Community Highlights: Meet Steven Graham of MUNCH! Midnight Brunch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Graham. 

Hi Steven, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I moved back from Atlanta seven years ago to go to culinary school, one of the first things I realized was the quality of food changed after about 10 o’clock at night. After 10 pm, the only things open are the things that were open all day but very few people frequented. I would see businesses crowded at 1 and 2 am that offered a product that people didn’t prefer until all other options weren’t available. I also have a major affinity for brunch! It’s actually my favorite meal! So after about 6 months of mulling around the idea for a “midnight brunch”, I told one of my school advisors about it and she said, “You should give it a cool name. Like, call it a Munch.” and it immediately just set off logo visuals and color schemes so the name stuck. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been smooth. My second and third semesters in school were among the most challenging. I had to send my 5-year-old son back to Georgia with his mother because the majority of that time I was either homeless or housing insecure. I vividly remember a night where I was sleeping in Eden Park on a bench, being rained on in a pair of patent leather Prada sneakers from a previous life that seemed so far away. During that period, I earned a full scholarship for the next year and the president of the school actually wrote my recommendation letter for it. There were for a lot more adversities that had to be overcome to get here but I feel like that one best tells the story of them all. It’s really hard to get a good night’s rest on concrete and in spite of that, I got a full scholarship. I won’t accept adversity as a barrier of entry to a goals. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about MUNCH! Midnight Brunch?
MUNCH! is a true culinary experience! For me, any meal you can connect to breakfast in a fun, creative manner is brunch so that gives us a lot of options! Also, in some instances, I try to bring traditional items but render them in the most authentic ways possible. The best example of that is the “Red Eye to Atlanta”. That’s the name for my chicken and waffles and is an ode to what I believe is/was the quintessential chicken a waffles, Gladys Knights Chicken, and Waffles in Atlanta. Her premier dish was referred to as the “Midnight Train” like her song, and it was fried whole wings and a classic, American-style waffle. Since nobody is catching Midnight Trains in 2022, I decided to modernize the nomenclature while simultaneously paying homage by offering the only traditional chicken in waffles in Cincinnati. The jazz musicians in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance weren’t eating chicken cutlets or tenders and Belgian waffles. They were eating fried bone-in chicken and American waffles and I wanted to see that represented here. Also, MUNCH! Midnight Brunch is just different! Look at the name! Midnight. BRUNCH! Aside from brunch AT NIGHT, we’re also extreme food conscious. Whether it’s our use of cellulose-free, 100% REAL cheese, to the pure vanilla extract, to the fact that 95% of our menu is scratch-made, we care about the quality of what you are eating. Our founder’s interest in food came from his desire to provide quality food to his own children and all of those years of studying and learning have gone into the development of MUNCH! Midnight Brunch. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for me is bringing everything from the inside to fruition. Manifestation! If you can conceptualize a thing and bring it to life, that’s success. So much imagination and patience and belief in self and diligence was necessary to get there so that is success to me. If you have those pieces, you’ll always be able to get to your destination. 

Pricing:

• Banana Pudding Waffle – $9
• MUNCH! Brunch Bowl – $10
• Strawberry and Bruleed Banana French Toast – $14
• The Regular Degular Shmegular Breakfast – $13
• The Low Country Shrimp ‘N Grits – $17

Contact Info:

• Website: www.munchnbrunch.com
• Instagram: munch.midnight.brunch
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-graham-215ab996
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/munch-midnight-brunch-cincinnati-3I’m

Image Credits
Gina Weathersby