When one has a day off from work, one must indulge. Right?
Luckily, my Monday of errands and shopping (for new jeans and hockey tees) started off with a exceptional brunch at Ceia Kitchen + Bar in picturesque Newburyport, courtesy of Boston Brunchers.
Located right on State Street, Ceia Kitchen + Bar (SAY-yah) is a intimate restaurant featuring "coastal European" cuisine (flavors of coastal Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal). Its exposed brick, warm lighting and cozy feel make this a great date spot or local haunt. It has the feeling of place you'd go all the time, to hang at the bar and have a glass (or two) of wine.
Also, as a side note, I would highly recommend visiting Newburyport on a summer day trip. It is only about 40 minutes from Boston, located right along the water, and beyond adorbs.
Brunch started off like every good brunch should...with booze. A St. Germain 75 cocktail (Tanqueray, St. Germain, lemon juice, simple syrup, and sparkling rose). I love me some gin and was pleased that the cocktail was not overly sweet. But at 10:30 in the morning, it was quite potent. (Not that I'm complaining or anything).
Good thing, I was ready to get my food on.
First out were warm rolls and a roasted tomato tapenade. Not the best rolls that I've ever had, but the tapenade was good.
Next, we enjoyed Oyster Escabeche with blood orange. While oysters are not high on the list of my favorite foods (the texture creeps me out a little), blood orange is. I will pretty much eat anything with blood orange on it or in it. Including oysters.
Insalate course was a salad of cold smoked asparagus, organic mache (aka lamb's lettuce), fresh mozzarella, and shaved cipollinis. The smokiness of the asparagus really came through, which was unique and quite tasty.
But the real star of the show was the main entree - Poached eggs with Quail Bernaise with a sweet potato & linguica hash.
Oh my god, the hash. It was OFF THE CHAIN. Seriously. If it was legal, I would marry this hash. It was subtly sweet and spicy at the same time. The linguica was not overpowering and paired with the perfectly poached egg, this might have been the best brunch food I've had in a while.
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Needless to say, I licked my plate clean.
To round of this lovely meal, we finished with a raspberry and coconut pain perdu. A pain perdu is like a french toast, bread pudding thing and it was so yummy. I'm more of a fruity dessert person, as opposed to a chocolate dessert person (I know. I'm weird), so this was right up my alley. Accompanying the dessert was a late harvest Chilean wine, which was sweet and auburn colored.
Kudos to Chef Brando and Nancy, the owner, for putting together an amazingly delicious meal. I'm looking forward to a return trip to try the dinner menu.
Disclaimer: this brunch was provided free of charge to Boston Brunchers. I only paid gratuity and was not required to write a review.
But I did anyway. :)
