A Tale of Two Brunches

Over the past two weekends I've had the chance to eat brunch with groups of friends at the Blue Talon Bistro on Prince George Street here in the Colonial Capital. The company was stellar on both days, but speaking for myself one meal was fabulous and one was a disaster. Note that my less-than-scrumptious entree was the exception in the group of six.

First and most importantly: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Blue Talon's Bloody Mary is the best in town.

Sunday, August 10. Here's the situation: 1/3 of the NAFA Symposia Planning Committee is in town and it's my job to make sure they're entertained. Colonial Williamsburg passes go a long, long way on that front, as does the freakishly perfect weather (the Colonial Capital in August is not usually bearable, much less lovely), but I also want to make sure they continue to eat well after the previous day's success at Kuba Kuba and Alize. So the Talon it is.

We met at 1 and the place was moderately busy - there were people around but we had no trouble getting a table. We order a mimosa (Ruth), a glass of white wine (Laura), and a Bloody Mary (that would be me) to distract us from the menu momentarily.

A number of times during their visit, Laura and Ruth split entrees and this was no exception. Makes a lot of sense, wish I didn't have food-sharing issues. Here, Laura holds up a gorgeous looking (and tasting, according to both of them) salad of heirloom & cherry tomatoes with pickled sweet onions, basil & fresh mozzarella in balsamic vinaigrette. Simple, but just beautiful! And the best thing is that this is something that you could re-create at home. Hmm, where's my realfood email...


Next up we have the equally delicious shrimp & grits (with bacon, mushrooms and scallions). I've had this before and it's a real treat, the smokiness of the bacon infuses the grits and really enhances the whole dish.


And finally here's my meatloaf, which came on chopped pork and potato hash with a poached egg, diced tomatoes, and Hollandaise sauce. The egg added just the right touch of velvety smoothness, and the Hollandaise really pushed it over the top of the decadent scale. It was rich and hearty, sooooo (tooooo?) filling for brunch on an August afternoon. Stuffed would be the word to describe me after I cleaned the plate.


Ruth and Laura liked the Talon so much that they returned for dinner on Monday night. They positively raved about the fennel-apple salad, which is sadly not available on the brunch menu but I'm determined to go back for it before the menus change.

>>>>

Flash forward to Sunday August 17, same bat place, about an hour earlier in the day. Cosmo is getting ready to leave the Colonial Capital for Norway and wants to meet up with Adam to discuss questions of house/dog/cat-sitting (which was largely a Ranunculus love-fest). I am happily along for the ride. We're sitting at the bar, letting ourselves be distracted by Big Night on the tv screen.

After we enjoyed our Blue Talon mimosa (Cosmo), regular mimosa (Adam), and Bloody Mary (I'm nothing if not consistent), our main courses arrived.

Cosmo got the truffled eggs, which she pronounced "truffle-icious."


Adam got the French toast which, according to him, was "dense in a delicious way. It was a higher class French toast. The bacon was undercooked, but the French toast itself was wonderful." I had a bite of the toast and can support his claim. This photo doesn't do it justice, it was really lovely. Overall he gave it "two loaves up!"


And then we come to my sad, sad Virginia pork loin, described as a crispy southern style Smithfield pork loin on savory Basquaise sauce with a fried egg. The sauce was thin - watery and not very flavorful, as though someone had forgotten to reduce it. The egg was rubbery. Worse, the pork loin was so tough that I had a hard time cutting it - a steak knife would have helped. The final straw: the loin was dry. How I wish I'd stuck with the meatloaf or gone with the mac & cheese!


Maybe I'm just being picky, or maybe envy has clouded my judgment, but the presentation even seems inferior to all the other plates shown here.

Wouldn't it be great if my dining companions gave more of their impressions in the comments, just to lighten the mood?

But first - more disappointment! Michelle made a special trip over to tell me that there were freshly made donuts but I hesitated - argh! - and missed out on what were surely some delicious morsels of hot fried dough. But the donuts may be a regular item at brunch and I will definitely return to try them, as well as to get my fix of mac & cheese, meatloaf, and shrimp & grits.