Tinto

Brunch is one of those perfect meals offering everything -- savory and the sweet, breakfast and lunch, fruit juice and drinks.  A great restaurant doesn't make you choose, but bundles everything into manageable, appetizing selections.  Tinto does exactly that, and has been doing it for years.  With its great brunch package - a $25 fixed price menu of appetizer, entree and dessert - it also throws in some of (Iron) Chef Jose Garces's plot twists that transform average brunch food into something amazing.  The only downside?  You will crave the maple grits.  For a long time.

Like many good meals, this one started with the perfect drink - an Iraty, consisting of muddled lemon, aperol and bourbon fizz.  Aperol is a lighter, sweeter Campari and a nice pair with the bourbon flavor.  The drink menu also offers interesting twists on a Bloody Mary (with celery vodka and chorizo) and a Mimosa (blood orange and gran torres in cava). 

The appetizer selection presents some tough choices -- with tapas standards like the mixed cheese plate or serrano ham, or the tortilla espanola.  Somehow, I always end up with the cured salmon plate, the highlight of which is the chive cream.  I don't know how they create this lighter-than-air shmear, but it's flavorful and perfect without being heavy.

Yes, that's old school egg salad with cornichons to top your bialy there.  The egg salad was a bit standard, but I got a kick of the nod to the traditional brunch offering.

Entrees get trickier.  Whether to get the Huevos Benedictos with truffle hollandaise on brioche toast with serrano, or the Padre de Hijo, crispy duck confit, tinto hash and duck egg, is the type of highly difficult problem I love to tackle.  Again, I find myself opting for my standby - Revuelto de Hongas, wild mushrooms, goat cheese espuma, and truffle butter.  Yup, that's truffle butter on my toast and goat cheese foam on my eggs.  It's tempting to ask for seconds. 

But the secret happiness here are the maple grits.  I know what you're thinking -- insipidly sweet, right?  Wrong.  They walk the perfect balance, much like brunch, of a savory flavor of cheese against a sweet but simple topping of maple syrup (think when you were a kid, or yesterday, making sure your sausage had syrup on it).  Sublime.

The only thing holding you back from devouring these quickly is knowing you still have dessert coming.  Tinto offers a "brulee of grapefruit" or Gateaux Basque, a cake with pastry cream and black cherries.  Eschewing anything vaguely healthy here, I opted for the cake.  While not the highlight of meal, it offered a restrained sweetness I appreciate.

Unlike some restaurants offering lavish brunch buffets at high prices, Tinto manages to strike the balance of decadence and affordability, with interesting twists on brunch favorites.  Most importantly, though, get the grits.

Tinto is located at 20th and Sansom Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.  www.tintorestaurant.com.  

Marathon Grill


After I've been away for a while, I like to reconnect with the city.  Wander around Rittenhouse, shop, pick up produce at Sue's, browse DiBruno's, maybe stop in a bookstore.  These days always begin on a weekend, at the Marathon Grill at 16th and Sansom.  I grab a window seat and watch the world go by.  Over eggs benedict.

I try to take the New York Times crossword puzzle, kindly delivered to me ahead of schedule on Saturdays.  I always dream up wonderfully productive plans for my day and realize mostly none of those plans, aside from walking around Rittenhouse Square.  Marathon has been there for me through thick and thin, predating my arrival in Philadelphia.  When I worked at the Big Law Firm, I knew the menu by heart - lunch and dinner, of course.  I knew the phone numbers, our account numbers; it was a staple.  But brunch was always all mine, devoid of work.

Marathon was also around before the Stephen Starr or Jose Garces restaurants.  It made a name for itself by using higher end ingredients, offering a lengthy menu where everyone could find something, and delivering that something pretty speedily for workday crowds.  Different Marathon locations have different vibes.  The 16th and Sansom Marathon offers amazing people watching through its glass windows that surround half the restaurant.  Over the years, it added a bar and scaled back its options.

It still offers the Eggs Benedict with spinach and Canadian bacon (formerly Eggs St. Bernard) or with smoked salmon.  I opt for the more traditional.  The Hollandaise sauce is on the money, frothy and rich without being overpowering.  The potatoes are done to a crisp exterior with plenty of flavor, managing to hold their warmth through the consumption of the eggs.

If you go, get their early to snag a choice seat.  And enjoy the city.

Marathon Grill has locations at 13th and Chestnut, 19th and Market, 10th and Walnut, 19th and Spruce, 40th and Walnut and 16th and Sansom, www.eatmarathon.com.

Creperie Beau Monde

As you can imagine, I wanted to see Julie and Julia. Sure, I had read the book, the blog, My Life in France, and have an actual autographed copy of The Way To Cook (thanks, Dad). I was there. I was also fully prepared to be craving French food after seeing the movie. Enter Beau Monde.

Beau Monde is like an old friend. Offering consistently delicious crepes, both savory and sweet, combined with sparkling cider in a cozy yet chic environment, it's simply lovely. It's also an inexpensive option for French food, offering crepes ranging in price from $6 to $18.

Upon admiration of the paneling, we're told that it is handpainted on gold leaf, reinforcing my thought that the best food is the product of love and effort. Of course, talent never hurts either, as evidenced here.

As much as I love Julie Powell, the movie didn't do her storyline justice, but it did pay homage to Boeuf Bourguignon. Lucky for us it's on the menu, wrapped in a buckwheat crepe. It may be too warm yet to love this, but I loved it. The flavors were there and hearty. Carol went for the coq au vin. Although enjoyable, the wine didn't fully permeate the chicken, but did overpower the taste.
Final kudos go to Carol. While I chose a simple dessert crepe with lemon butter pictured above, she designed her own. Fresh from a trip to Argentina, Carol went for the Dulce de Leche crepe, opting to add a scoop of hazelnut ice cream (I mean really, what doesn't go well with hazelnut ice cream?) and drizzle with chocolate sauce. I don't think anything I can write will adequately describe the level of decadence and taste associated with this concoction.It was as good as it looks, as was the meal. After reading the books, seeing the movie, eating the food, and a few glasses of wine, a trip to Paris was planned. Beau Monde is just that sort of place.

Creperie Beau Monde is located at 624 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, Pa., 215-592-0656.