Tuesday, October 25, 2016

New brunch menu at City Perch - here's my review (Video+photos)

City Perch at Pike & Rose in North Bethesda has a new brunch menu, and I stopped by this past weekend to try it out. New menu items include French toast; Eggs Benedict; Arugula+Endive salad with grilled shrimp, candy-striped and yellow beets, poached pears, goat cheese, candied walnuts and a maple balsamic vinaigrette dressing; The Roma sandwich with mozzarella cheese, tomato, pesto, and arugula on toasted sourdough; a crispy chicken waffle sandwich; crispy latke fries with applesauce and sour cream; Monkey Bread Babka; and smoked salmon-stuffed popovers.

Central to the new brunch is the Brunch Box concept, which pairs any entree with a cocktail or non-alcoholic beverage for $19.99. You can upgrade to bottomless beverages for a $10 fee. Other high-end upgrades include truffles and caviar.
While they have a great Bloody Mary here, I chose a mimosa because most of the food I was ordering wouldn't pair well with tomato juice.
There was a strong flavor of freshly-squeezed juice in this classic brunch cocktail.
City Perch has been recognized by even the notoriously Montgomery County-averse food critic Tom Sietsema for its bread basket. Now you can order a special brunch version, which when I visited included a chocolate croissant, a lemon poppyseed muffin, and a walnut croissant, all new. Also in the basket were two favorites from the dinner version, the honey-dipped cornbread and orange-sage biscuit. Spreads included were Trickling Springs butter and strawberry jam.
Walnut croissant

Honey-dipped cornbread
with goat cheese and
toasted corn kernels on top
Orange-sage biscuit

Chocolate croissant

Lemon poppyseed muffin

City Perch plans to have a different kind of muffin in the bread basket each week. The lemon poppyseed muffin lived up to its name with a lemon zing to balance the sweet and very moist cake. Surprisingly, I found I liked the walnut-stuffed croissant as much as its dark chocolate-stuffed twin. Both are even better with butter added. If you remember my City Perch dinner review, you'll recall I highly rated the cornbread and orange-sage biscuit. Together, the brunch bread basket rates five stars.
Monkey Bread Babka
with a pitcher of
Nutella syrup
Another new bread item is the Monkey Bread Babka. Stuffed with even more dark chocolate than the croissant, it is a cross between a frostingless Cinnabon cinnamon roll and a popover. Inside the layers are coffee and cinnamon, and there is a small pitcher of Nutella syrup. I would give this four stars. However, while I ordered this to test out for purposes of this review, normally this would be too much bread following the bread basket.

In that case, I would advise going with the bread basket, unless you are a Nutella fanatic. For $5 more, you get a variety of breads and still get chocolate in the croissant. Either bread order is more than enough for two people.
Now, on to the main course - French toast. This isn't a diner recipe, that's for sure. At City Perch you get two thick slices of brioche with ricotta cheese, bananas, candied pecans, powdered sugar, and with a lemon-and-orange cornflake-encrusted bread crust for extra crunch. But don't stop there. At upscale Pike & Rose you can upgrade your French toast to "decadent" for $4, which adds farmers market berries on top, and mascarpone cheese between the slices of brioche.

I also added a side of two scrambled eggs to a meal desperately in need of protein. The eggs were perfect, and I didn't need to add any salt or pepper.
Lemon and orange-flavored
corn flakes add crunch to
the crust of the brioche
A generous portion of
farmers market berries
atop the toast


Warm mascarpone
oozes out from between
the slices of brioche in
the "decadent" version
The result is an off-the-charts-rich French toast, the soft bread and fillings contrasting with the crunch of still-crisp corn flakes and berry seeds. Unless you are a traditionalist, this may be the ultimate French toast in town. Perhaps not surprisingly for a restaurant known for its bread, this new French toast earns five stars.

All of the items and upgrades I ordered added up to $43.45. Assuming you get only one bread side, you could knock $4 (Monkey Bread Babka) or $9 (brunch bread basket) off of that price. And, of course, with no bread, you could get the French toast and mimosa for $19.99, and the eggs for an additional $4. Not bad for this price-point of restaurant.

Brunch at City Perch is an excellent and convenient choice when you are catching a Saturday or Sunday matinee at the iPic Theaters the restaurant is part of.
I had extra carbohydrates
to go
Pike & Rose is
decorated for Halloween


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope you enjoyed the Eggs Benedict Arnold, you traitor!

Anonymous said...

A wall of beige food.

Anonymous said...

20th article about City Perch, still total silence on iPic.

Robert Dyer said...

7:44: City Perch is PART OF iPic! It is iPic.

Bethesda Dan said...

is iPic owned by apple, given the syntax of the "i" in the greater word?

Anonymous said...

Dyer @ 7:45 AM - All the more reason why your total silence on iPic is bizarre and reeks of conspiracy.

Anonymous said...

ArcLight sends him press releases.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Anonymous 10:50 am is just mad he's not invited to restaurant events anymore after his incident.(hi Steve)

Anonymous said...

makes me want to move to Bethesda. I though prefer a monte cristo to french toast any day.

Anonymous said...

10:08PM - awww. We know you love him. You're not fooling anyone. <3