Boston Brunch at The Cottage Chestnut Hill

And once again, I was super lucky to get to join the Boston Bruncher’s Brunch at The Cottage in Chestnut Hill.

I took the bus and then the T to the Chestnut Hill Station. It was a gorgeous day, so I didn’t mind the half mile walk. Sunny and high 60′s.

Here’s the link to the brunch menu
I regretted not ordering a drink after seeing the strawberry mimosa (right below):

Someone got a bloody mary. I still haven’t tried one of those. Horseradish and spices- sounds disgusting but people like them!

We had a large party (I think 16 of us) and the staff was excellent. We had 2 servers.

Ok, now the hard part- What to order?!?! I always have such a hard time.

Marie from Chocolate & Wine was sitting across from me and we were both eyeing the same 2 dishes- french toast and the mashed potatoe omelette. So after a little discussion and asking everyone else what they were getting- we decided to order both and split them!

After taking our orders, we got to meet Chef Tod, along with the owner of The Cottage. Charlene of Charlene Chronicles asked the chef what inspires his dishes- he had a great story. The team goes out to California (I think twice a year), where the original restaurant is- and they eat at something like 30 different restaurants over a span of 3 days. Wow! They also try to get the freshest ingredients and from local sources, when possible!

It was awesome to hear from the chef and owner. While he was talking- I was thinking- who’s making our food?!? I guess there’s an entire team back there! Shortly after they left, we got a surprise!

Wait for it….

Tater tots! Not those nasty ones from the school cafeteria, they were called truffle tater tots.

They said that they use a potato ricer and then put it in a pastry bag and pipe them out and roll in japanese bread crumbs. Yum! They were awesome! I won’t ever want to eat a regular tater tot after having those.

And then the food came out! We ooh-ed and ahh-ed as each dish came out!

My table-neighborhood Amy from Wicked Good Travel got the Maine Lobster Cobb salad.

And my (and Marie’s) french toast:

I love french toast- what else can I say? The description: Stuffed French Toast- country style french toast with strawberries and mascarpone cheese. The bread was moist but not too much. Loved the powdered sugar and the strawberries - without all the juice and syrup - good to save the calories somewhere!

And our mashed potatoes omelette:

It was really good. It had apple bacon, scallions, and cheddar cheese with a sour cream drizzled topping.

Renee from Eat Live Blog got the tacos! I liked how the beans came in taco shell.

I had entered from the street- the rear entrance:

so when we all left, I got to see the front.

Loved the art work:

Thanks again to Renee, and to The Cottage for hosting us.

Note: This brunch was provided to me free from The Cottage, but all of the opinions expressed here are mine. Neither Boston Brunchers or The Cottage asked me to write a review of my experience.

Ok, after looking at their brunch menu- What would you have picked?