Sunday Indulgences
Brunch, as you like it
Perhaps what you require on a Sunday morning is dim light and hushed voices, but you’ll get over it. If what you want instead is a sense of gaiety, festivity, and well-being, go to an establishment whose stated mission is to provide these things, and which does so amply: go to brunch at UpStairs on the Square (91 Winthrop Street, Cambridge; 617-864-1933; www.upstairsonthesquare.com; 10 a.m.-3 p.m.). You order off the menu: perhaps that standby of brunches, eggs Benedict, here with pancetta and tarragon hollandaise ($14), perhaps tagliatelle with “crab fondue,” tomatoes, brioche, and hollandaise ($18). And by all means, have a mimosa. That will help.
Photograph courtesy of UpStairs on the Square
Outside UpStairs on the Sqaure.
Formerly UpStairs at the Pudding, this cheerful enterprise now occupies what was once the Pi Eta, an all-male social club. The restaurant’s décor is exuberantly whimsical, and many patrons get a charge out of the look of the place, but you can eat your brunch alfresco if you prefer and nature smiles. Winthrop Street has recently been given to pedestrians and sidewalk diners during most hours of the day.
“We always have the Harvard Krokodiloes come around 1 p.m. to sing to our brunch guests, and we have done so for 26 years,” says co-owner Mary-Catherine Diebel. “In fact, it was fun to have all of them come to brunch at their sixtieth anniversary two years ago. They’re always fixed in my mind at age 19, so how interesting to see them at 45!”
If you or yours have stomachs of the bottomless-pit variety, you could do no better than to go to Henrietta’s Table (One Bennett Street, Cambridge, in the Charles Hotel; 617-661-5005; www.henriettastable.com; noon-3 p.m.) for an all-you-can-eat buffet ($42 per adult). Boston Magazine designated Henrietta’s as “Best of Boston” in 2006 for brunch “with a rambunctious brood,” noting that “your kids will find plenty of pint-sized company at this brunch extravaganza, where children under five eat free and the six-to-twelve set gets half off.”
A larger-than-life sculpture of Henrietta herself—a jolly pig—greets you at the entrance. You’ll find oysters on the half shell and shrimp; salmon and other smoked fishes; cheeses, pâtés, and terrines; a roast meat of the day; hot fish, meat, and poultry entrées with side dishes; omelettes; waffles; and various desserts.
The restaurant bustles. You may alternatively take your nourishment outdoors, in the hotel courtyard under umbrellas on Henrietta’s Porch.
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