The quaint and rustic vibe and décor of Russet, 1521 Spruce St. , almost seems like an anomaly considering its proximity to Rittenhouse Square and the Avenue of the Arts. But the converted townhouse makes for a pleasant, quiet sanctuary for a quick meal, which in our case was brunch.
Russet features a daily changing Italian and French-inspired menu by chef-owners Andrew and Kristin Wood, who use local and seasonal ingredients. Hopefully some of the dishes we tried will still be on the menu when you visit.
It must be said that for all of the ambition with the main dishes, Russet makes a damn good scone. And we are not usually impressed by scones. Russet’s cheese scone was warm, savory and just what the doctor ordered on a lazy weekend morning.
It’s a good thing too, because the scone was the only thing standing between us and righteous anger when we found out that the cheesy grits on the menu were not available that particular morning. If we hadn’t had the yummy goodness of those scones evening us out, we might have flipped over a table and left. But we maintained and persevered. Praise the scone.
Next up were the oatmeal pancakes, which, while certainly hearty and overflowing with country charm, left us craving the smoother-textured and more traditional incarnations of the breakfast staple. And call us crazy, but we think throwing some eggs over easy on the plate or the strategic piece of bacon would go a long way in making these pancakes shine.
Far more successful was the asparagus crepe, which was impressive considering how alien asparagus seemed to us that early in the day. Seriously, if you can make asparagus crave-worthy to us before 5 p.m., there’s a part of you that deserves to wear a cape and make the world a better place.
The stinging nettle omelet isn’t as scary as it sounds — or looks. Behind the intimidating name (it’s a herbaceous perennial flowering plant, if you’re asking) and the greenish façade is a refined and mildly cheesy dish.
What? Dessert? With brunch? No! That’s nuts! We don’t have dessert with br —
Huh?
Homemade strawberry ice cream?
That’s kryptonite to our willpower …
Oh, and there’s a pistachio panna cotta too?
(Please get out of our head. This is freakish.)
Both desserts kicked our collective booty bits.
Russet is lovely and has a lot of talent and promise but … you know what? Next time, we’re skipping the entrées and diving headlong into scones and desserts.
Oh, and cheesy grits.
Oh, and mimosas too. Pitchers and pitchers of mimosas.