Bump is the only eatery at which I have ever experienced a brunch with a bass line. This lounge and restaurant, which serves as Philly's best attempt to do Chelsea, or, heck, anything New York, is a see-and-be-seen hotspot on a prominent Gayborhood corner. Yet just like the remixed house music thumping from its speakers, or the pomade-chiseled hair of many of the patrons on any given day of the week, Bump's brunch is highly stylized, just with not enough substance to match.
Start the day off with generously-proportioned cocktails, which are offered at $2 a pop for either a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. This is not a place to brunch in order to sip black coffee and wax philosophic, but La Vie Boh?me is clearly not what Bump's going for.
As a $9.95 special, Bump offers a wide variety of dishes that would appeal to any preeminent menu snob. Other than the normal breakfast egg and meat staples, the menu features a Roast Duck Frittata and a Rock Shrimp and Artichoke Omelet as items du jour. Other offerings include a Warm Goat Cheese Salad with raspberry vinaigrette and the Chesapeake Benedict with a crab and citrus bernaise. I ordered the tasty crab cake and sweet potato fries -- an unorthodox choice for brunch -- while my date opted for the more traditional, but too rich, Caramelized Brioche French Toast.
The decorative theme of the lounge is quite homotastic. Aside from the sleekly-designed tables chairs and booths, booty is in the eye of the beholder here. If you are one for dining alongside large photos of glistening butt cheeks under waterfalls, the interior design may actually work for you; for most, though, the photographic display would be a bit over the top. And despite the good intentioned design, the whole place seems way early '90s -- think if the Max from Saved by The Bell got even more neon but only slightly Queer Eye-ifiied.
But having brunch at Bump just reminded me that the eatery is what it is: it's the trendy gay boy's unofficial community center, for better or worse, complete with fruity martinis, plenty of TOFAH's (Too Old For Abercrombie Homos) and a Friday Prime Rib Special. As long as they keep their brunch somewhat flavorful on all accounts, the experience will make the trip worth it. And the beat goes on.
