Check out this new brunch spot in Tacoma. It’s got the cheesiest potatoes in the city

Eggs usually hold court on any breakfast menu, but at this Tacoma restaurant, brunch is all about the cheese.

That’s about what you’d expect at a cafe that’s also a cheese shop. The cheekily named Stink Cheese + Meat in Tacoma’s Stadium neighborhood started serving Sunday brunch in July, although the restaurant’s been around since 2011.

Like its cheese-heavy lunch menu, cheese fuels Stink’s brunch.

“Well, cheese is the foundation of everything,” so says Steve Ramsey, who runs Stink with business partner Jenny Smith. “We try to make everything as cheesy as possible. It goes with the wine so well.”

Or, in the case of Sunday brunch, cheese goes down just right with a mimosa. Ramsey recommends Midnight Moon, an aged gouda from Cypress Grove.

“Any of the cheddars go well with the bubbles,” he added.

Which cheese goes with a bloody Mary?

“Sharp cheddars go great with a bloody Mary, especially if you get a bloody Mary with olives,” Ramsey said.

In that case, I’d point diners to Stink’s Dirty Mary, a vodka bloody Mary made with tomato juice with assertive house spicing and dual shots of peppadew pepper brine and castelvetrano olive juice ($8).

The cheesiest dish at Stink isn’t even listed as its own menu item. That’s the Stink Spuds, a cheesy side potato accompaniment. Think of the gooiest, cheesiest, creamiest scalloped potatoes with paper-thin sliced potatoes made by your grandma for Sunday supper, and you’ve pretty much got the Stink brunch potatoes, just add fancier cheeses.

Ramsey said he and Stink night chef Jordan Brinar piggyback on the recipe constantly, but lately they’ve been making the cheesy cream sauce with red Leicester, a “nutty, sharp English cheese. Sometimes we throw a little gouda in there,” he said.

Make those potatoes the one item you try on a Sunday brunch visit.

Here’s a look at what else to get.

Brunch menu: Savory rosemary-pancetta French toast with mushroom gravy ($10), sweet creme brulee French toast ($10), prosciutto, melon, manchego and goat cheese flatbread ($8), roasted vegetable and manchego flatbread ($8, vegan substitute available), bacon, egg and raclette flatbread ($8), Monte Stinko sandwich with Stink Spuds ($10), patatas bravas ($8), three-cheese plate ($13), five-cheese plate ($17), plus a meat plate ($14), antipasti plate ($16) and a baguette with roasted garlic and French triple cream cheese ($12).

Cheesiest items: Stink Spuds, Monte Stinko, cheese plate and breakfast flatbreads.

For vegans/vegetarians: Vegetarian tofu scramble ($9).

Keto eaters: The keto bowl has, Ramsey estimates, about 1 net carb and is made with roasted radishes, bacon, eggs and aged white cheddar ($9).

Ask for: The weekly changing Benedict and other specials.

Breakfast booze: Seven mimosas, made with juices ranging from grapefruit to passion fruit ($7 to $8). Bottomless mimosas or bloody Marys are $14. Aside from the Dirty Mary, there’s a green chile ($8) and Caesar ($8) bloody Mary. Five more specialty breakfast cocktails ($7 to $9).

On a first visit: Try one of the weekly-changing Benedicts with poached eggs and always served on toasted croissants in lieu of English muffins. The bacon-avocado version came with a hollandaise more buttery than lemony and a big stack of Stink Spuds oozing cheese lava all over the plate ($11).

Those cheesy potatoes also came with the Monte Stinko, the restaurant’s take on a Monte Cristo, made with sweet bread dipped in a cinnamon-spiked egg wash, stuffed with turkey and ham and layers of Swiss and cheddar and grilled, panini style. Served with a dusting of powdered sugar and side of blackberry preserves ($10).

The patatas bravas combined fried potatoes with kicky-spiced sauteed red peppers all mixed up with chorizo and onions and topped with over-easy eggs. I wish the dish it was served in had more room to mix up the flavors, but I won’t quibble on something this good with an $8 pricetag.

Stink Cheese + Meat

Where: 628 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma

Info: 253-426-1347 or facebook.com/stinkcheesemeat

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m Sunday

Sunday brunch: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.