Brunch has long been one of our favorite meals. An excellent choice for brunch that’s just minutes from downtown Boston is The Blue Room, a popular "international grill."

Though the selection of dishes is certainly eclectic, the Blue Room’s brunch is strongly tempered with flavors from the South. On a recent excursion, we found one of our favorite dishes to be the grits with corn and peas – what would seem a potentially unappealing combination to us Yankees turned out in fact to be a mouth-watering, richly textured and extremely tasty dish! Other southern-inspired fare includes bananas in brown sugar, homemade pork sausage and black-eyed pea salad. The Salmon with Tomato-Caper Vinaigrette, grilled to tender-but-flaky perfection and served with superbly smoky home fries, was also a hit.

In an effort ot offer something for the health-conscious, the Blue Room offers a fine selection of interesting salads and lighter fare. Two especially notable combinations are the aforementioned salad with black-eyed peas and sautéed onions, and a cold pasta dish with chick peas, eggplant and roasted red pepper. Other good menu choices include Moroccan Spiced Chicken Thighs, Black Bean and Monterey Jack Quesadillas and Hot Salted Shrimp.

While those sticking to "breakfast only" can delve into silver dollar-sized buttermilk pancakes, we implore you to save your sweet tooth for the pear crisp, rum raisin cheesecake, spiced biscotti and banana bread pudding. Fresh fruit and melon also are available. Coffee is included with the buffet and is served piping hot: a strong, rich blend perfect for the end of an excellent meal.

The ambience of The Blue Room is subtle and appealing, accented by contrasting dark-wood beamed ceilings and blond-wood, chrome-topped tables. A lively piano player provides pleasant musical accompaniment to this veritable feast, and the wait staff manages to be helpful yet unobtrusive. Though its hard to find one, the only complaint about brunch at the Blue Room would have to be the lack of certain brunch-time staples – we admit to missing custom-made omelettes and good ol’ bagels with cream cheese. But if you can bear this slight deviation from the norm, we highly recommend this brunch option.

Hungry for brunch and interested in learning about other options that Boston offers? See our related article, which gives the low-down on brunching in Boston.

by Allyson Krieger

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