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320 Mamaroneck Avenue Mamaroneck, NY 10543 (Map) (914) 341-1140 www.roastedpeppersny.com
The WBC has become wary of certain restaurants that offer brunch. At specific types of cuisines (like Moroccan, Mexican), we’ve found that the offerings for brunch are just meals pulled from the regular menu with eggs piled on top. Would this be the case at Roasted Peppers? Thankfully not, and for the first time in awhile, we all left pleasantly surprised.
Attendees: :jump_to_Reid:, :jump_to_Sylvia:, :jump_to_Jeff:, :jump_to_Shelley:
:a_Reid:
The Case: Roasted Peppers v. the Westchester Breakfast Club
The Venue: The main drag in Mamaroneck, diagonally across the street from Molly Spillane’s.
The Facts: My last review criticized the restaurant as being a non-breakfast place trying to serve breakfast. I’ll be honest and say that walking into Roasted Peppers, I was concerned that history was repeating itself at an unusually rapid clip. As a result, I went much more to the -unch side of brunch. So, rather than risk another disappointing br-, I ordered the lobster/mushroom orichiette and cheese.That was a good decision, but having seen Shelley’s stuffed French Toast, it was likely for the wrong reasons.
Though from the menu I expected the L/M O&C to be a slight variation on your basic mac-and-cheese, it really was something altogether different, much more like a rich pasta dish than the gooey comfort food. Rather than melted cheese, the orichiette was doused in a cream sauce with crumbly cheddar bits distributed throughout. The mushrooms and lobster were distributed liberally throughout the small bowl. What it lacked in mass, it made up for in richness, and I was wholly satisfied by the meal.
The Verdict: Good eatin’, especially if you like lobster.
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:a_Sylvia:
Roasted Peppers bills itself as “Casual American with a Latin Twist.” The brunch options were more decidedly American, and the Latin twist seemed to be from the addition of chorizo to the entrees. However, I was intrigued by the Lepe Eggs (poached eggs atop corn cakes served with grilled chorizo potato hash and red pepper hollondaise).
As we waited, a wonderful little dish of pastries was presented. They weren’t spectacular, but they were a nice touch to the brunch.
The coffee served was notably good.
The Lepe Eggs as a whole were good. The little corn cakes were flavorful with kernels of corn sprinkled throughout. My only complaint was when I got a bit of the poached egg while by itself. You can definitely tell they poached it in a liquid with vinegar (a method to help keep poached eggs maintain their shape). Otherwise, the hash itself was really good and very enjoyable.
For dessert I had the brownie with coconut ice cream. The mild jalapeno in the brownie was very mild indeed, and gave the brownie a very subtle heat which was enjoyable.
The czar says: For a restaurant that was serving brunch just because, Roasted Peppers did a pretty decent job. The grilled chorizo potato hash was my favorite. The service was attentive and friendly. A good experience overall, even if we did leave a bit of a mess on the table. Sorry!
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:a_Jeff:
It’s Memorial Day weekend, a four day weekend if you’re lucky enough to get Friday off, which I did. Well, on Sunday, the WBC ventures out the Mamaroneck to visit Roasted Peppers, a small little restaurant that boasts, “Casual American Dining with a Latin Twist.” Seems intriguing enough.
We arrive a little past 11:30 am. It’s usually not too promising when you go into a restaurant and there’s nobody else there, but that’s why we’re the WBC. We’re here to tell people about all the good breakfast places they’re obviously missing. SPOILER ALERT: I give this place a positive review.
We sit wherever we want since there’s no one else. We opt for the table close to the window. Drinks are ordered. I go with coffee instead of the alcoholic drinks. I wasn’t in the mood for my normal bloody mary. As we sit at the table, a plate of delicious pastries are presented. I love when restaurants do this for brunch. It’s never a requirement, but it’s a nice gesture. And if the small pastries are good (which these were), it’s even more of a plus.
So then it’s time to order our food. I cheated a little the night before and glanced at the menu that was posted online, so I already knew what I wanted. I ordered the Chorizo Egg Wrap served with a side of shoe string fries. The selections on the menu all seemed good, but I think I might be a sucker for breakfast burritos. I always order it when it’s on the menu. There’s something about having breakfast wrapped up in a small package with all the flavors and textures present in each and every bite. Overall the meal was good. The flavors did combine well and the chorizo added both flavor and texture to the burrito. The shoe string fries were also very tasty. They had a nice crispy texture to them while still having their potato-y center. There was also the perfect amount of salt. By how fast other people’s hands were reaching onto my plate to take fries, I could tell they were a hit, which was good because there was no way I could have finished them on my own. I took a bite of Sylvia’s Chorizo Hash and thought it was a nice, hardy hash.
So, the entree was rather good. I’d recommend this place to anyone who’s in town. They treat you well. The waitress came by every once in a while to check up on us and made sure everything was okay. I only have a few issues with this place. First, I think they charged me for a coffee refill. You really shouldn’t be charging for a coffee refill. I think it’s assumed that people are going to want another cup of coffee. Charging for that refill is a little…eh. Granted, when the coffee came to the table, it smelled really good. I think it was a French vanilla, but that does not necessitate charging for refills. As far as other drinks, it was nice that they gave you a complimentary drink with brunch, which includes a bloody mary or one of the other regular breakfast drinks. They charged me for the coffee because I also ordered a mango juice. I’m definitely a sucker for mangos. The other small issue I had was their claim to having a “Latin Twist.” I don’t know what the restaurant is like for the dinner service. Maybe they pull it off better, but I feel like their “Latin Twist” for breakfast was just adding chorizo to things. Don’t get me wrong, the things that had chorizo were delicious and memorable, but I don’t think that that’s all it takes to make something have a “Latin Twist.” Other than that, I thought the meal was good.
Then came dessert!
The dessert menu had a nice selection on it. I wanted to have the Lepe Flan. I had flan for the first time that I remember at Tomatillo. I was there a few weeks ago with friends because one of our classes was canceled and we were hungry. It was good and I was looking forward to having some more flan at Roasted Peppers. The waitress came back with the devastating news that the flan wasn’t ready. After I recovered from my broken heart, we decided to get the rice pudding instead. It was tasty, but no flan. What was especially nice, though, was that I think the rice pudding was on the house to make up for the fact that my first choice flan wasn’t available. I hope the editor can confirm that. Editor? (Editor’s Note: Yup. We were granted a “manager’s discount” for the rice pudding.)
As I mentioned before, I would definitely recommend Roasted Peppers to anyone who is in the area looking for a good brunch. Hopefully more people will know about Roasted Peppers as a brunch option.
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:a_Shelley:
I have to start by being an editorial geek. Feel free to skip ahead if you don’t want to read about the perils of absent punctuation. But if you do…
My main complaint about Roasted Peppers is the lack of punctuation on the menu. When I read the description of the French toast–“French toast stuffed with cream cheese, blueberry, banana pecan pure maple syrup”–I was left wondering how a maple syrup that included bananas and pecans could be concocted. Missing commas, you see. In fact, the maple syrup was just regular maple syrup and the bananas and pecans would come served on top of the French Toast. I should point out that when I looked at Roasted Peppers online menu later that day to remind myself about my meal, I discovered, much to my editorial delight, that the description of the French toast is correctly punctuated and therefore much clearer. Stuffed French Toast: Blueberry & cream cheese stuffed French toast, with sliced banana, candied pecans & pure maple syrup. I think Roasted Peppers needs to print out copies of their online menu to use in the restaurant.
OK, I’m done with my editorial geek out. I will say, though, that if a punctuation issue is my main complaint about a place, then the place must be in pretty good shape overall. And food-wise, Roasted Peppers is indeed doing a good job.
The French toast I had at Roasted Peppers ranked among the best French toast that I’ve had with the WBC. I was apprehensive about the cream cheese stuffed French toast. Would the cream cheese be overwhelming? Would it be smeared on the way most bagel places slop cream cheese on bagels? Fortunately, no. And rather than being separate cream cheese and blueberries, it was actually blueberry cream cheese. The French toast had that nice crispiness on top while remaining soft and fluffy inside. It was really like a little French toast blueberry cream cheese sandwich. With real maple syrup drizzled on top. And pecans. But no bananas (because I asked them to hold them). The maple syrup was a little thicker in consistency than I usually prefer, kind of like a caramel sauce in terms of consistency.
Being the WBC, dessert was on the agenda. Jeffrey and I were going to share a flan, but alas, the flan wasn’t ready. So we switched to rice pudding, which was a very satisfying choice. It came served warm with a dollup of whipped cream, a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, a nice mix of golden and regular raisins inside, and a spring of mint leaves. Yes, I had a very sugary meal this morning, which probably explains the 4pm slump I felt later in the day. But the quality of the food made it worth it.
I wasn’t expecting much out of a brunch from a Latin restaurant. Usually when we’ve gone for brunch at a specific-cuisine kind of place (Moroccon, Mexican), we’ve been disappointed, finding that brunch is an afterthought meal. Roasted Peppers was pleasantly surprising. Presentation, quality of the food, prices: everything made for a good brunch.
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