[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

[bryant]

I spent much of the weekend on my quest for the perfect weekend breakfast. Much of the mornings, anyhow. I'm not quite mad enough to have breakfast at 8 and then follow up with a brunch excursion at noon, but I do take my morning breakfast pretty seriously. While I was unemployed, it was one of the only activities that got me reliably out of the house and in contact with people.

I scored immediately in the "cheap and close and tasty" category, down at the Neighborhood Restaurant in Union Square. I went in, I got seated at the same table as a nice couple, I established that it's OK and I'm not invading personal space and it's just a cozy restaurant. This is actually kind of a minus since I like to linger over coffee and my book, but no big.

Then, when I'm ready to order, a waitress came over and asked if I'd like hot cereal or fruit. Well, I wanted a bacon omelette, but she explained that this was bonus food. Bonus food! Good deal. I got the hot cereal and ordered the omelette. Said cereal was cream of wheat with a ton of cinnamon on top. Just about perfect for a winter morning.

The omelette came with an enormous plate of bread on the side. I actually wasn't sure it was for me until the couple next to me got their own enormous plate of bread. Four pieces of toast, a muffin of some kind, a croissant, and an apple turnover thingie. Amazing. Apparently there's a bakery out back, and they have some sort of deal where they'll go to hell if they don't bake every hour of the day, and they get rid of the extra by feeding it to us. Or so I imagined.

So the food was good, and incredibly cheap -- $7.35 for the whole schmear. The menu wasn't super-extensive and it was certainly crowded. Still a total win, just on the basis of price and convenience and quantity. I'll go back.

The Rosebud Diner was not quite as good. More expensive, and the chorizo omelette really didn't rock my world, and I had to sit at the counter -- which I don't mind but I like to have the option and it really kills the sitting around drinking coffee aspect of the breakfast. Also the menu didn't have anything beyond the usual breakfast fare, which is OK but since the Neighborhood Restaurant satisfies that, why would I wanna drive down to Davis Square?

At this point, I need a decent medium to high end place where I can get an omelette with pesto in it. My journey continues next weekend.

Comments

He seemed to know a lot about brunch...

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

Hi Bryant,

At this point, I need a decent medium to high end place where I can get an omelette with pesto in it. My journey continues next weekend.

If you don't mind crossing the river, try Olive Oyl in Allston sometime. Not positive they have pesto, but it's a very good brunch that's a step above yer basic noisy, clattering, diner (which, don't get me wrong, I love too) but for some reason (because it's in glamorous, scenic Allston?) doesn't have the ferocious fight for a table you would find in brunch nexuses like Brookline or the South End.

So if you're playing in Jeremiah's UA game tomorrow night, we'll get to meet in person. Looking forward to it.

Rob

Re: He seemed to know a lot about brunch...

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

::seethes with jealousy::

Third time in three days I've intruded upon an otherwise innocent LJ post of one of my Friends to express my envy of what other people are doing far, far away. Gah.

Weekend breakfasts...

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan, when the time's available. The two (well, three) places I can recommend are all in the Davis Square area.

Renee's on Holland Street, about a block from Broadway. Inexpensive, good service, nice sized portions.
Sound Bites on Broadway, near Ball Square. Usually a killer wait on sunny days, but -- if you're willing to endure that -- enormous omelets, huge challah french toast, Beatles music, serve-yourself coffee.
Johnny D's, across from the Somerville Theatre in the heart of the Square. Live Jazz, short wait, full-on brunch menu with lots of variations. My friend Viv swears by the oatmeal.

[gblake.livejournal.com]

I find I go to different places depending on if I'm going by myself or not and if I am going early or not. Most saturday mornings I'm up way too early, so hit Rosebud. Sitting at the counter around 9am usually isn't bad. And I'm enough of a regular that my order is known as I sit down. :)

I'd also recommend soundbites. I think it is one of my favorite places to go. And almost right next to that is Kelly's. Both are on Broadway in Somerville, right by powderhouse. There are lots of other places that are quite good too :). We're in the land of brunchy goodness.

Re: He seemed to know a lot about brunch...

[bryant]

Haven't gotten a confirmation back from him yet, actually -- is he the kind of person who'll mind if I ping him again?

And thanks for the recommendation. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for; I've come to terms with the fact that the pesto-lovin' ways I picked up in California may need to be shed. ;)

[bryant]

Mmm. Thanks for all the recommendations. The great thing about hunting for brunch is even when it's not perfect, you still got to go out and have /brunch/.

I oughta look for company next weekend, perhaps.