To get a bit of discussion going and to discover some new places, I thought I’d start a thread on area brunches. We go out for brunch almost every Saturday morning, usually in the Cambridge/Boston area.
This morning, we headed for the first time to Sulmona in the Kendall Square vicinity in Cambridge. We enjoyed it quite a bit and will head back at some point. I had eggs benedict with prosciutto cotto and kale. My husband had the sweet cheeks pizzetta, with guanciale and three fried eggs. I really enjoyed my benedict, especially the hollandaise. It was beautifully emulsified and very lemony, maybe too much for some palates. The eggs were nicely poached and the accompanying potato square, if rather dense, was crispy. (Yes, that is a side of extra hollandaise to dip my potatoes in, cholesterol be damned.) My husband’s pizza was tasty and had plenty of guanciale funk, which, again, might be too much for some. The sunny side eggs were perfectly cooked. Our server was particularly warm and gracious. The space is quite lovely, with interesting metal work around the bar. We’ll try dinner there soon.
I wish I could chime in here, but my knowledge of brunch is pretty much nil. (I sure hope you get some responses, though!) While I was staying in Medford regularly, I always wanted to try the weekend brunch at La Brasa, but never managed to get there. Might be housesitting there at some point in the next couple months, so I was wondering if anyone’s been to that one? I saw that they started up their E-som market again yesterday with the bartender from Pammy’s. That all sounds promising…
Pagu, the Japanese-Spanish place near the MIT museum in Cambridge, is closed on Sunday, open for brunch on Sat. We went yesterday and very much enjoyed the tortilla española (with the goat cheese and tomato jam) and the squid ink bao…amazing colors and tastes with the black ink bao, red cabbage pickled, garlic aioli, and fried oysters. I also enjoyed the (red, of course) sangria, made with quality red wine and a bit of brandy. The Japanese decor is lovely and soothing. Highly recommend.
Went to Juliet for brunch today; the brunch service is on Sat and Sun 10 to 2pm (or 3?). The room was bright and airy even in this dreary weather but filled up quickly. I also like the fact that they pay a fair living wage to their works, so the prices already include tips.
Everything we got was excellent (the coffee could be better, but that’s a minor quibble). We got the omelet with gruyere and radish, and egg sandwich with duck liver mousse supplement. The french omelet was silky smooth and lemony and mustard-y in the best of ways, and the egg sandwich came with fined chopped braised greens that’s almost a pesto texture. The waitress informed me that it was beet tops with tons of garlic - might try this at home since it was delicious! (She also said it’s a no-waste kitchen so everything get put to use one way or the other.)
Thanks for the Sulmona tip - sounds worth a visit.
This will sound strange - had some excellent breakfasty/brunch dishes at the Legal Seafoods in Terminal B before a recent morning flight. Do any of their “ground-based” locations serve brunch?
Cook (Newtonville) has an interesting take on shakshuka for Sat/Sun brunch - would love to find other Boston area shakshuka interpretations. My one pet peeve is the yolks should be runny - even in Israel it’s tough to find places that get that right.
We had a nice brunch at Oak and Rowan in the Fort Point area this Sunday morning. Shortly after being seated, a lovely pastry cart was wheeled over to the table. I must say, everything looked very inviting. We ended up splitting a very tasty stone fruit tart. I opted for my usual Eggs Benny with extra hollandaise, which was very good. The eggs were perfectly poached, the hollandaise had a nice level of citrus and salt (the side of hollandaise was slightly broken but the sauce on the eggs was nicely emulsified), and the english muffin had a lot of flavor. My husband had the breakfast torta on a very fresh telera roll with tender eggs, tasty bacon jam and mashed ripe avocado. I think I’ll opt for cheese and hot sauce if I order this in the future. The space is lovely (and large) and service was very good. It was pretty empty, though. I hope business picks up.
Be aware that street parking in Fort Point, with all of the development, is pretty tough these days. We gave up and parked in the VPNE garage (Congress St.?) and thought we’d have to pay an arm and a leg because they only advertise a special rate for Children’s Museum goers, but it ended up only costing $10 without any validation.
Had Sunday Brunch at Island Creek Oyster Bar a few weeks ago - not the first place that would pop into my head when thinking brunch, but we enjoyed it immensely. The biscuit alone is destination-worthy. Oysters expertly shucked, of course, fresh and briny, still swimming in their liquor. Baked beans were excellent.
We hadn’t been back to the Beacon Hill Bistro in several years. We both found the old brunch menu kind of blah. I checked them out this morning and was wowed by the diversity of the current menu, so we headed on over. Everything was really good. I got my usual Eggs Benedict with the accompanying home fries, greens with an excellent vinaigrette and extra hollandaise. It is served on a Stone and Skillet muffin. My husband got the cod cakes and house baked beans with hollandaise, brown bread and home fries. Everything was very good, including service. My only quibble would be that the hollandaise could be a little thicker. The space is lovely, prices are reasonable and we will definitely put this back into the regular weekend brunch rotation. Bonus, they start serving at 8.
In my more carefree days, I loved killing time at Beacon Hill Bistro’s tiny but jewel-box-esque bar while waiting for B to get out of work at MGH. We walked down Charles a few weeks ago with spring onion in tow and I looked longingly at that space through the window. It still looked lovely and civilized.
It is a really inviting space. I mentioned to my husband that we need to grab a drink there sometime. It’s particularly cozy right now with the holiday greenery everywhere.
