Jazz Brunch Hits The Right Spot (And Note)
By Luann & Alex./ foodie@longislandernews.com

There may be one thing better than live music with dinner – live music with brunch. And Grasso’s is where you can get both.

The Cold Spring Harbor restaurant is one of the few around offering a full calendar of jazz to accompany a fine dining experience. We stopped by over the weekend to experience Gail Grasso’s “Sunday Jazz Brunch” for ourselves and left with our toes tapping and bellies full and satisfied.

The brunch menu is perfect. Every meal comes with a complimentary mimosa, Bloody Mary or screwdriver. For those who do breakfast for brunch, there is a long list of creative and tempting egg and omelet dishes and French toast. For the lunch at brunch crowd, there is an array of salads, sandwiches and pastas to choose from. And all this against a background of smooth sounds of jazz standards made popular by greats like Duke Ellington emanating from a piano player and a guitarist in the back of the restaurant.

As we sipped on our cocktails, we enjoyed the tastes of the bread basket with incredible corn bread, served with three kinds of jams: fig and orange marmalade (our favorite), a berry jelly, and orange marmalade.

We started with an appetizer of smoked salmon ($8) over a potato pancake with crème fraiche and caviar. The light cream complements the saltiness of the caviar well, awakening our palate. We were also eyeing the strudel ($9) with asparagus, mushrooms, gorgonzola in a puff pastry with balsamic reduction and tomato relish, the mussels possillipo ($10) in spicy tomato or white wine garlic sauce, and clams oreganata ($7).

We felt like breakfast for brunch that day, and happily perused the egg specials. Although we were tempted by Lox and Eggs ($14), Eggs Benedict ($14) and Eggs Norwegian ($14), which is like Eggs Benedict but with smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon, we went with Eggs della Nonna ($14), Gail’s grandmother’s special recipe, and the Lump Crab Meat Mornay Omelet ($15). The Eggs della Nonna are two eggs poached in a light tomato sauce with onions, basil, Fontina cheese and toasted ciabatta. It was a truly delightful new take on eggs with all the Italian flavors we love but for breakfast. The omelet was really something special as well, stuffed with creamy Swiss and Fontina cheese, cayenne pepper for a little heat and chunks of crabmeat, along with a side of red bliss home fries.

Next time we’re in a lunch mood, we’ll likely opt for Gail’s Grilled Peach and Salmon Salad ($14), with Bibb lettuce, blue cheese, dried fruit, mixed nuts and a hazelnut vinaigrette. The burgers and sandwiches ($13-16) look good too, and there’s even risotto on the menu. Desserts all sounded good, but we can’t get enough of Grasso’s Bananas Foster special.

The jazz brunch is every Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2: 30 p.m. Grasso’s is located at 134 Main St. in Cold Spring Harbor. Call 631-367-6060 for reservations.