Brunch At Towne

Jeff and I don't take advantage of living so close to Boston nearly as often as we should, so last Sunday we decided to head into Back Bay to grab some lunch and do a little wandering. Before we left the house, I quickly looked up a few menus (I like to be prepared), and then as we were heading out the door, it suddenly dawned on me that we hadn't checked out Towne Stove and Spirits yet, and this would be the perfect excuse to do that.

Towne was only serving brunch, but we figured that would be okay because typically brunch menus have breakfast and lunch options -- unfortunately Towne's brunch menu was a lot more breakfast focused (there are a few salads, pizzas, and pasta), but we changed gears pretty quickly.

When we walked into the dining room, we were asked if we had a reservation, and since we didn't, the host let us know that they only seat walk-ins at the high tops and asked if we were okay with that. We were totally fine with sitting at the high tops, but we both wished the host had been a little more friendly about it. We were made to feel as though we weren't good enough for Towne because we didn't have a reservation. The host simply could have said that they could seat us and taken us over to the high tops.

I thought serving water in beakers was a little odd.

Our waitress swooped in and made us feel right at home though, offering us beverages and answering my many questions about the menu. Jeff ordered the cinnamon French toast with whipped marmalade butter, and I narrowed my options down to the deep-fried poached egg on "minute" skirt steak with creamed spinach, the roast beef skillet hash crisped and served with organic eggs, and the "kitchen sink" bacon sandwich with xtreme fries. Ultimately, I went with the bacon sandwich because I wasn't sure if I really wanted eggs at noon, and the waitress described the bacon sandwich as being overflowing with bacon -- hence "kitchen sink."

The woman at the table to the right of me ordered the deep-fried poached egg on skirt steak, and as soon as I saw her cut into the steak, I wished I had ordered that instead -- and if I find myself at Towne for brunch again, I will definitely order it. (She and her dining companion also ordered the dish of raspberries with creme fraiche sorbet and a hot chocolate croissant -- it looked incredible!) The guy on the left of me ordered the roast beef skillet hash, and while it looked good, it didn't make me want to change my mind like the skirt steak did.

We nibbled on some fresh doughnut holes and grilled lemon poppyseed bread while we waited for our meals. The doughnut holes were hot and glazed and reminded me of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Soon after ogling our neighbors' meals, snacking on doughnut holes, and sipping my mimosa, our meals came out. Jeff had a full plate of thick French toast. He enjoyed it but didn't taste the cinnamon in it. We both agreed that I make a better cinnamon French toast. I think that's part of why I don't tend to order French toast, pancakes, or waffles when we go out. I'll only do it if they sound really special. (Hello, malted waffle with salted caramel and rum-flamed bananas foster!)

My bacon sandwich was fabulous. It came on soft, fresh brioche bread with red, ripe tomatoes. It wasn't overflowing with bacon -- there were two or three pieces on each half -- but the bacon that was there was crisp and tasty. The dish was also supposed to come with a mixture of chips. I'm pretty sure I got one sweet potato chip and the rest were just potato chips. (If there were beet chips, I didn't notice.) And then there were some square, crispy hash browns too.

Overall, I was pleased with our breakfast, thought we had excellent service, and would definitely go back again -- but probably for lunch or dinner before hitting up brunch again.

Have you been to Towne?