Molto squisito!

I am not much of a brunch-goer. Brunch was sadly ruined for me a few years ago by reading Kitchen Confidential by famed chef Anthony Bourdain. If you've read the book, you know why I am saying this. Bourdain reveals that brunch is the bane of chefs' existence and that they will basically throw any slop at you on Sunday morning that they can come up with from ingredients on the cusp of going bad. Yum. Based on this, brunch is usually something that I do only when it is unavoidable (friends or family in town for the weekend), versus something that I volunteer for. However, this year my birthday fell on the official day of brunch (Sunday) and we are scheduled for a "big" dinner next weekend (an overnight to the North Fork in Long Island for some wine tasting!); so, brunch seemed like a good, casual choice for today.

Well, if I am going to go to brunch, it needs to be someplace I really want to try. After tossing around a few options last night, my husband thought of a gem - La Morra in Brookline. La Morra is a small, two-story place on Route 9 with dark, rustic decor. It serves traditional Italian fare - not the red sauce stuff they overdo in so many establishments, but good, earthy meats, pastas, and risottos. We ate an excellent dinner at La Morra about two years ago and were scheduled to return for brunch there a few weeks later, but had to cancel last minute when I came down with the flu. So, this was a chance to make up for a lost opportunity.

When we arrive at 11:30 in the morning, we are the only diners in the restaurant, aside from a large party of about eight - also celebrating a birthday. Already steeped in my prejudice about brunch, I take this as a bad sign. I should not have been so quick to judge. Despite the thin crowd, service is a little slow at the beginning. However, after that it is very good. Our young waitress appears to be in training, as she comes over to our table with another waitress and defers several questions to her. But their tandem teamwork is seamless and they both answer my questions about menu with ease. [Interestingly, a little later, I notice the older waitress massacre the answer to the same question that I asked for the diners who fill the table next to ours.] I was also impressed that, after being told we needed to wait a few moments until noon for drink orders (hey, when you are over thirty, you need to start drinking in the a.m. hours), the waitress remembers our wishes without a reminder and promptly brings our cocktails at twelve. The drinks are wonderful - a mimosa for Paul with freshly squeezed juice and Prosecco, and a Bloody Mary for me with freshly crushed salt & pepper on top and tons of shredded horseradish. Also a nice touch was the coffee, served in huge pottery mugs, giving a homey feel to the whole meal.

I don't think that I have yet talked about one my total food obsessions on this blog. Doughnuts. [Or, donuts, as a true Bostonian would prefer to call them.] I love doughnuts; my absolute favorite is vanilla frosted with sprinkles. If you are eating white trash food, you might as well go all the way. So, when I see on La Morra's brunch menu "fried donuts with spiced sugar," we just had to try them. While I don't quite know what to expect, they are not what I envisioned - though tasty all the same. They are small little balls of fried dough, so light you barely know that you are eating them. They are coated in a dense layer of sugar and cinnamon and served with sweetened ricotta dotted with lemon zest. The only thing that falls short with this course is the berries - sparse and not especially fresh.

Deciding on an entree is not an easy task. Three items on the menu, including a wild mushroom, mozzarella, and caramelized onion frittata as well as baccala (cod) cakes with pancetta hollandaise and poached eggs, look especially good. However, I ultimately decide on "eggs in a basket" - eggs baked inside two squares of polenta. Paul vies for some serious foodie status by urging me to order this dish by saying, "you know you want to see how that's prepared." I did. [Another husband-foodie moment at the table included him mentioning the "bitter balance" the arugula gave his meal. Wow!] The eggs in a basket are excellent - fully cooked whites with a soft yolk, surrounded by soft polenta with specks of sage and a crispy crust. All of this was topped with strips of roasted red and yellow peppers, wilted swiss chard, and a healthy dusting of Parmesan. It was as beautiful as it was flavorful.

Paul ordered equally well with an open-faced steak sandwich topped with fried eggs and hollandaise sauce. It was outstanding. The bottom layer was a dense piece of crusty Italian bread, followed by thick slice of salty pancetta, crisp, spicy arugula, well-seasoned sliced flank steak, two fried eggs, and a just-right dollop of hollandaise. The combination of flavors was superb. The only criticism was that it was a little on the salty side; whether that was due entirely to the pancetta, or from a liberal hand with the salt on all elements of the dish, was a little unclear. The roasted potatoes on the side were simple, but prepared perfectly - finished in a fry pan to give them a nice crunchy skin.

I'd give La Morra at 48 Boylston Street (Route 9) in Brookline an A-. Next time that I have to go to brunch, I'll be heading back to La Morra.