The Neighborhood Restaurant, Somerville, MA

The Neighborhood Restaurant, in Union Square is probably the best brunch setting in the Boston Area for the summer months. It has a grapevine-covered patio that allows subtle rays of sun to warm you while keeping the heat away. The waiting line reflects this. On a hot July day I waited for an hour an a half to get a table and then an additional 45 minutes for the food to arrive. Of course, this is not all about the patio. The food is excellent, the portions very generous and the prices unbeatable. This is the reason why on a cold January Sunday we also had to wait -outside- for a table (I think there were about 4 parties ahead of us, but some of them left before being called, so we "jumped the queue" a little bit). In order to make the wait more tolerable, regardless of the season they take out a coffee dispenser and a tray with freshly baked muffin pieces.

Once inside -or in the patio- one is presented with a fairly long menu in which all the possible combination of eggs (any style), bacon, french toast, toast, bagels, Belgian waffles, Portuguese sausage (it is owned by a family of Portuguese origin, in a Portugues/Brazilian neighborhood), omelets (all types), ham, homefries and pancakes are available. All the plates come with a small glass of orange juice, unlimited coffee, some pastry and an option between fresh fruit or cream of wheat. Because of the weather, this time they were offering baked apples instead of fruit salad. The three of us (we were with Sepu, Diego's best friend) went with the apple -which was as good as the ones Diego bakes!- but the cream of wheat always seems to be very popular amongst other tables. From the moment we stepped in I had my eyes on the chocolate brownie, but instead, we got a cranberry muffin as baked good. Don't get me wrong; all the pastries are amazing. And they are baked on-site, so we were happy to get a fresh batch of muffins instead of waiting who knows how long until more brownies were ready.

In any case, the plates are so big that most likely you will eat the pastry just because it's a pity to leave something so yummy and fresh on the table, not out of hunger... So, what did we order? I had #2: three eggs (over easy for me, but you can have them anyway you like), toasts and homefries. There are few things I love more than breaking the yolk with a crispy piece of bread, and this is what I did thee times! The toasts had too much butter on them so it was not as perfect as it could have been, but still really good -and rich and heavy-. The homefries were also great; sauteed with onions and green peppers they were crispy where they touch the pan but soft for the most part. Diego and I have been to the Neighborhood Restaurant several times and we both agreed this time the homefries where particularly tasty.

Diego's dish came in two (huge) plates. One very similar to mine: two eggs over easy, homefries and a thick piece of ham. I don't know if he was talking about this particular one, but it certainly reminded him of something good when he said "the U.S. is where I've had the best cooked hams in the world". Quite a compliment, right? The second part of Diego's dish was a ridiculously large Belgian waffle (about 8in) topped with strawberries, kiwis, bananas and whipped cream. It also came with a side of butter, in case all this was not enough! He did not use the butter, but he did pour a substantial amount of syrup...

Sepu said you could only have this much food in two occasions: when it's very cold and your body actually needs all those calories or if you are planning on skipping lunch and working out during the day. So, brave the weather and go to the Neighborhood Restaurant! You won't be disappointed. And during the summer... just go early before starting a day of sightseeing with out-of-towners, or have one of their healthier options (egg whites omelets, veggie scrambles), or simply share (for $3) one of the regular plates.

Is this the perfect brunch? If they start serving lox and bagel, they very well might be...