fox, head chef at Mikro. “It’s every breakfast food that you can pile onto a dish. It’s kind of a cereal bowl mixed with bananas foster.”
Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Mikro Depot brew pub to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Call ahead at (203) 553‑7676 order takeout. The restaurant, located at 0 Depot Drive, is open Tuesday through Sunday. Check out the website for hours and the full menu.
The toast is topped with a seasonal fruit, cereal milk cream, caramelized corn flakes and bourbon soaked bananas. The toast I had included blackberries, which were delicious when dipped in the cereal milk cream.
While I was eating, I found myself too consumed by the various toppings to notice the consistency and flavor of the toast itself, but the French toast batter is also unique, according to Fox.
Mike Fox in the Micro Depot kitchen.
“The batter is a derivative of a French toast I made when I used to work in Seattle,” Fox said. “It has a lot of orange in it. We use orange juice, maple syrup and brown sugar. I make brown butter and skim off the milk solids and blend them into the custards that we make for the French toast batter.”
Fox said this method gives the French toast a warm and buttery feel as well as a rich flavor. I thought it served as a perfect sponge to sop up berry juice and cereal cream.
The brunch menu launched eight years ago — two years after Mikro opened its doors at its original location on Whitney Avenue as part of a strip mall. Now Mikro is a free standing restaurant and craft beer destination along the Farmington River Canal trail.
Mikro serves brunch only on Sunday. Fox said that the brunch menu has always drawn crowds — even at the old location, which had much less seating.
“Pre-pandemic we would have lines of 20 people waiting at the door,” Fox said. “As soon as we opened the door, they would just rush in through the door to get seated. When we were in our other location we would be a no reservation restaurant. It would be like 0 to 100 in a matter of minutes.”
Fox’s journey at Mikro has been a long, but winding one. When Mikro opened in October 2010, he started as head chef. Two and a half years later he left. He went to New Haven where he worked at Heirloom. Then he went to New Orleans.
Meanwhile, back in Hamden, Mikro was upgrading. The owners were in the process of transitioning to the new Sherman Avenue location along the trail and decided to see if their original head chef wanted to come back north.
“When I was in New Orleans I got a phone call to see if I was interested in coming back to help them open the new restaurant,” Fox said. “I obliged.”
Fox has been back for about four years and now faces the challenge of navigating the restaurant business during a global health crisis. Fox said he feels confident that Mikro will survive given its ample outdoor seating as well as some new parking lot family meals.
“The family meals are great and affordable for a family of four,” Fox said. “We are doing comfort foods. During a time when people don’t feel good about what’s going on in the world and have uncertainty, they enjoy things that make them feel good. Maybe it distracts them for a few minutes.”
The family meals are to-go or people can hang around in their cars and tailgate. Recently, Mikro hosted a socially distant pig roast. They partnered with Allagash Brewing Company, whose owner was eager to share his family’s Puerto Riccan traditions with the community.
“We served it with his grandmother’s rice,” Fox said. “I made some sides from what my family would serve around the holidays. My mom’s baked beans, braised winter greens — you could try different beers. It was a really nice collaboration.”
If you are inclined to try the French toast, he suggests ordering it with a beer mosa.
“It’s our most consistent beer we have on draft — an Allagash white,” Fox said. “We do a blend of Allagash white and orange juice with fresh orange slices on it.”
Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:
• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan “Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
• Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
• Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
• Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
• Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
• Today’s Special: Francesco’s Tortelli
• Today’s Special: Seikichi’s Sushi
• Today’s Special: Ketkeo’s Khao Poon
