My first collage with pic monkey!
I wasn’t planning on blogging about Scarpetta’s brunch again since I’ve already done so twice (here and here) and the last time was only about two months ago. But on this last visit, there was a big enough new change that I thought it needed another post.
We also hadn’t planned on dining at Scarpetta again anytime soon. While we enjoy the brunch, it’s more of a once or twice a year type of thing. But there was a deal on Bloomspot for the brunch and we got invited to eat with a large group of food bloggers and food enthusiasts and I’m really happy we went.
Because we had such a large group, they sat us in the corner of the restaurant which was also unfortunately the dimmest area too. Absolutely no natural light. Not so great for photos…
The Sunday brunch buffet menu always does vary a little bit on each visit, but when we dined a few weeks ago, they also added an additional menu of made-to-order breakfast sides, what they call “something extra from the kitchen.” These sides ended up tasting amazing, making the brunch even more worth it. Because we had a party of 10, we started off getting three orders of each of the sides, letting everyone have at least a taste. We then proceeded to order additional ones of our favorites.
It was hard adding more room in my stomach for these tasty sides. I had to cut down on the cheese station and pastries. Let’s start with the new sides:
Scarpetta Eggs Benedict
english muffin, prosciutto, truffle fonduta
Hello gorgeous!
The key to what made this so delicious was the truffle fonduta, a gravy-like cheese sauce. This was my second favorite side of the day. I may have scraped all the sauce off of one plate I was finishing off.
Slow poached egg
creamy polenta
This was hands down, my absolute favorite side. After having quite a few bites of the ones we shared, FH and I even had our own order before moving onto dessert. (This after my four servings of pasta, and his seven. Yes seven! More on that later.) Normally my mind glazes over when a waiter starts describing polenta in a dish because I’ve never been a fan. I’ve found it dry, grainy and generally blah. So when I saw polenta in this dish, I almost passed. But one member of our party raved about the polenta here so I decided to take a bite… and was in absolute heaven.
This was the creamiest polenta I’ve ever had. It tasted almost like mashed potatoes, but with cornmeal instead of potatoes. And if that wasn’t enough, on top of the bed of the creamiest polenta sat a beautiful poached egg. I want to eat this again just describing it. It’s one of the dishes I missed most the moment I left Scarpetta.
Toasted Polenta Waffle
ricotta and blueberry compote
It may look like an ordinary waffle, but it’s made with cornmeal and I loved the taste of the cornmeal in the waffle. I love almost anything corn usually. I limited myself to one piece though because it was so filling.
French toast
nutella, ricotta, maple syrup
This reminded many people of a twinkie because of the shape. The thick piece of toast was sweet and crunchy, and it was filled with a light Nutella cream. It was a little too sweet for me, but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it.
Potato Hash
herbs and smoked mozzarella
I’m not a big hash person but everyone liked this one as well and the few bites I had I enjoyed.
There was also an egg sandwich. It appears I forgot to take a picture of it. You know how distracted I get with a large group. I also forgot to take a bite of it. Oops.
In addition to enjoying all these sides, we also got all the usuals. One of the new items I noticed was a crispy porchetta at the meat carving station which I forgot to take pictures of.
Here’s some of the plates of food FH and I had:
Yes there’s a lot of pictures of pasta. There’s a few plates I forgot to take pictures of. As I mentioned earlier, FH had lots and lots of pasta. He unwittingly set a record for our table when someone noticed he had eaten seven servings. Considering the pasta normally cost $24 a serving, I’d say he ate his money’s worth.
We nibbled on some cheese from the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop, but I didn’t take pictures.
And of course we made some room for dessert:
Our deal also included unlimited mimosas (normally it costs an additional $17 for bottomless mimosas). The mimosas were a little on the light side, we were all able to consume a few without feeling the effects.
Everyone seemed to have a good time. Out of our three visits, this was my favorite one. One of the biggest criticisms of Scarpetta’s brunch has been the lack of items given the high price tag. The new made-to-order sides seems a direct response to that criticism. We already enjoyed the buffet without it, but with this new addition, we love it anymore. I don’t think we’ll be able to wait another year before returning. I am already craving more creamy polenta.
I mentioned earlier we had a big group. Our large group included Kung Food Panda, Catty Critic, Pinoy Panda, eats meets wes, The Nomlog, folie à choisauce, djjewlez and a few significant others not taking pictures. It was fun seeing friends and meeting new food enthusiasts. And Catty Critic brought her adorable baby. Here’s some more cute baby pics:
Enjoying some puree while we feast
Contemplating whether he likes it?
Free at last!
“Are you still taking pictures of me you crazy lady?”
You can read my previous Scarpetta posts for a more thorough coverage of the buffet food offerings here and here.
Scarpetta- Beverly Hills
225 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
I’m only giving FH credit for 3.5 plates…those look like half servings to me 😀
That polenta looks unreal, I think that would rank right up with the signature spaghetti for a must order item
Actually the smaller spaghetti pics are most likely mine. Every time FH went up he asked for more if they didn’t give him a lot. He basically would go with an empty plate, so his servings were pretty big. I haven’t been there for dinner, but I think the usual dinner serving isn’t very big either.
Polenta was amazing. My favorite thing next to the spaghetti.