Brunch

One of the great local restaurants in Duluth recently began to serve a Sunday brunch menu. A few weeks ago Teresa and I stopped at Nokomis Restaurant on highway 61 near Duluth on our way to Silver Bay to see my dad at the veteran's home there. We were pleased to see a new brunch menu and it turned out to be excellent. I began with a Bloody Mary and it was very good.
The menu is not a typical brunch buffet. It consists of an omelet of the day, a soup of the day and several dishes that always appear. The first time there I was intrigued by the Green Eggs and Ham. It was neither green eggs nor ham, but a Croissant with Pulled Pork, a Poached Egg and Herbed Hollandaise (the green part); absolutely phenomenal! It is served with a choice of greens or their beautifully browned Breakfast Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan, Bacon or Sausage. I chose the Bacon and it was cooked crisp and had a wonderful applewood smoked flavor. Teresa had the Breakfast Sandwich with Prosciutto, Egg, Applewood Smoked Bacon and Herbed Mayonnaise on Grilled Sourdough Bread. It was marvelous as well!
One very cool surprise is a pre-brunch treat that is different each week. This one was a fresh Beignet, hot out of the fryer and rolled in Cinnamon Sugar; very nice. In subsequent visits there have been a Blueberry Scone and today's was a Cheddar, Chive and Bacon Fritter with Creme Fraiche. All of these were perfect. In fact, I don't much care for scones because they are usually dry as bones but the one they served was warm, moist and flavorful.
Today Teresa had the soup of the day which was Tomato with Orange Zest and Creme Fraiche and a new Breakfast Pot Pie. The soup was a creamy consistency but did not appear to have any cream in it. The garnishes were Browned Butter Bread Crumbs and the Creme Fraiche. The Orange Zest was what made the soup! It lent an amazing freshness to the creamy consistency and the flavors worked extremely well together. The Pot Pie was not served in a pot but was a base section of Puff Pastry and then a gorgeous sauce with Chicken, Bacon, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions and Thyme with a top crust of Puff Pastry and served with House Greens.
My daughter Stacy was along with us and she had the Granola Crusted French Toast. On outings like these we like to each order something different so we can taste them all and today we did that again. The dishes were all exceptional and as we were driving down the road on the way to Silver Bay I told Teresa I thought that this restaurant really shines with their brunch menu.
We will be back soon and bringing some folks along with us to experience it.
Good eating,
Tim