Brunch @ home, courtesy of Barney Greengrass, NY

We wanted to celebrate Diego's dad's birthday in style. He had fallen in love with Barney Greengrass, the New York deli also known as the "sturgeon king", after seeing it featured in a No Reservations episode. However, he was in Boston for just a couple of days and there was no way we could fit a trip to New York in his busy schedule. So, what to do? We brought Barney Greengrass sturgeon and salmon to us!! Granted, shipping it was expensive, but it was worth it. The sturgeon was ridiculously meaty and tasty, and the color of the salmon was coral bright. Most importantly, after having been delivered overnight by FedEx, they were very fresh; if I hadn't known, we would've thought they were just bought locally. We ordered half pound of each, thinking we would have plenty for at least two meals. Instead, we devoured the entire lot in a seating, together with three bagels, a quarter pound of corned beef and a couple of ounces of cream cheese and chives, all from S&S. We had originally thought about accompanying it with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, but after some consideration, we thought that would be too much. We also had some champagne in the fridge ready to prepare mimosas, but neither Diego nor Quito (Diego's dad) like them, so we did without. Is it brunch without eggs, homefries, or alcohol? I don't know. But we had a great time. And what's better than to have coffee and great fish with the people you love while wearing pjs?

The OTHERSIDE Cafe, Boston, MA

We had some shopping to do around Newbury St. It was warm and sunny so we said why not try Stephanie's? We made a reservation through Opentable.com. We thought we would beat the crowds. We were wrong.
It turns out Stephanie's on Newbury does not accept reservations for street-side brunch. This was not pointed out anywhere, either on their site or on Opentable. So, we got there, were treated really badly and were told to put our names down the 45-min waiting list. We had been walking around for an hour already, waiting for our reservation time, and so we were in no mood to wait for another hour. For some reason both Diego and I got in a very bad mood, and we both thought the afternoon would be ruined. Then we had an epiphany.

We suddenly remembered there was this cute little place on the other side of Mass Ave. we'd been meaning to take a shot at. We sat at the OTHERSIDE cafe and our day was automatically fixed. It was perfect; outdoor seating, great smoothies and super relaxed customers and servers. It is on "the other side" in

every aspect. Geographically, it is located on Newbury, but across Massachusetts Ave (facing I-90). Style-wise, it has a bohemian feel in contrast to the posh eateries on the lower numerals. The servers were great, with a big smile on their face, super helpful and down-to-earth. Not like the pretentious bunch on the other side, who feel superior just because they can decide when or where you sit. Granted, if what you want is people-watching, maybe this is not the place (well, it depends on the type of people you want to stare at...). But if you want to have a nice brunch with friends, or maybe a cool beer on a summer evening, you should definitely venture to the Otherside.
We both happened to have the banana, orange and strawberry smoothie (made with non-fat yogurt, ice and honey), but the entire smoothie list sounds delicious. Ours was great. The sweetness of the banana and honey placated the acidity of the strawberries and oranges and the texture was perfect.

I went with my usual. The smoked salmon platter. All I have to say is that the bagel was too big for the amount of salmon. And, I wouldn't call it a "platter". It gives you the idea of a lot of food (and they certainly thought so, as it was the more expensive item on the menu), when in reality it was just ok. Other than that, the fish tasted fresh and the bagels were ok.
Diego had the real treat. A mushroom, bacon and brie omelet. They have an open kitchen and you can actually see the hippie looking servers cook your omelet. It was really enticing; I didn't try it but I was dying to do so! It came with homefries -which I did try. They were ok.

We were so relaxed and the atmosphere was so pleasant that we ended up staying long after we were done with our meal. They even have WiFi available and we were able to surf the Web for a bit. Time seems to fly at the Otherside!

People at the the Otherside really came thru for us last weekend after that failed attempt at Stephanie's. We will definitely be back to repay our debt...

Ryles Jazz Club, Cambridge, MA

Ryles is a symbol of Inman Sq., much as S&S -the deli across the street, of the same owners- is. It is THE place to go to listen to jazz musicians (known and unknown), and to go dancing on its upper level dance floor. On Sundays, they hold a Sunday Jazz Brunch, which features the same menu as S&S (an S&S-specific review will come in the near future) but on a more somber room, with plenty of space between the tables and a calmer and more relaxed atmosphere. This tranquility is created, paradoxically, by the live jazz band that is playing. On the Sunday we went it was the Yoko Miwa trio. And they were so good that, even though people kept chatting and brunching, the noise level in the room was ridiculously low. So, it was possible to have a nice and lively conversation without rising one's voice (not bad, considering we were less than three feet from the stage) and without being constantly interrupted by loud laughs from the next table (as it is sometimes the case at S&S). This is particularly surprising as there were large parties brunching and many kids running around. Apparently, jazz seems to have a hypnotic effect on the kids, and they were most content with open-mouthedly staring at the stage without interacting with the other brunchers.
In addition, the waiters were pretty inconspicuous and non-intrusive while, at the same time being perfectly attentive and aware of the tables' needs.
So, what did we have? By now, you should know what constitutes the usual for us... well, at least for Diego. He had "Eggs Copenhagen" which replaces the traditional bacon or ham in Eggs Benedict with one slice of thickly-cut smoked salmon. They looked great:
but Diego complained of one egg being slightly runny. His plate also came with homefries, which I found to be on the dull side, as they were closer to have been boiled and then sauteed with onions rather than actually being fried. Diego explained that they were in the jewish tradition, S&S being a New York-style deli and all. He still did not convince me.
But, I got to have my favorite brunch dish; which is everywhere in New York, but a rare find in Boston.... I had bagel and lox!
The salmon was great. Being a deli, they have such a large demand of cold cuts and smoked fish, that everything is super fresh. What else can you ask from lox? On top of this, I ordered a strawberry mimosa which seemed as if it was prepared with fresh OJ and strawberries (I did not ask if this was indeed the case) and tasted delicious. My only criticism, if any, is that I was not asked what type of bagel I wanted... I really did not care, but maybe someone else will.
So, I guess that while it was not the perfect brunch, they do have pretty decent versions of our perfect brunch plates and a really nice atmosphere. We are getting closer...

Airplane Light Brunch at the Friendly Toast, Portsmouth, NH

The weekend before last Ani was still in Colombia and I had no particular plans. Luckily for me, Analia (not to be confused with Ani...) and Julian came to my rescue and invited me to this airplane show in New Hampshire (NH). A friend of them, Marcial, was visiting and the four of us took off for Portsmouth, NH. So, Saturday morning they picked me up, half hour after we had originally planned but, according to Julian, at least it was "en punto". When we were no more than 20 miles from the airport where the show was taking place we hit ridiculous traffic and could not make it in time. We decided to go to the show on Sunday instead (it was awesome, by the way), and go to Portsmouth to have brunch. I suggested we should try The Friendly Toast. Ani and I are regulars at their Kendall Square location in Cambridge, MA and I knew their original spot was in Portsmouth, NH so we decided to pay their flagship location a visit. I have to say that the experience in NH was very similar to the one in MA modulo the creepy MIT students and the 1 hour wait that is unavoidable in Kendall Square. They have the same menu (which I really like) and eclectic decor. Not to be forgotten, they offer the same type of home made toasts including flavors like Jalapeno, Pepperjack and Cheddar cheese. Best of all are their daily specials, which have never let me down. Analia and Marcial had different versions of the ubiquitous brunch classics: Eggs Benedict. Julian went for a very interesting looking omelet called Sklarmageddon. I am sure you can imagine the potential damage this type of culinary option can cause to your arteries. In my case, I decided to go with one of the specials. This is what they were offering:

Can you make out what's written on the board? Not surprisingly I decided to give #2 a try. After all it was a weekend and I needed something out of the ordinary to make up for the air show fiasco. #2 stands for B&B Homefries. This means: Brie and Bleu Cheeses melted into homefries with artichoke hearts, roasted yellow peppers and tomato. All of this was served on top of a bed of baby spinach and basil. As if this was not enough, the dish included your choice of a home made toast (Pepperjack and Jalapeno in my case). I really can't describe the effect of this calorie bomb on my health. It was awesome! You can see the picture and reach your own conclusions. I may not have been able to see the air show on Saturday but at least I had and airplane light - as in as heavy as a plane - Brunch experience instead.

City Girl Cafe, Cambridge, MA

The best homefries ever. I really didn't care much for the rest of the plate, but, OMG.... next time, I'll just order several sides of homefries and call it a brunch! There is a funny story around this... On a previous brunch at City Girl Cafe, we arrived almost at closing time, and they told us they had run out of homefries. My look of utterly sadness and disappointment must have worked on them, because they ended up bringing some they had scraped up from the pan. But apparently, the waiter "made a mistake" and brought the order that belonged to the woman in the next table, who had also begged for some homefries -and had arrived before us-... I realized what had happened before anyone else, and I proceeded to put my fingers all over the plate and eat as many homefries as possible before the poor woman could even say anything... So, you've been warned! I'm willing to go to war for City Girl Cafe's olive oil and rosemary roasted potatoes!!!
As for the rest of the meal.... I ordered the sandwich montecristo. Turkey and prosciutto with fontina cheese and fig aioli between two slices of unsweetened french toast. The prosciutto was paper-thin and barely there. The bread would have been ok, had I known it would be soaked up in egg and milk. I was looking forward to a crispy ciabatta or baguette, rather than a soggy loaf. Having said that, though, a special mention to the fig aioli which had the perfect combination between sweet and savory, and accompanied the sandwich without overpowering it.
The other brunchers seemed to be generally happy with their choices. They were all items from the new brunch menu, so hopefully there will be many more weekends to enjoy them. Diego had a scrambled egg and goat cheese sandwich, Sean French toasts, Jacob a brunch sandwich and the adventurous Jenni ordered brunch pizza (fried eggs, bacon and potatoes on top of a pizza crust) that was described as "weird", "interesting" and "out of this world" and was eaten until the last crumb. In addition, Jacob had the auspicious rosemary lemonade, but he wasn't able to taste the rosemary infusion at all. Luckily the lemonade was very nice as it was, so he did not feel the need to send it back.

The prefect brunch? Maybe not... But the perfect homefries? You bet!