The Thinking Behind
Sunday Brunch
From the kitchen, by our Chef de Cuisine.
The Thinking Behind
Sunday Brunch
Sunday mornings at the Brae feel like the first thirty minutes in the garage — standing there, coffee in hand, looking at a disassembled chassis and figuring out how to make the parts sing together. Brunch isn’t just a shift; it’s a composition. It’s about taking the gear I have on the rack and finding the rhythm between what’s already here and what needs to be built from scratch.
There’s a shared frequency between Southern and Scottish food that most people miss. To me, it’s like tuning an old engine; you realize two different designs were trying to solve the exact same problem. Both cultures lean on a slow-cooked grain to hold down the low end — corn in the Carolinas, oats in the Highlands. Both treat smoke and salt like a restoration tool, preserving what’s good before the seasons turn. Maisie’s sits right at the seam of that overlap, and brunch is where I get to harmonize those two lineages on one plate.
Scottish Salmon & Grits
This dish is about respecting the raw materials. The Loch Duart salmon is raised with a level of care you usually only see in a luthier’s workshop — handled gently, grown slow. I pair it with Farm & Sparrow grits, heirloom corn milled with a grit and texture that feels like home. When the materials are this good, my job is just to dial in the finish. I stay out of the way, adding just enough cream and allium to let the natural melody of the fish and the corn carry the track.
Contains fish and milk. Gluten-friendly on request.
Maisie’s Biscuits & Gravy
The straightforward Southern baseline of our menu. It’s a classic restoration — taking the basics and doing them right without any unnecessary chrome. Hand-turned buttermilk biscuits and a heavy-gauge sausage gravy built from local pork. It’s honest, grounded work.
Contains wheat and milk. Gluten-friendly on request.
Highland Hash
This is where the smoker meets the cast iron. The brisket is a labor of patience, smoked low and slow for hours until the fibers just let go. It’s like fine-tuning a carburetor — it takes time to get the response just right. We fold that smoke-kissed meat into a hash of peppers, potatoes, and cabbage, then top it with two eggs. It’s a kitchen habit as old as time: taking yesterday’s hard work and giving it a new life for the morning crowd.
Contains eggs. Gluten-friendly on request.
Maisie’s Full Breakfast
This plate follows an old blueprint. Whether you call it a “full Scottish” or a “full Southern,” the architecture is the same: eggs, protein, and something to mop up the remaining notes. We leave the configuration up to you — two eggs, your choice of sides, and a protein. It’s a freestyle approach to a farmhouse classic, built for whatever kind of energy you need for the day ahead.
Contains wheat and eggs. Gluten-friendly on request.
The Outlander Burger
Fried egg, bacon, aged cheddar, and orange marmalade on a burger — an odd combination until you know where marmalade comes from. It was invented in Dundee in 1797, when a grocer named James Keiller bought a shipment of bitter Seville oranges off a storm-stranded Spanish ship and his family turned them into a spreadable preserve rather than let them go to waste. Marmalade on breakfast meat isn’t a novelty. It’s closer to the original use.
Contains wheat, eggs, and milk. Gluten-friendly on request.
Power Grain Bowl
Quinoa, kale, tomatoes, pickled onion, goat cheese, and smoked haddock, finished with a green goddess dressing. A vegan version is available on request. Smoked haddock has sat on Scottish breakfast tables for a couple hundred years — it’s the base of a soup called Cullen skink, and the reason a coastal town called Arbroath still smokes it by the barrel. I put mine in a grain bowl instead of a soup, but the instinct behind it is the same one.
Contains wheat. Gluten-friendly on request.
The Rest of
the Table
A few more worth knowing before your server asks:
- Sweet Potato Pancake — peaches, crème anglaise, Maisie’s almond granola.
- Croissant French Toast — French sweet cream custard, fresh berries, chantilly cream.
- Chicken & Pancakes — house-breaded chicken tender over a sweet potato pancake, hot honey. Same instinct as chicken and waffles, with sweet potato standing in.
- Fairy Garden Parfait — honey yogurt, fresh berries, almond granola, caramelized honey. Named for the fairy garden out in the kids’ play area.
- Chicken Salad Croissant — almond, grape, and basil chicken salad, leaf lettuce, and tomato on a large croissant.
For the Littles
Burger, tenders, sweet potato pancakes, or a Wee Fairy Garden Parfait.
Sides
Grits. Oatmeal, your choice of berries, peaches, maple syrup, or brown sugar and butter. Biscuits and jam. Toast and jam. Two eggs, your way. Bacon. Sausage. Yogurt.
The Practical Part
Brunch runs 10 am to 2 pm on Sundays. The regular dinner menu picks up at 2 pm that day instead of the usual 4 pm start, so there’s no gap between the two. Most dishes have a gluten-friendly option on request — ask, and we’ll tell you plainly if something can’t be adjusted. Every dish is marked for the nine major allergens on our tickets; if anyone at your table has a concern, tell your server and they’ll get you a straight answer.
I didn’t grow up seeing grits and Scottish salmon as part of the same kit. But when you look at them through the lens of craftsmanship — of patience, restoration, and finding the harmony in the materials — they belong together. Putting them on the same table isn’t a reach; it’s the most natural thing in the world. I’ve put a lot of myself into this composition. Come hungry on Sunday and share in the work.
— Jamisen