The
brunch menu is small at just four items,
but the extensive lunch menu is available
at the same time. We consider ordering the
prix fixe lunch ($17.95) with a well-chosen
$12 wine package, but it's only 11:30 am
and too early for cognac peppercorn paté,
wild mushroom risotto and wine.
Since the waiter recommends
the blueberry pancakes ($7.95), I submit
to his will. Two and a half 6-inch pancakes
arrive, a quarter-inch thick and stuffed
with large berries. Served with whipped
cream and maple syrup, they are excellent
and incredibly filling, but options such
as confit of duck leg ($13) with wild mushroom
bread pudding and sour cherry sauce make
me I wish I'd come for a slightly later
meal.
One guest orders the smoked
salmon and dill omelette ($9.95) from the
brunch menu but receives the Brie omelette
($10) from the lunch menu instead. Since
it's perfectly done, he has no quibble and
puts it down to a minor communication error,
in no way indicative of a problem in the
kitchen.
The grilled chicken sandwich
($10) is served on exquisite apple-walnut
flat bread, with a light pear mayonnaise,
fresh tomato and cucumber. Braised oxtail
($9) on a bed of spinach and squash is enough
for a medium appetite, even though it's
an appetizer. The oxtail slips effortlessly
off the bone, and the puréed squash
is velvety and slightly flavoured with maple.
Additional items beg to
be sampled: seafood bouillabaisse ($15),
shrimp and ginger ravioli ($10), grilled
buffalo sirloin ($15). It's a place you
can visit often without ordering many repeats. |
For all the many critics who have visited Bodega, it
is your opinion that matters to us most. 
