The Columbus Brunch Experience: The Blue Danube

The Blue Danube, affectionately referred to as the Dube, is a campus diner staple. We've been patrons of the Dube for several years now, and it's kind of the place that brought brunch into the spotlight for us. So without further ado, and without too much bias, let's talk about this wonderful little gem.

The Dube is an eccentric little place - kinda dark, kinda dingy, but somehow warm and inviting. The ceiling tiles are yellowed with age, but have been painted over the years by various artists with subject matter ranging from popular culture to personal sentiments. They also have a pretty incredible juke box.

The Dube's coffee is good. It's nothing terribly special, but it's good. The kind of coffee that you can just keep drinking and drinking and drinking and drinking....

Grant: To echo the sentiment above this is pretty much the place that sparked our love of brunch. For me this place has it all, the food is unbelievably good, the coffee is easy drinking, and the bloody marys are peppery and delicious. You also get great portions and the prices are not bad at all. I went with my old favorite, the breakfast burrito. This one has all the fixins in it - bacon, ham, sausage, eggs, hash browns, topped with all the sauce. If there's a better breakfast burrito out there I ain't seen it.

I also got to finish the breakfast pizza down below since the little lady couldn't handle all of it. That too is damn good. Love this place.

Marissa: My go to dish at the Dube is usually the biscuits and gravy - it's incredible. HOWEVER, Devyn ordered the biscuits and gravy so, for the sake of a well rounded breakfast blog, I ordered something new and a little out of the ordinary for me - a breakfast PIZZA. It was good. It was no biscuits and gravy, but it was good. A fluffy and doughy crust is piled high with scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese, bacon and sausage. The hash browns are a really nice touch, but the pizza was a little heavy on the eggs. Also, there was no "sauce" component (what kind of pizza is this?!), so I ordered a side of sausage gravy and that sufficed rather well. I would definitely recommend the gravy to break up all the dry ingredients. It's a lot of food - I only ate half of it... but I got to take the rest home and it made for a tasty dinner later that night.

Devyn: Having worked on Sunday's most of my adult life, I was not really able to appreciate how awesome brunch really is. The Dube was my very first brunch experience many years ago. The biscuits and gravy were legen-waitforit-dary with their thick sausage gravy, fluffy biscuits topped with cheddar cheese. Still to this day one of my favorite brunch items hands down. I enjoyed them a little bit more this morning due to the large amount of beer that was consumed Saturday night. It was a nice hearty breakfast without being too heavy for a fatigued stomach. I also ordered some fruit and bacon on the side to round everything out (though the fruit cup consisted mostly of various types of melon, gross.) This meal really hit the spot.

Fin: Also feeling the need for a nice filling meal, Fin went with the steak and egg breakfast. This dish had everything you could ever want in a manly man's breakfast: two eggs and a generous slab of steak cooked your way, crispy hash browns, and two slices of toast. This was a lot of food to tackle this early in the morning, but the steak was cooked perfectly and the eggs were also on point. Two thumbs up for this one!
WARNING: NO BACON. -Sad Fin.

And the main event: The Dube's Bloody Mary. The Sunday liquor laws always bite us in the ass, and being early brunchers, it was not quite 11:00 AM when we came to eat. So, naturally, we ate, then waited until 11:00 AM to order these wonderful concoctions.

*angels singing*

Ok guys. If you're only going to come to the Dube for one reason, this Bloody Mary is it. It may not look like anything special, but this Mary is the standard to which I judge all other Marys against. This Bloody Mary leans more on the side of tomatoes, and according to Fin, who has a more refined palate than I, it may or may not have clamato juice as well. The bloody/vodka/spice ratio is perfect - every. Single. Time. Oh yeah, and it's only like $5.