Concord Inn, Concord MA

In Argentina, the third Sunday in October is Mother's Day. We were very lucky to have Diego's mom, Ely, in town to celebrate it 10,000 miles from her (and ours) country. We wanted to plan the perfect day for her. So, in the middle of a fall foliage trip we stopped to have Sunday brunch at the Concord Inn, in the charming and history-relevant Concord MA.
The Inn is any mother's delight (Ely even took pictures of the rose-lined ladies room!). It was built in 1716 and has operated as a hotel since 1889, and still conserves the floors distribution of yore. Different function rooms occupy the first floor, from a 19th century tavern, a casual restaurant (these two serve their standard weekly menu on Sundays), a very posh rose-and-lilies tea room, two small rooms and a traditional restaurant. Brunch is served in the last four, although the tea and the small adjacent rooms were reserved for a wedding party when we were there. The succulent brunch buffet was spread out across the three common areas that communicate the formal dining rooms with the more casual part of the building.
We sat at the Merchant's Row Restaurant, described as "refined but not formal" in the Inn's website; an accurate description to which I'd add antiquey and historic (some 18th-century like chandeliers and wallpapers) but not old-fashioned nor over the top. Well.... being greeted at the table by a lost Louisa-May Alcott who was worried about had happened to her 19th century Concord may have been too much.... but she was nice and the "act" did not take long.
So, onto the food. First let me say that we did not have very high expectations -especially Diego. It is a $26.95 all you can eat buffet brunch (all you can drink coffee and orange juice included) in a touristy landmark. We couldn't have been more wrong. From super fresh smoked salmon, shrimp and mussels to made-to-order perfectly-cooked omelets with seasonal ingredients and carved meat, all the food was fresh, tasty and superbly done. The cold offerings, besides the seafood, constituted of a cheese table, a fruit table (mostly different types of cantaloupe and pineapple, all ripe but not fermented) and various salads (a mesclum of greens, couscous-based, Caesar). I do not remember all the hot offerings (which shows I'm not a food critic, just an avid bruncher!), but these are the few I can think of: pasta with four cheese sauce, haddock in lemon sauce, German bratwurst with red cabbage... there were about seven or eight hot trays in total. In addition, there was a wide variety of breakfast meals. Bacon strips, potato pancakes, hash, scrambled eggs and waffles (with fresh cream and strawberry preserved for topping). Do you want more? Add freshly baked bagels, pastries and croissants. A special mention needs to go to the mini lemon poppy seed muffins which Diego said to be the best part of the meal, and that I very much wanted to take home in a stealth operation that he boycotted.
Was it over? Of course not! There was still dessert to be had. We tried the apple crumble (Diego's favorite), the flourless chocolate cake (Ely's pick), the key lime pie (my choice). All three delicious. I also had chocolate dipped strawberries and Ely took a bite of chocolate dipped profiterole. Had we wanted more, we could have also tried a yellow cream filled cone or a chocolate and fresh cream cake. Once again, I may be forgetting some other options. But I'm sure they were as good as the ones we did have.
So, was this the perfect brunch? Well, I had lox, cream cheese and bagel in a picture perfect setting. Diego didn't have eggs Benedict, but really good carved meat and omelet. That would have been enough. Instead we kept gushing all the delicacies until we had no more room left. The food, the setting, the service was great, the after-brunch feeling of having eaten all you could eat, not so much!