Fort Collins' Definitive Brunch
Lucile's has occupied a small Victorian on South Meldrum for nearly thirty years, and in that time has done more to define Fort Collins brunch than any other restaurant in the city. The menu is a reliable run through the New Orleans repertoire — beignets, Pain Perdu, blackened salmon and eggs, Eggs Sardou, Cajun Benedict, biscuits and red-eye gravy — executed with the discipline of a kitchen that has had decades to refine each plate.
The beignets are the headline. Four to an order, served hot, dusted with a generous storm of powdered sugar, light and tender inside, with a delicate fried crust. The banana beignets — fresh banana slices dipped in batter and flash-fried — are the order regulars send first-timers to try. Pain Perdu, the New Orleans interpretation of French toast, comes with hot Louisiana sausage, fresh fruit, and buttery syrup that tastes nothing like the bottled stuff. The blackened salmon plate, served Cajun-style with two eggs and a buttermilk biscuit, is the most reliably ordered savory option.
The room is small, the wait on weekends is real, and the service is unfailingly cheerful. Tables turn fast, the coffee is bottomless, and the wait staff have been doing this long enough to read which tables need attention and which want to linger. The energy is brunch-celebratory without crossing into chain-restaurant boozy: you can bring a parent, a date, a Sunday-morning recovery group, or a bachelorette party and all of them will be at home.
Lucile's closes at 2pm. There is no dinner service. Plan accordingly — and arrive before 9am on weekends if you want to skip the wait.