Last Sunday my friend Anne and I had brunch with Jessica from Directional Dining at Siena Tavern. Brunching with fellow bloggers is funny. We all whip out our cameras the second our food arrives, and no one eats a bite until everyone has all the photos they need.
Jessica lives in New York City, and when we decided to do brunch she asked me to pick the place. I chose Siena Tavern because it is one of the most difficult dinner reservations to score, but brunch reservations are relatively easy to get. Siena Tavern opened earlier this year and due to the fame of chef, and former Top Chef contestant, Fabio Viviani, the restaurant was instantly popular. Sometimes I am skeptical about dining at hyped restaurants because I suspect that they are more of a place to see and been seen than a place with outstanding cuisine. Siena Tavern lived up to my high expectations and I will definitely be making a point to return for dinner.
We started things off with the Monkey Bread, which was my favorite. It was as if Fabio read my mind and took all of my favorite sweet foods and combined them into one dish. The monkey bread was drown in caramel and topped with candied hazelnuts and whipped cream. It was so sweet that it could have been served as a dessert.
Sometimes I like to let the twitterverse tell me what to order at restaurants. Siena Tavern tweeted back that I needed to try their stuffed french toast. The french toast was stuffed with apple cheesecake and topped with vanilla cream and grapes. It was so rich that I couldn't finish it, or maybe I just had too much monkey bread first.
We also tried the truffle scrambled eggs with mushrooms. The eggs were light and fluffy and had just the right amount of truffle. The eggs were served with toasted cheesy bread, which was a nice way to incorporate cheese into the dish. I am a believer that you should always have some cheese with your scrambled eggs.
Jessica ordered the truffle gnocchi with crispy sage and a truffle cream sauce and kindly gave me a bite. The crunchy sage complimented the gnocchi nicely. There are a handful of pasta dishes on the menu, which makes Siena Tavern a great place for a heartier brunch.
Siena Tavern is located at 51 West Kinzie Street in Chicago's River North, they do take reservations and I recommend making one since this place tends to be quite busy.
