Last Sunday we had brunch at Mesa Grill - I love Mesa Grill during restaurant week (except for Sophie's Chopped Salad), so I was dying to try the weekend brunch menu.
The food was fabulous; we both ate way too much. The prices were really reasonable compared to the dinner menu. It is a great way to experience Mesa Grill without making a huge dent in the bank account.
They start you off with a fabulous bread basket. It had both sweet and savory treats. On the sweet side there were squares of warm cranberry strudel - the cranberries added a little bit of tartness to the sweet bread and crumb topping. There were also small pineapple and macadamia nut biscuits, they were topped with a little bit of nuts and sugar to the top was just a little crunchy but the biscuit was soft inside. The savory bites included small jalapeno biscuits with a side of a sweet and spicy chile spread and a yellow and blue corn muffin. Of course I ate way too much bread - but it was all so good. Just like with restaurant week they start you off with a great bread basket.
There were so many choices between the appetizer and entree menu. The appetizer was actually a pretty easy choice for me, the goat cheese 'queso fundido' with blue corn chips. The queso was warm and bubbly with some chilies mixed in with the cheese. It was really similar to the amazing queso fundido at Tortilla Jo's in Downtown Disney - I should have just had that for my meal. But I ordered an entree too and kept the food train running. There were 3 entrees I was deciding between, I went with the Ranch Style Eggs Tostada. A big serving of fluffy scrambled eggs topped with white cheddar cheese and a drizzle of sour cream sitting on top of a crispy flour tortilla and ancho chile sauce. The sauce was spicy but not too hot; it had a great smoky flavor that was cooled down with the eggs and cheese. The crispy tortilla added some texture to the dish. On the side were some very good southwestern style home fries, while I did almost clean my plate I barely put a dent in the potatoes.
Michael started with the smoked salmon quesadilla. It was a traditional quesadilla topped with dill creama, smoked salmon, and salmon caviar. It sounds like a strange combo, but like everything else on the menu (except Sophie’s chopped salad) it really worked. For breakfast he had the Mesa Grill twist on ham and eggs – eggs scrambled with green onion, jalapeño, and goat cheese served with apricot mustard glazed ham steak and peppery buttermilk biscuits. I tried a bite of the ham and bite of the biscuits – both were exceptional. Michael’s meal came with a side of the southwestern home fries as well. We could have shared an appetizer or shared a meal - there was so much food on the table between the two of us.
As we were wrapping up our meal two girls sat down next to us. One had been to Mesa Grill before and one had not. The Mesa Grill veteran recommended, actually insisted, they start by sharing Sophie’s chopped salad! Apparently neither one decided to consult my blog before getting sucked in to this ordinary salad.
With no salad in our bellies, we left fat and happy and ready to hit the gym!
For the entire tasty brunch menu click the link below:
http://www.mesagrill.com/newyorkcity/pdf/Brunch02212008.pdf
