Sunday brunch: a meal often forgotten in a college town. Besides those days long ago when we waited in the dining halls for the Belgian waffles to bake, or the rare occasion when Mom and Dad come to visit and the Boar's Head beckons, it's either breakfast or lunch.
This past Sunday morning, however, as the lingering effects of a rough Saturday night started to fade, we strolled down Elliewood Avenue. Ignoring our usual disappointment of finding a closed Take It Away, we found Martha's Café, quietly tucked away among the lush greenery of the street. Known for its Sunday brunch, we snagged the one remaining outside table.
Seated closer to the street than to the blue cottage, we were not able to take in the warmth of the actual house. On the inside, the intimate Martha's is decorated in vibrant colors complete with interesting pieces of art. On the outside, however, is the best seat for viewing walks of love and the usual walks of shame. We were happy with our seating.
Having not eaten since before last night's rendezvous, we were more than ready to try all that Martha's had to offer. But we decided to ignore the main menu and stick just with the brunch offerings. Listing only five items on the menu, we splurged, ordering four. Here's how each stacked up.
Eggs Chesapeake
This Virginia version of eggs benedict with sweet crab cakes is hands down your best choice for brunch fare at Martha's. With two perfectly poached eggs served on top of crisply toasted English muffins, this dish is the perfect meal to start a Sunday. The eggs are topped with a creamy sauce, reminiscent of a hollandaise, but a bit lighter. The sauce blends nicely with the warm and fluffy crab cakes, making for quite a mouthful. Ask for the sauce on the side or for no sauce if you are calorie-conscious. Further, remove the bread from underneath the eggs for a lighter, less filling meal. Martha's serves this dish up for only $6.95.
Breakfast Burrito
This meal is not your ordinary McDonald's breakfast burrito, but it didn't send us running to order another either. This rather simple dish is comprised of scrambled eggs, sautéed onions, peppers and mozzarella cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla. Although the burrito did more than its share to fill us up, we felt as if we could have made something just as good, if not better, at home. For the most part this cheese omelet lacked flavor and had no kick like most other burritos we've tasted. For the price, however, the burrito was adequate. Like all remaining items on the brunch menu, this one goes for $5.95.
French Toast
This is typical French toast with a slight twist. Martha's takes thick sliced Italian bread, dips it in batter and then rolls it in a crispy corn flake-like coating before cooking. The texture of the bread adds a nice touch to the meal, but the flavor could use a boost. The toast was rather sweet, but mainly from the warm syrup that comes on the side of the plate. The French toast also is $5.95.
Mexican Omelet
Martha's serves two omelets for $5.95 on its brunch menu, the Italian and the Mexican, which we tried. After ordering, we realized our choice was a bad one, because the Mexican omelet is pretty much the same as the breakfast burrito, save the tortilla. As such, the omelet produced results consistent with the burrito. While tasty, the egg to add-ins ratio was too egg heavy, and the dish missed that edge the French toast and eggs Chesapeake claimed.
Aside from the actual meals themselves, each entrée comes complete with Martha's own potato cake and salsa accompaniment. These cakes rival the best in Charlottesville. They are moist, light and full of flavor. After eating them, it makes you want to order all over again and just get the potato cakes.
The salsa is also a perfect compliment to all of Martha's brunch meals. This crisp, refreshing, mild salsa packs the usual red and green peppers, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. But when served at the perfect temperature like ours was, the salsa makes for a heavenly forkful.
In the end we had no real complaints with Martha's delicious Sunday brunch, costing less than $9 with drinks included. Their wait staff was kind, the food came in adequate time and we never felt unattended to. So while the weather still invites you to eat outdoors, head down Elliewood for a casual Sunday brunch that's sure to start the day off right. Order the Eggs Chesapeake and it will be even better.
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