Remember my post about dinner at Formento's? I loved that dinner so much that I had to go back for brunch, so I hosted a little gathering for my friends. Formento's showed us an incredible time, generously sending out most of their menu for us to try. We ate our way through four courses of family style offerings from the brunch menu, and I can wholeheartedly announce the Formento's earned it's place as one of my favorite places to brunch.
We began with freshly baked cinnamon rolls and bowls of fruit. Warm, straight-from-the-oven cinnamon rolls are one of the most delightful and comforting foods ever. Formento's rolls follow a classic preparation resulting in soft doughy cinnamon rolls with a sweet icing. For my friends who had not dined at Formento's previously, this was a great welcome. The fruit came straight from Green City Market, and was a nice pre meal snack.
Next we had the prosciutto and melon salad which was especially fantastic since melon is so good this time of year. This salad is also present on the lunch and dinner menus, and the sweet fruit and salty meat combo is mouthwateringly good.
Then we dove into three different crostini (fun fact: the singular of crostini is crostino). The Avocado Smash is their version of the insanely popular avocado toast, which came topped with heirloom tomatoes. All of the crostini came on a soft bread that made the sometimes difficult task of eating avocado toast quite easy. The bread was cut into pieces and could be eaten without falling apart.
My favorite crostini was the Soft Scrambled Egg with mushrooms and arugula. The egg was scrambled and cooked until it was just at the point where it was almost a solid - exactly how I love my scrambled eggs. Thin slivers of mushrooms and fresh arugula were added on top, complimenting the eggs.
Charles loved the Smoke Salmon Crostini with scallion cream cheese and slices of hard boiled egg.
The presentation was so gorgeous that one photo is not enough. (Thanks to Kelly for hand modeling).
Another thing I need to mention about the crostini is the incredible crisp potatoes they are served with. I could have eaten an entire plate of these.
The final course featured Formento's brunch specialties. The Lemon Ricotta Pancakes were superb; light and fluffy with a nice lemon flavor and topped with a summer berry compote. I will be ordering these again.
The Italian American Breakfast combined eggs, sausage, hash browns (which came in a perfectly crispy block that was tender in the middle), peppers, and onions. The guys ate all of this in about two seconds.
The Crab Cake Benedict is a creative version of a classic and the fried green tomato and the corn crema made this dish extra special.
The Italian Fried Chicken was outstanding. It was extra crispy on the outside and really juicy on the inside. It is some of the best fried chicken I have tasted. This is also on the lunch menu.
The bottom line is that you need to try this brunch for yourself. The menu is fresh, creative, and man friendly.
Formento's address is 925 West Randolph, a short walk from the Morgan stop on the el.
