That may pre-date me. 
But that sounds positively wonderful!
The floating balcony was inside. I don’t think they had seating up there, just used it for storage. Ken’s (delicatessen) in Copley, on the other hand, had a floating balcony inside and they seated diners there. JFK would send the secret service over for sandwiches when he stayed at the Copley Plaza.
Now that’s an item of local food lore. How did you ever come across this tidbit? I love hearing stories like this.
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Was just talking about Ken’s the other day. Sat on the balcony many times. Great spot. Almost as good as Jack and Marions.
Enjoy,
CocoDan
I think I heard it from one of the managers. My mother claimed she read about it, so it might be documented somewhere.
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A friend wanted to do brunch in the south end - we ended up at the Beehive. It was crowded and we had to wait a while even with a reservation. The jazz was nice but loud, so made talking hard. The service was just okay.
The shakshuka with the lamb was very tasty - also served with polenta. The poutine was rich and filling.
I wouldn’t say “don’t go” - but I’m not sure we’d go back. Oh - and it’s the south end but parking was miserable.
I’m still looking for great brunch places . . . . so thanks for the thread!
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We used to go to the Beehive and the Beat quiet a bit for jazz and decent food, but got pretty tired of it. They changed the home fries and a couple of other dishes because they were too difficult to do, and we just kind of put it on the back burner. Sounds like there’s no reason to head back soon. I haven’t been to the Beat in Harvard since it reconcepted as the Beat Brew Hall.
Oh, my husband and I used to go to Ken’s for salad, bagels and beer on Sunday afternoons oh so many years ago, back in the 70’s before supermarkets were open on Sundays and the drinking age was 18. We worked our way through school and supported ourselves, and it felt like such a nurturing treat. We also felt very sophisticated eating such exotic food! Great memories and we often fondly reminisce. I still remember that house-made cream cheese. I don’t think we ever sat in the balcony, though.
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It was fun sitting up there, but a little nerve-wracking at the same time. It wasn’t solidly constructed, cantilevered out and it wobbled when people moved around. The food did feel somewhat exotic for a white middle class Protestant kid from the Midwest. Now married to an Israeli, it doesn’t look quite so exotic in retrospect. Sure do miss it, though.
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For an interesting take on shakshuka try Cook in Newtonville for brunch. The Israeli chain Landwer now has 2 Brookline locations. Their shakshuka in the Tel Aviv locations is decent, but I haven’t tried it here yet.
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Been doing a few more brunches recently . . . .
D-Bar in Dorchester - I’m not sure I’d tell someone to drive out of their way for the brunch but their home fries are AWESOME. I wouldn’t even call them home fries. . . they are more like fried potato cubes (a la patata bravas without a spicy sauce). That was about a month ago and we still want to go back for the potatoes. Only been once, so can’t speak to consistency but they were awesome.
Stephi’s on Tremont - very light and comfortable space, we had great service and mixed reaction to the food. We had cinnamon monkey bread as an appetizer while we were waiting for everyone to arrive (perfect share food for brunch), the burger was the “table envy”, the breakfast nachos were fine but not great - meat was a little dry and the nachos a little soggy after a short time, lobster benedict was good (but I thought the lobster looked stingy), the quinoa breakfast skillet was disappointing (I’m told). But we’d go back.
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Marc Hurwitz posted yesterday that Stephi’s on Tremont is closing. We hadn’t been in quite a while, but our feelings were similar to yours. We mostly liked it and would have returned, but it wasn’t a destination place. The prices were certainly better than Stephanie’s on Newbury. Too bad, though.
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My husband and I took a drive to Providence yesterday and stopped for brunch (sorry, digga!) at Rogue Island Kitchen. It’s a cute, small place in the Arcade building. Both the eggs benedict and the huevos rancheros were quite good, as was the service. Coffee was disappointingly weak, but we’d probably return.
Last week, we headed up to Cape Neddick ME, just outside of York, for brunch at the Cliff House. It’s a very upscale newish hotel with absolutely stunning views of the rocky Maine coastline. The food was decent, but the real draw was the view. Our server was a real character, too, which was fun. (Sorry for the lousy pic of the view.) I guess there’s a hollandaise theme here.
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@bear Despite your love of brunch, I still consider you a friend.
Rogue Island always falls off our radar - there are just too many places to try in PVD but thanks for the data point.
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Phew! I was worried.
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