Main Streets Cafe – Concord, MA

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Sarah

We went here with my friend Julia who has managed to be her on undoing because she is so hard core that the only person worthy of being her nemesis is herself. This meant we needed to pick her up if we wanted to have brunch with her, and since she’s so fucking incredible we obviously did. She lives in the Concord area, so Talls and I packed her in our motorized chariot, begged her to try to rein in her glory so she didn’t accidentally destroy the car, and sped over to Concord center.

MSC has hella great drinks – good coffee, good tea, great fruit juice, and a mango smoothie that I believe Talls is now clinically addicted to. They also have incredible muffins that are huge and have some very interesting flavor combos, so if you’re passing through stopping to grab a muffin and a drink before heading on your way would be the appropriate thing to do. But we were there for brunch.

A buttery waffle

Brunch was… okay. It was a pretty standard affair, so if you like a basic, no-surprises brunch you’ll be fine here. I was bored. Helen’s across the way (which I have covered before) also does brunch basics but it isn’t dull the way it is here. Lots of Market Streets’ non-brunch fare is great: if you want lunch, skip the sit down restaurant and walk down to their burrito kitchen. Even their basic burritos are amazing. Brunch, on the other hand, is not their thing. I felt like they were just going through the motions. Their heart wasn’t in it.

Omelette. Hash.

It was fucking “meh” that when I looked at the pictures this morning to write this post it took me ten entire minutes to remember where the hell we had eaten. What clued me in? The chairs.

So yeah, this is not a rave review. It’s not rant of horribleness. This is a serviceable brunch, but if you have a choice go elsewhere. Or stock up on muffins and drinks and then go have brunch in one of the local graveyards. 100 extra fucking weirdo points if you do this while dressed up as a ghost!

Bondir – Concord, MA

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Sarah

Bondir Concord

My parents are great people. Really. They’re caring towards each other, and to me, and to other people. They raised me to love maple syrup, so the clearly did something right. They do not, however, appear to know how to determine if a restaurant serves brunch.

They invited me and Talls out to their neck of the woods for brunch and chose Bondir Concord because they’re fancy like that. Unfortunately, Bondir serves Lunch not Brunch. Goddamn it. I ordered the most brunch like thing they had and soldiered on.

My attempt at brunch – a ploughman’s lunch.

It has cheese, brown bread, and fruit preserves. That’s vaguely brunchy, right? It was presented quite fancily and was tasty enough.

And hey, the fucking latte was good.

So yeah. This wasn’t really brunch so I don’t have a lot else to say. The food wasn’t bad, but it was also pretty expensive so it’s not anywhere Talls and I would go on our own even for the meals they do serve. And Concord has plenty of great restaurants who do good food that won’t break the bank.

The place was done up pretty, though.

Starlight Llama B and B – Northampton, MA

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Sarah

Starlight Llama Solar Bed and Breakfast

This is not a review of a brunch restaurant, but it does include brunch and a variety of animals I don’t usually include in these dispatches from the tasty food front. I will sum up the non-brunch part of this great little place by saying: the owners are great, the location is well-placed for Northampton access and other Pioneer Valley stuff if you have access to a car – which, honestly, you kind of need for the valley in general – the rooms are nice and the stars are a hell of a lot easier to gaze at than they are in Boston.

This being a bed unt breakfast, these lovely people cook as well as provide you with a place to lay your head. They are very food allergy conscious and can easily accommodate vegans as all their breks are vegetarian to begin with.

We began this meal with yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola.

Everybody gets water, OJ, and whatever hot drink you’re feeling goes with your particularly crunchiness. I of course went for coffee and Talls tried to steal my orange juice as well as drink his because it is his lifeblood.

There was a choice of muffins, I swear! My bran was sweet and delicious.

Yeah, this is another post where I was too dazzled by the food to remember to take pictures first. Look, I write a damn blog about brunch. If I wasn’t in it for the food what the fuck would I be doing here?

Scrambled omelets with cheddar and asparagus. Fuck yes!

The eggs were for all, and we all – Talls and I and two other couples who were friends and lovely people – dug in and stuffed our faces. Good eggs straight off the pan are some of the greatest things in life.

Vegan sausage. Not my fave, but pretty good.

Hmm, I promised animals didn’t I? Well, prior to the food there was the dancing pug event, and then during one of the farm’s peacocks kept shaking his tail feathers for a peahen who was not picking up what he was putting down. The llamas, donkey, big black dog of prepubescent wiggles, chickens, guinea fowl, and emus were around but not involved in the food festivities.

Highland Kitchen – Somerville, MA

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Sarah

Highland Kitchen

My first exposure to this place was wandering over from the Armory where Talls and I were going to catch a charity music performance (which was awesome), and learning that there was at least an hour wait for dinner. Shit! We ended up having some tasty Thai food down the street instead, but obviously I had to look this place up. Their menu online looked fab AND they did brunch. Talls and I agreed that we would try again for brunch some time… and promptly forgot. We tend to be somewhat early brunchers for Sundays, and so a place that doesn’t open til 11am kind of fell off our radar. FINALLY we focused our sights back towards the Armory and got our asses (plus one friend’s ass!) over to Highland Kitchen. We were parked and in line at 10:45am and got a table as soon as they opened.

So why wait in line before a place unlocks its front door when there are plenty of other places to go? Because food, baby. Because food.

There were two other hushpuppies prior to our descending upon them.

Food exhibit A: they have goddamn brunch appetizers here that included gloriously golden hushpuppies. Those tasty little fucks didn’t stand a chance.

Chicken liver and bacon omelet. I’m not normally a liver girl, but I was interested in all the other bits. And it still delicious-ed my face off.

Neither Talls nor Jenn were into the liver bits, but that was cool because it meant more for me. Also? Those home fries were perfectly salted.

Jenn opted for a pork hash that came with BBQ sauce on the side. I have decided this means pulled pork hash needs to become a THING.

My companions both went for a hash, and they were both different and nummy.

A gentleman’s hash.

Talls wasn’t happy that they used home fries for the potato part of their hash without changing anything, which is a fair complaint. Surely shredding taters isn’t too much extra work? Also, they charged him an arm and a leg for a very small amount of orange juice. If it was bottomless like the coffee (which was seriously good – Jenn agreed with me on this) then the $4 for a small glass wouldn’t be too bad, but that wasn’t super clear. Best to ask.

Highland Kitchen was definitely good food, but not so fucking amazing that I’m itching to go back and brave a line again. It seems to be the only brunch or dinner place of note in its immediate area, so that may contribute to how packed it gets. If I were a local and got up later on Sundays I suspect I’d spend a lot of time here, but being able to walk to several places that are at least on par with no line means I don’t think we’ll be getting back here prior to opening time any time soon.

Johnny D’s – Somerville, MA

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Sarah

Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club

Johnny D’s is open both super early and super late, so if you want to randomly get your brunch on in the Somerville area this is the place to go. Also, if you have Southern or Jazz tastes, Johnny’s will meet your oddly specific wishes.

Talls and I ended up here originally because we didn’t want to wait until 11 for brunch on a Sunday. Totally fucking worth it. Every meal begins with a choice of oatmeal or grits and just gets better from there.

Grits come with a “choice” of cheese, but obviously the correct answer is YES.

When I saw the menu I had such plans! Plans for one of their delicious-sounding omelets, or maybe a hash. But then my eye strayed down to the bottom right, and I saw they had blintzes. I have a long, sordid history with blintzes that involves the S&S Deli in Inman Square fucking ruining me for a blintz anywhere else. But since I only go to the S&S with my grandfather and he died two years ago, I had been pining for their cream cheesy goodness. To hell with it! I ordered blintzes in honor of grandpa and deliciousness!

And FUCK were they good.

I also got some eggs on the side so they I had some protein. This is how I learned Johnny D’s doesn’t really do side portions.

Basically I was buried in food.

Talls helped me with my homefries whilst working on his own massive plate of deliciousness.

He went for Eggs Benedict and reported favorable flavors.

We arrived and left prior to the jazz performance that accompanies brunch after 11am every Sunday, so I can’t weigh in on the quality of the music. Still, Johnny’s is a music club so I can’t imagine it would be bad. If Jazz is your thing, of course. Regardless, the blintzes are absolute heaven, so if you also have family members you associate with them you’ll enjoy the memories along with the flavor.

Trident Booksellers and Cafe – Boston, MA

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Sarah

Trident Booksellers and Cafe

I know what you’re thinking: this going to be a shitty little bookstore with a three wobbly tables and four books and it will be the worst experience of your life because no one can do books and food well and you’re going to track down my address and burn terrible cookbooks at me so I can understand you emotional fuck-uped-ness after having to read this horrific review.

BUT YOU’D BE WRONG, BITCH.

Trident is so fucking incredible it has raised both the cafe and the book selling sections of its business to an art form. They have a pretty interesting selection considering that they’re on the small side of bookstores, and I will always love them for having a copy of Voodoo Histories the one time I was in a bookstore and actually had a book I was desperately trying to track down.

But come on, this is not a book blog. This is a brunch blog. On to the brunchings!

Trident has breakfast all day, so Talls and I were technically having dinner when these photos were taken. Whatthefuckever, it was all fucking delicious. I had the Monte Cristo, which is a ham, cheese, and fruit compote sandwich on two slices of french toast instead of regular bread. In a word: mind-blowing.

And in the words of this blog: mind-fucking.

Yes, that is real maple syrup on the side for dipping. Perfection!

Talls had a special that I can’t remember the name of, but was basically a cross of their frittata and Eggs Benedict on a crepe. Even after I was stuffed with my own food my poor guy was fending off my attempts to steal all of his.

I don’t remember the name of this, but I do remember it was delicious and I wanted to steal the whole thing.

To sum up: get your ass to Trident. They are definitely busy at standard meal times, so there will be a wait that may cause you to buy books you didn’t plan on getting if you come then. If you show up at 7pm on a Wednesday like we did it will be about 3/4 full and you may even score a booth seat.

Also all their juices are fresh squeezed and amazing, so do yourself a huge fucking favor and have one of their hippy-ster juice blend things no matter how weird they sound. Their tea selection is also excellent. They’re also open 8am to midnight every day, so it is an excellent place to scratch your brunch itch even at the strangest times.

Common Ground – Allston, MA

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Sarah

Common Ground

This post was a long time in the making. Long ago, I resided within walking distance of this pub/amazing land of Sunday brunch and would go way too often to revel in the amazing french toast. This was before this blog, of course, which came about as a joke between me and Talls that occurred after I moved away. Six plus months later we FINALLY got back to my old stomping grounds (Ha! Joke!) and the french toast was just as good as I remembered.

Look at this delicious motherfucker!

Caramel banana brioche french toast. This is the best fucking pile of food ever. This was the first french toast I’d ever had that didn’t need maple syrup – the amazing stuffed french toast at Veggie Galaxy was the second.

Eggs, yogurt and granola, turkey bacon, corn beef hash, and home fries.

We only go on Sundays because Super Talls likes the brunch buffet and I have it on his authority that the Saturday buffet is subpar. He does two full plates AND takes a muffin for the road, so clearly the Sunday buffet is excellent. It has everything freshly made/cut there, and I tend to steal eggs from the boy to round out my carb fest. These are also lovely.

It was a lovely day, there was no line at 11 when they open at 10, due to it being in a college student-heavy area. They sleep in late. You can always booze up with your brunch if you want here, and the coffee and orange juice are great as well. I’ve always enjoyed the waitstaff, who are at the very least competent and very often fun to talk to.

And for you crafters out there, it’s also a wonderful to do swear-oriented projects!

This post was rather clean because the cross stitch has absorbed all my swearing.

Veggie Galaxy – Cambridge, MA

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Sarah

Veggie Galaxy

Talls and I stepped off our plane from Brazil in Boston, went straight to the Silver Line (not checking bags is the greatest of things), to the Red Line, to Central Square, to have brunch here. It was amazing and delicious and entirely worth staving off jet lagged napping for. How I have avoided posting about this place I have no fucking clue, but I shall fix this oversight posthaste.

Now, Veggie Galaxy is a vegetarian restaurant. It is also a dinner. It also serves brunch all day every day. Stop botching about their lack of meat and go stuff your face with their amazing food.

Great coffee plus amazing frappe = welcome home!

Veggie Galaxy makes frappes. Really fucking good frappes. Frappes with coconut milk. We went with one of our standbys, chocolate banana. It was appropriately delicious.

Stuffed French Toast. Go read the description on their menu. It’s an orgasm on a plate.

I had the best goddamn french toast they offer, like I am wont to. Allllll of that and they give you real maple syrup without question. This place makes me forget I like bacon with breakfast. Which is good because their fake bacon (tempeh) is not so good. The seitan chorizo is a very tasty meat substitute if you’re looking for that, though.

Talls’ Mass Ave omelete. Also stuffed with fucking deliciousness.

It was a food stuffed with food sort of morning for us. And yes, we were ravenous when we got there, but this is not the first time we’ve dined and been delighted. Get you ass to this diner!

How good is it? It’s so good I forgot to eat my syrup.

Sauipe Park – Sauipe, Brazil

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Sarah

Costa do Sauipe

Why did you have to wake up to a Madrona Tree placeholder post last week? Because I was too tired from traveling home from fucking BRAZIL to write about the tasty brunch I had there. Sorry bitches, but my life is more awesome than yours.

All the food was cafeteria buffet style, which means there was tons and when you fell in love with something you could pretty much get as much as you wanted. On the first morning there was bacon and churros, but like a fool I did not have my phone to take pictures! The bacon never appeared again. 😦 There was also never any maple syrup, as one would expect in a land far from the frozen wildernesses of Vermont and Canada, but I got through it some how.

The amazing coffee soothed my maple-less nerves.

The coffee was some of the best I’ve ever had. It was served in a huge, constantly heated carafe next to another heated carafe that was full of fucking hot milk. If I ever moved to Brazil I would die within a month of heart failure from the amount of caffeine I would consume by living off of this shit.

There was also churros, churro-ed french toast, good eggs, and a huge selection of fresh-as-fuck fruit.

The banana looking lumps to the left of the eggs are stewed plantains, which for me basically means dessert for breakfast. If you have never had cooked sweet plantains then your life is meaningless and you had better get some of those in you before you die. My personal favorite is fried.

Inexplicable buns! And so much candied fruit choices to toss in your yogurt.

Talls was always eating vaguely healthy and shit. It was fucked up. I was instead pining because the buffet section that was filled with coconut cakes (seriously, just piles of sweet coconut shavings flavored with fruit or caramelized sugar) and flan for lunch AND dinner was only a vast array of fruit juice in the morning. I’m pretty sure I could live off Brazilian coffee, coconut cake, and the occasional caipirinha at a moment’s notice.

One of my food adventures turned out to be tapioca pearls in coconut milk with optional cinnamon. I thought it was optional coco powder. This was delicious.

It was a great trip and the very poor translations on the signs made eating a little surprising at times. It generally worked out, however, and if I wasn’t feeling exploratory I could always fall back on fresh fruit and buns.

And the coffee. It was amazing enough to take two pictures on two different days.

Trail’s End Cafe – Concord, MA

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Sarah

Trail’s End Cafe

Trail’s End is a newer, smaller place than Helen’s that’s way nicer than what was here before. Also, the nail place above the Rite Aid in the same complex is owned and operated by a lovely group of ladies.

Trail’s End is pretty, but their selection is small and their prices higher than I’d like. What they have, though, is goddamn fucking delicious.

This is French Toast Bread Pudding. I have now died from glee.

This is Apple-Cinnamon Baked French Toast, which is essentially a drier bread pudding. I have now died from glee.

If you have read any other posts here you know of my extreme french toast problem, and thus would be unsurprised I barely glanced at the menu before settling on this. And then, when it arrived, it got better. I looooooove bread pudding. Carbs and sugar bitches! And this? This was the delicious lovechild of french toast and bread pudding if bread-based food reproduced like cats and so apple pie managed to get some genes in there. EAT THIS NOW.

This quiche is so tasty it basically jumps into your face unaided.

The generally have a selection of quiche, but Talls went for bacon and mushroom. Can you tell he has a Ph.D.? What can I say, I like my men brilliant. This quiche was the right texture, right amount salty, and packed with bacon and mushrooms. They tried to balance it with fresh fruit, but of course he and I balanced it with my meal instead. So they absolutely nailed both the sweet and the savory.

In conclusion, the food was great but as it’s not in my immediate area, has a smaller food selection, and costs more than most brunch places I don’t think I’ll be back a ton. Definitely worth a stop if you’re passing through though!

Brunch the Fuck Up

pretentious yet edible

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