Tag: zeppole

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Via’s Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich from brunch at Via on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich from brunch at Via on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

Normally, my Sundays consist of catching up on the lack of sleep from the previous week, doing odds and ends around my house and relaxing. However, at the crack of dawn (so to speak), the Foodies found our way to Via’s Brunch around 10:30 am. By this time during the day, the weather was beautiful, with a slight breeze and warming up comfortably. While we sat on the patio and enjoyed each other’s company, there came the ever important item of choosing what we would consume on this lovely morning.

To start, a nice hot cup of coffee and some home-made zeppole ($8) did the trick. These small, deep fried donut holes were made to order and tossed in cinnamon sugar. They were very light and airy and made for a sweet start to the day. Secondly, looking for another traditional item, I shared the smoked salmon plate ($9). The presentation of this dish was excellent as well, coming as a build your own smoked salmon bite with whatever your heart (and taste buds) desired. The dish came on a cutting board with a hearty portion of smoked salmon, Tuscan bread, raw red onion, capers and mustard sauce. Every bite was the perfect combination of texture (the crunch from the bread and the raw onion), the mellowing of the smoked salmon, the saltiness of the capers and the tang of the mustard. All of this adds up to essentially, the perfect bite.

As if I hadn’t eaten enough for the morning, I decided that I needed an entrée. After perusing the menu, I decided on a breakfast staple…a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich ($10). The menu described this meal as an Italian style breakfast sandwich with eggs, bacon and parmesan cheese on a baguette, served with truffled frites. The eggs were mixed nicely with cheese, sautéed onions, red peppers. The bread held up nicely to the sandwich, but I found it was slightly tough to chew through as I navigated my way from one end of the sandwich to the other. I would have liked something that was a little bit softer. The truffled frites might be the best part of the entire dish. They were salty, potato strings tossed lightly in parmesan cheese. I could have sat down with an entire bowl of these frites and eaten all of them…worth the price of admission alone.

At the end of the day, and we had a chance to reflect and digest what we had eaten, it was decided that Via Brunch is a wonderful way to get out and enjoy this nice summer weather and enjoy some of the better food that the City of Worcester has to offer. Brunch was a deviation from the norm for the Foodies and I would welcome additional breakfast venues or brunch restaurants in the future. I am a sucker for any and all things breakfast and this was a wonderful combination of some of my favorite breakfast comfort foods.

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Steak and Eggs for Brunch

Steak and Eggs for Brunch from Via on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

Steak and Eggs for Brunch from Via on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

Via’s brunch had me decidedly undecided on what to get. So many things on the menu that I wanted. Much like a kid in a candy store, I had to do the little “I don’t know what I want” dance for a while before settling on one. I chose the steak and eggs. What I think was a “safe” choice for me.

Our group was the first to arrive. The early ambiance of the day was a bit on the cool side, but nice enough to sit outside on the patio at a large table. Because it was a bit cool, they had some nice heating lamps above us so we could either turn them on or off as needed. That was a nice touch. Our early morning food revelry was just getting started.

Our waiter was a very nice young man who was up for our jovial nature and was quick with the answers for our many menu questions and was very helpful in making suggestions. The service was quick and polite. All the staff we met were on task and ready to help in any way.

We started our ordering with the house made Zeppole. These are basically small donuts similar to munchkins, but a bit bigger. They are rolled in sugar cinnamon for your taste buds delight. I was only going to have one or two, but ….you know… I had a few more. I’m not ashamed. I loved them.

After ordering some drinks and enjoying each others conversations, our meals were served. Mine was presented very nicely with the steak sliced and fanned about the plate with hash brown cake, caramelized onions, fried egg and drizzled lemon aioli.

The steak was cooked very nicely and I love eggs. I felt the hash brown cake was a bit over cooked perhaps? Seemed a bit hard. I like it when my hash is easily pulled apart with a fork. I don’t think I should have to cut into it with a knife. That being said, maybe it is supposed to be that way? Not sure. The rest of the meal was great. I easily ate it all and felt very content afterwards.

Overall, the meal and of course the great company made the day and I would definitely go back to have some of the other meals. Most especially the Porchetta Eggs Benedict was certainly looking amazing and I have to have that next time!

Perhaps my decision to make the “safe” choice was not the best, but not bad either. I should have listened to my inner voice saying, “get the porchetta!”