I was excited about visiting this restaurant due to the fact that I had not visited before. I had heard great things and was definitely looking forward to the experience. A phone call to Emelia's alerted the staff that we would be there in a few minutes with our party of six; we were warmly greeted at the door and immediately shown to our table and given the menu. What a delightful space. The decor is impeccable: moulding on the columns; old tin tile style ceiling. The tables were set with tablecloths and matching cloth napkins. There was butcher paper also on the table tops which, in this setting, didn't bother me at all.
The brunch menu is extensive. This day they had a few specials not listed on the menu such as a crab cake eggs Benedict. There was a rather long pause until our waiter came by with water and other drink requests. The place was rather full. I am sure that this is the reason -- he was simply busy. Once the drinks came it was time to place the order. He began to take the order by memory. All the time I thought to myself -- don't do this. I have never had a good experience at a restaurant where the wait staff is encouraged to take the order by memory. Inevitably, something is wrong with the order when it comes to the table. We went around, and at the end he admitted that he needed to write it all down. Good for you! You did the right thing!
Our order consisted of salmon omelettes (there is more than one spelling for omelette), broccoli omelette, salmon eggs Benedict and a traditional eggs Benedict (mine). I always order eggs Benedict at any restaurant I have never patronized (as the gauge for the kitchen staff) if it is on the menu. You see, I KNOW eggs Benedict. I can whip up hollandaise from scratch, from memory, thanks to Julia Child's The Way to Cook, and having practiced for more than a decade. My poached eggs are always perfect thanks to Jacques Pepin. But I digress.
When the food came, it was a real pleasure for the eye. The omelettes were light and fluffy, and cooked French country style rather than classic. The salmon was perfectly prepared and the dish was thoroughly enjoyed. It came with a choice of either bacon or andouille sausage. All at our table chose the sausage, which was good and spicy. All of our entrees were accompanied with a slice of musk melon, Lyonnaise potatoes and tabouleh, which is traditionally made as a spicy salad of parsley, bulgar, mint, green onion and other veggies with a lemon/olive oil dressing. In the Arabic world it is usually eaten as a stuffing in a lettuce leaf; this version had romaine lettuce already in the mix. More about this later.
Now for the eggs Benedict. Poached eggs...a thing of beauty when done right. Unfortunately these weren't. Three of the six in our party had poached eggs and the eggs were consistently overdone. In my case, one of the yolks was actually broken and cooked to the hard stage. The other, while whole, was cooked to the stage of almost hard. The others' were done to this stage as well. Poached eggs should be cooked so that the whites are completely set with the white covering the yolk set as well, but the yolk is still creamy -- almost to the point of runny. No more unless the patron requests. The hollandaise was almost non-existent (see photo). There was such a pitifully small helping -- maybe a teaspoon on each egg -- that I found it impossible to even detect whether or not it was good, even though it was advertised as made from "scratch". The eggs were over dusted with parsley and paprika. This makes me surmise that, since we were at the tail end of service, the kitchen staff didn't want to make a new batch of sauce, and tried to cover the fact by throwing on some "fru-fru". In any event, more hollandaise, please! The English muffin, although not made in-house, was of good quality and toasted to perfection. Brown and crunchy along the edges while soft enough in the middle for easy disection. They use ham, not Canadian bacon. It was a good quality "city" ham, and had some nice grill marks. No complaint there. Actually, one of the supposed "original" recipes for eggs Benedict lists ham, not CB.
The potatoes were excellent; cooked and seasoned to perfection. The melon was wonderfully ripe and delicious.
Now to my suggestions:
1. In a restaurant this size, the floor manager ought to expedite the orders coming out of the kitchen. If this had happened, my one egg Benedict would not have made the grade and would (hopefully) be sent back before it ever reached me. That was an embarassment. The gentleman whom I suppose to be the floor manager was busying himself with table set-ups -- tearing butcher paper and the like, and never approached our table to inquire as to the dining experience. This is the person who should always be a liason between the kitchen and the waitstaff as to what is available and what is no longer on the menu "Eighty-sixed". Some in our party ordered the crab cake eggs Benedict. The waiter didn't know if there were any left, and had to make a trip to the kitchen to find out. The manager needs, as expediter, to always be on top of what is no longer available, and constantly be informing the staff. That way, when the wait staff SEATS a party, he or she can inform the customer as they start looking at the menu, "I'm sorry, but we no longer are offering the crab cake eggs Benedict." That way no one has their "mouth watered up" for something only to be forced to go with a second choice. Makes sense, no?
2. The wait staff had to bus and set up their own stations. This pulled them away from taking care of their customers. A bus boy to do this would free up the wait staff to do their jobs more efficiently-- that is to wait on folks...not to bus. This added to our time in the restaurant. I do understand that we are having a dining "experience", but the waits were a bit much.
3. Wine pairing. Some had memosas or bellinis; I had sparkling wine. It was good -- not great, but good. A very good pour for a brunch. The receipt showed this to be a Freixenet Brut. Freixenet is a Spanish Cava, which is the Spanish version of a sparking wine. Champagne is France's sparkling wine (as well as a region); Freixent has more than one style of cava...their Cordon Negro, for example as opposed to their Carta Nevada. I would have guessed that this was an Extra Dry as opposed to a Brut. Folks always believe that an Extra Dry is more dry simply because of the name. But the opposite is true. Brut is drier than an Extra Dry, and quite frankly, the Extra Dry is better for a brunch. Carta Nevada is sweeter that the Negro, so this could have been a Brut.
4. Food pairing. However, there was one thing on the plate that was totally out of place for this meal and improperly paired, and that was the tabouleh (again, choose your spelling; there are many). This didn't match the entree, not to mention the cava, at all. "Well", one might respond, "this IS a Mediterranean restaurant." Undoubtedly, and I will one day return to sample, and blog about that cuisine. But there really isn't anything Arab about eggs Benedict, now is there? More fruit and no tabuleh, please. Not with your brunch items anyway.
5. Lastly. Waitstaff. You are all very friendly, helpful, knowledgable and courteous. Ask how your patrons want their eggs to be cooked. And please, please, please, lose the chewing gum. No one wants to see you chomping on gum like a cow on cud. If you were a car hop, that would be one thing....but in Emelia's Kitchen? I don't think so.
M.
