(June/July 2008)

By Warren Rojas

Weekend visitors looking to grab a quick bite before trekking back eastward should stay away from the Village Square Restaurant, lest they be lured in by a leisurely Sunday brunch that can easily spiral into hours of gustatory enjoyment.

Guests can dine a la carte or elect to indulge in a three-course, prix fixe menu featuring your choice of soup (cabbage and lamb, shrimp and parsnip bisque caught our eyes) salad and entree, accompanied by a buffet of gourmet appetizers (smoked salmon was good, but a refreshing cucumber-red onion salad stole the show during one visit), gourmet breads (mini-croissants, fruit-filled muffins) sweets (brownies, cobblers) and unlimited champagne, mimosas or cranberry spritzers.

A main course of corned beef and cabbage almost bested me, delivering a mammoth cut of slow-cooked beef that doesn’t flake like the hash-ready stuff, but instead slices like steak (stays ridiculously juicy, thanks to the thin ring of fat retained during butchering) and comes flanked by sauteed cabbage and roasted potatoes. The house crab cake is less showy but still incredibly satisfying, summoning a generous serving of herb-laden crab drizzled with red pepper aioli.