February 16, 2017 Brunch at Il Casale
It feels like I haven’t had Sunday brunch with friends in forever! I was glad to head out to il Casale in Belmont for a day out with some great ladies that I haven’t seen in some time. Our meal started off with these delicious chocolate biscotti, dipped in chocolate. How could chocolate dipped in chocolate ever be bad?
Just to balance things out, we also had the macedonia di frutta, a seasonal fruit salad $12. (with prosciutto di Parma, an additional $7)
These delicious fig pastries were a hit at the table – they were gone in the blink of an eye! Brunch is served every Sunday from 11:30am – 2:30pm and they have some great live music!
No brunch would be complete without a little day drinking. Their Bloody Mary is impressive, made with vodka, il Casale’s fra diavolo mix, castelvetrano olives, celery salt $12. I had the grapefruit flower, which was elder flower liqueur, white grapefruit, and prosecco $12. Sweet but not too sweet, a really nice smooth citrus flavor. The roses fizz was my second choice, made with lemony vodka, cranberry, prosecco, and orange peel $12.
Uova in “purgatorio”, fried eggs in “purgatory”, spicy tomato sugo $12. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the sauce wasn’t too spicy. Can we also just note how delicious that bread looks!
Of course I ordered the tagliatelle alla Bolognese, classic meat ragù from Emilia Romagna $26. This is one of my top bolognese picks – so delicious. I get it every time. I fell in love with this just before my wedding and we actually held our rehearsal dinner at Dante, il Casale’s sister restaurant in Cambridge.
Benedetto (all Benedicts served on grilled Pugliese bread with hollandaise and home fries) this one is the fiorentina with sautéed spinach $14. Just a bright, clean, healthy dish.
The toast….alla Francese, is brioche French toast, cinnamon-vanilla batter, butter gelato, and crispy pancetta $16. So many wonderful things going on in this dish, totally different level of French toast. First, butter gelato?!?! Yes, cold and it had little bits of butter in it, would be perfect to put right on the French toast and let it melt. Can we talk about pancetta that is in little circle discs? Umm…pretty sure that makes pancetta taste better. Now, if I can only figure out how to get someone to make me pancetta this way at home…
S.L.T. which is Nova Scotia smoked salmon, lettuce & tomato bruschetta, mascarpone, and served with a side of rosemary fries $16. The fries are PERFECTION. Crispy, thin, just the right amount of salt. How beautiful does that smoked salmon look?
The tortino al granchio are house made crab cakes, with a panzanella salad, and lemon-caper aioli $16. The crab cakes were so light and perfectly crisp. The salad was delicious, it almost stole the show! Wait, did I just say that?!?
And last but not least the pollo alla marengo, sauteed chicken breast, crispy pancetta, fried egg, and a mushroom cream sauce $18. Serious comfort food here, and again, those crispy pancetta rounds!!
Our meal ended with a shot of Limonio – a bright, not too sweet lemon flavored drink.
Disclaimer: I was invited to attend a brunch at il Casale with a group of writers. Our meals were provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
il Casale
50 Leonard Street, Belmont, MA
Tags: bolognese, brunch, italian, pasta, restaurant
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