Chicago is a brunch kind of city. A late Saturday out-on-the-town night can easily turn into very early morning drinks, and everyone seems to show up somewhere for Sunday morning brunch. The Publican, in the Fulton Market Warehouse district, is not a bad place to end up. Just make sure you manage to arrive early, as everyone in town has this restaurant at the top of their brunch wish list.

With a wonderfully long beer menu, a menu that highlights sustainable and local products, and a waitstaff so pleasant it’s hard not to think they’re all on some sort of hallucinagans, the Publican is full of charm to the inth degree.

The food is effortless; well-seasoned, straightforward, and unassuming. This is a gastropub with a simplistic menu done well. With an ever changing menu based on the seasons, the chefs have a real connection to their food. Helmed by Executive Chef Paul Kahan and Chef de Cuisine Brian Huston, the menu focuses on the essential ingredients of a dish. Described by Kahan and Huston, the cuisine is “pristine product, simply prepared.”

Charred shortribs served with earthy sweet potatoes and tangy candied kumquats are topped with a perfectly cooked fried egg. Warm beer bread is topped with house made ricotta cheese, soft and creamy. Served alongside musky salted pistachios and soft, sweet persimmons, the entire thing is drizzled with honey.

The sweetness of fried french toast is cut with tart raspberry jam. The bread is an err too wet, crunchy on the outside, but gooey on the inside. Peppery apple sausage adds an earthy, savory flavor to the dish. A large casserole arrives steaming with weiswurst, a mild pork and veal sausage served with sweet Bavarian mustard, alongside a chewy, soft Hannah’s bretzel.

It’s hard to pass up an offering from the Publican’s extensive beer menu, but for brunch a mimosa or bloody mary is more in line. Publican style means with a brew, and the mimosa is served with a weiss beer, while the bloody mary, a concoction of house-made mix and celery bitters is blended with a choice: Tito’s Vodka, or possibly a stout, IPA, or another beer.

As for the design, the space and service is thoughtful down to the tee. From the complimentary coat check, to the three-tiered bar tables with a small top “drinks” level, it’s clear this is a thought out endeavor.

The space is inviting and warm. The sunny, yellow room holds long, communal tables and bright, round lamps hang from the ceiling. The cubby shelves, placed under each chair for extra storage space for guests, which the waiters thoughtfully point out, would almost seem over the top, if they were not so helpful.

After brunch is a time for refection and conversation at the Publican, and no time to hurry along on your way. Sundays are packed; the communal tables are crammed full of people by 11am, and the attentive service you receive early on may dwindle later in your meal. Sip on coffee or a cocktail, enjoy the last bites of short rib or weiswurst, catch up with friends. That’s what brunch is all about anyway, and in this setting, you won’t really want to leave.