Westchester Breakfast Club

Terra Rustica: 550 North State Road, Briarcliff Manor, NY (914) 923-8300

http://www.terrarusticaristorante.com/

Hours: Not listed on the website, but when Shelley called regarding Sunday, they said they open at 8am. On weekdays, they do run a breakfast special. I would call ahead if you plan to go early, just to make sure they are open.

Jeffrey

Terra Rustica’s environment is rather classy. The tables have unique paintings on them and the chairs even look like they belong in a fancy restaurant. I hear it is a fancy restaurant when it serves dinner, but we were there for breakfast.

We were seated at a lovely table by the glass doors that lead to a 15-foot drop to the parking lot. We did have an amazing view of Sylvia parking her car for 20 minutes. When we all arrived at the table and settled in, the hard part started. Trying to decide what to eat was very difficult. All the menu items sounded so good. I settled on the Challah Bread French Toast. When asked what side I would like, I heard a pesky voice coming from Shelley’s side of the table saying, “bacon! Bacon!” Shelley also found it wise, and rightfully so, to order a waffle with blueberries and ice cream for the table.

As the five plates of food arrived, excitement grew. I look down at the thick slices of French toast. One bite, and I knew that the rest of the meal would be a delicious one. One thing I thought would be a slight improvement was to serve the bacon on a separate plate. Yes, this would increase table clutter, but the French toast should have been presented on its own. The maple syrup was also an issue. I would have rather had real maple syrup on this fantastic French toast.

Waffle wise, it was delicious. Even after being out on the table for many minutes the crust was crunchy. The blue berries are out of season, but kudos for still having it on the menu. It’s still good. And the vanilla ice cream was a fantastic addition.

Definitely try Terra Rustica. The atmosphere is probably meant to be a bit quieter then we were, but who cares. Breakfast is breakfast. It’s all delicious.

Pat

What I Had: Eggs Julienne with hash browns, some waffle

What It Cost: $12 give or take

Worth It: Sure

The Rating: 3.5/5

The Details: Eggs Julienne is eggs Benedict, except replace the canadian bacon with corned beef hash. The portions were exceedingly generous, the eggs were perfectly poached, and the hollandaise was creamy, if not particularly distinct. Eventually, it all became too much, and I left about half my portion of corned beef hash on the plate. Fortunately, the waffle made for a lovely change of pace, despite the subpar blueberries and the lack of real maple syrup.

At the end of the day, the food is only slightly better than what you might expect at a diner. However, the ambiance is relaxed and lovely, and it’s a much more pleasant place to enjoy a solid meal with a group of friends.

The Verdict: Go for it

Shelley

I’m going to say something bold: This was the best breakfast so far. I say this with the caveat that I missed the Clinton Street Baking Company and thus missed the sugar-cured bacon that many of my cohorts raved about. That said, over the course of the last several days, having dealt with a power failure, digging out several cars, and trying to free several bushes from the clutches of the snow (with no success), I had worked up quite an appetite. I was hungry. Very hungry.

And I was satiated at Terra Rustica.

The restaurant is perched above North State Road in Briarcliff. For dinner Terra Rustica serves up pricey Italian cuisine. However, for brunch it offers a variety of standard, average-priced items. The interior is typical of an Italian restaurant—shades of deep reds and yellows, bottles of wine lining the walls. We were seated near the window, and our table was glossily painted with bright orange and yellow flowers. We arrived at 10am, but there wasn’t much of a crowd and the restaurant stayed pretty quiet as we had our meal over the next hour and a half.

On this particular morning I had a craving for two very different items: On the one hand, savory lox; on the other, sweet waffles with vanilla ice cream. While I was trying to decide, I warmed my hands and stomach (and yes, my soul) with a mug of hot cocoa, which was topped off with just the right amount of whipped cream.

Still torn between food choices, my fellow diners convinced me to get both, pointing out that the waffles would be a good item for the four of us to share. The wait for our food was perhaps a bit longer than at some of the previous weeks’ restaurants, but it was worth it. Although the presentation of my lox and cream cheese on a toasted bagel was lackluster, with the bagel sitting on the middle of a large, plain white plate without any garnish, the quality of the food made up for this. The lox hit the spot: salty enough to satisfy my craving, but not overly fishy or slimy. The bagel was well toasted, and the cream cheese held it all together.

The waffles were delicious. In an attempt to be somewhat healthy, I opted for blueberry waffles…in addition to the ice cream. The blueberries can best be described as sad-looking: small and shriveled. However, I don’t fault the restaurant for this, since blueberries aren’t in season at the moment. In fact, I felt the kitchen was generous with the blueberries, so even though each individual blueberry may have been lacking, the amount of blueberries on the waffle balanced things out. The waffles were everything I wanted: sweet, soft, golden brown. The vanilla ice cream enhanced the natural sweetness of the waffles and complemented the tartness of the blueberries. It also provided a nice way to cleanse my palate after the saltiness of the lox.

My only complaint is the way the waffle-section of the menu is presented (and I assume also the pancake section, but since I didn’t look at the pancake section, I’ll let Sylvia speak to that). Instead of listing a base price for basic waffles and then listing the additional charge for add-ins, the menu lists separate prices for each kind of waffle; for example, the price listed for waffles with blueberries is $7.75 and the price listed for waffles with ice cream is $7.75. Thus, I had to ask how much it would be for a waffle with blueberries and ice cream (it was about $9.75, which I deemed reasonable). Surely I can’t have been the first person to ever want such a combination.

This is a minor complaint, though, and is certainly not even a problem. The food was fresh, flavorful, and well-proportioned. The prices were reasonable—we each contributed about $15. The service was friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere was subdued, nice for a Sunday morning. Given all of this (and the fact that the restaurant is just 5 minutes from my house), I would happily return to Terra Rustica for brunch.

Sylvia

This week it was the Breakfast Czar’s turn to be late. Due to the snow, the conditions of some roads were barely passable by foot. So, it made for a slower run than planned. When I finally arrived and managed to park my car correctly, I walked in, and one of the waiters immediately pointed out where my friends were seated.

The place did have that cozy Italian restaurant feel to it, but during brunch time, the sunlight from the large French doors to nowhere gave the place a very nice, warm cozy feel.

I had a hot chocolate, which was nice and hot and came with a generous topping of whipped cream. It was not super sweet, and a nice way to start a meal. As Shelley had mentioned, the choices for pancakes seems to be very constrained in terms of choices. There is a brunch menu that has pancakes on it, but for regular fare, it is on the second page of the menu, so you had to look for the pancake section, if you wanted to see it. It is also presented in a way, where it doesn’t seem like you can mix and match the type of filling you wanted in your pancakes. They had walnut, blueberries, chocolate chip, and banana. I got the blueberry. As mentioned above, the blueberries were a little small and not so full of blueberry flavor. The pancakes were large in diameter, but also on the thinner side. They were standard fare pancakes. It was a step above IHOP (whose pancakes I find dry and a touch salty), but there was something missing, even after a more than generous dousing of syrup. Within the pancake itself, it was packed with blueberries. They did not hold back, which was nice. The pancakes got the job done, and my post run need for pancakes was satisfied. I also had a couple of breakfast sausages with my meal, and those were pretty good. I think I actually liked the sausage more than the pancakes!

I also had a quarter of the waffle, and I thought that was good. Better than the pancakes, and probably something I’d get the next time I go.

Terra Rustica was a nice place to enjoy a relaxed, casual brunch with friends. The food was good, and the service was excellent. It was quiet enough that we didn’t have to strain to hear each other speak, but the place wasn’t empty. It is a great alternative to the Sunday diner scene.