Monday, March 3, 2008

Brunch at L'Andana

Yesterday, I finally tried Sunday Brunch at L'Andana in Burlington. As my readers know, I am a big fan of this restaurant so was eager to try their Brunch, which only started a few weeks ago.

They have Sunday Brunch from 11:30am-3:00pm and you can check out the menu online. They have both lunch and brunch options, as well as a list of specialty drinks and Champagne/sparkling wines. The lunch options are generally the same ones as on their usual lunch menu though the Brunch items are unique to this menu.

Prior to any of your food arriving, you receive a warm, grape Ciabatta bread, a thick, slightly sweet bread with a couple of cooked green grapes atop it. This was very interesting as well as tasty. And we devoured both large pieces of it. If we had known we were going to receive that, we might not have also ordered the Tuscan Almond Sticky Buns ($12). You get a skillet with four hot buns, slathered in icing. They were filled with lots of cinnamon though the almond presence seemed mild. They were certainly delicious, especially when hot.

After our sticky buns, we were brought four slices of watermelon, complimentary. It looked like all of the tables received this treat. The thin watermelon slices were nearly seedless and were nicely sweet and refreshing. A good palate cleanser prior to our main meals.

For our entrees, we had the Veal Milanese ($19) and the Stufato ($12). The Veal is made with brown butter and capers and is topped by three eggs, sunnyside up. The Veal is similar to what is on their dinner menu, a huge piece of thin, tender veal. It is one of my favorite dishes there and the three eggs added to the flavor, especially when you broke the yolks. This dish is large enough that many people may not be able to finish it.

I was not as happy with the Stufato. On the menu, it says that it is made of eggs, potatoes, peppers, and sweet sausage. But it fails to mention there are onions in it as well, an omission that puzzles me. Why leave out that one ingredient? It matters to me as I don't generally like onions in such dishes and I would have asked for it to be left out if I had known. The Stufato is cooked in a skillet, the eggs still with runny yolks. There were big chunks of potato and small slices of sweet sausage. I might have preferred a little more sausage as well. The dish tasted good, but it was nothing special.

Service was very good, and we had no issues with it. If you are seeking a bit more of a higher end Sunday brunch, then try out L'Andana.

No comments: