I'm so glad I don't have any food phobias, as I recently discovered my cousin has. Any buffet, private or public, she says, gives her the willies, because, "People are breathing on that food! There could be human hair in it! And it just sits there for too long." Well, to carry that fear around is a terrible burden, not to mention balloon-deflater at holiday celebrations consumed 'out.' Such was not the case for me, thankfully, at Easter Brunch at The Boathouse restaurant in Traverse City, MI. This was my third experience there, and the best yet as all the chefs were out slicing and serving, heating up the omelette station, the pastry chef replenishing the lemon curd, and were as affable and as chatty as they could be.
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| Chef Jim Morse, welcoming presence. |
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| Honey Ham, as enticing as a sunset. |
There wasn't a moment's hesitation at questions I threw at them, and they changed out their stations regularly -- my cousin would have approved, I think. Everything was so delicious, in fact, that a platter didn't have a chance to 'sit.' People were eating ravenously and many, like me, ate like student athletes on the football team. I may have felt a twinge of self-consciousness, but that disappeared quickly -- everything was just too good. And I had gone over the stations on the web, had plotted my culinary strategy, and proceeded with small plates so that I could taste everything they had to dish out. And dish out they did. A photo gallery of some of the offerings.
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| Olives, olives, olives, salami, and pickled things, like asparagus, were at the first station |
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I named the Oyster Bar "Ed," because
my friend ate so many! He finally declared himself done when
he could hear them sloshing around in his stomach! |
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| For bagels. |
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| And more hors d'oeuvre selections |
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| Boathouse Prime Rib |
Desserts. Kudos to the pastry chef! There was Creme Brûlée, also, and pie dough pinwheels, with fresh fruit drops at their centers. They were exemplary.
Long story short, The Boathouse is a holiday I mean by that deeply satisfying, to the body and soul. And a satisfaction that lasts. "Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today." --Sydney Smith, English clergyman and essayist.
