A cozy, intimate setting to enjoy delicious food
Last month, Osteria Accademia launched their new brunch menu. Located in the Upper West Side, Osteria Accademia’s mission is to provide the Upper West Side community with a cozy spot where guests can gather over good food and wine while losing track of time over stimulating conversation. Stepping foot into Osteria Accademia, you can tell this restaurant has a charm to it. The entire dining room is set up where each wall is a bookshelf that houses a variety of books. The dining room itself is small but provides an intimate feel when you’re there. The menu for brunch has all the classic brunch dishes with an Italian flare. And for drinks, Osteria Accademia has red, white, and sparkling wines as well as a selection of mimosas and bellinis. And it wouldn’t be a brunch if there wasn’t a bottomless option as well.
To start our brunch meal, we tried the Elderflower Mimosa, which is one of the three mimosa flavors you can choose from. The drink came in a wine glass, and at first glance you would think you were having a glass of regular white wine with how clear and pure the drink looked. But with the first sip you get that mimosa quality to it. The first notes that we tasted were fruity and floral notes. The drink was light like a mimosa but not acidic at all which was surprising. The floral elderflower notes were magical, and each sip made us feel like we were drinking this in a flower garden. We also tried the Blackberry Mimosa. This drink came in a similar wine glass but has this gorgeous ruby red color to it. The first sip delivered a dark, juicy sweetness to it while still maintaining the lightness that we tasted in the Elderflower Mimosa. These two drinks would be something we would come back for.
For starters, we opted for the Burrata and the Fennel salad. The burrata came with white asparagus, yellow and red beets, drizzled with a light balsamic glaze and topped with basil. The asparagus was so crisp and fresh and provided a nice variety of textures in the dish. The beets were both sweet and earthy and lent itself to the fatty, creamy flavors of the burrata.
The Fennel salad was a must have, especially since it was featured in the New York Times. This salad came with shaved fennel, pistachios, olives, and oranges. The shaved fennel was light and maintained a lot of the herbaceous notes that you come to expect from fennel. The pistachios help balance that herbaceousness with the nutty flavor. But the star that ties everything together were the oranges that provided a bright sweetness that helped tone down some of the other flavors in the dish.
For our mains we opted for a savory dish and a sweet dish in hopes of capturing the essence of brunch dining. We ordered the Omelette Neri first which is a squid ink omelette paired with wild mushrooms, mozzarella, and pecorino. The omelette was seasoned perfectly and had such the right amount of salt to let the natural egg flavors shine. The wild mushrooms were the star for us and burst with umami flavors throughout. The cheeses played a part in the dish as well with the mozzarella and pecorino adding a saltiness to the dish and helped balance some of the earthiness of the mushrooms.
For the sweet dish we tried the Caramel Banana French toast. This was served with the classic brioche bread and topped with banana flambee and caramel sauce. The bread here was fluffy and moist and was the perfect vessel for the banana. The caramel sauce was decadent and added a nice rich sweetness to the fish. The bananas were obviously the star of the show were the top was crispy and burnt while the bottom part of it was still fresh and sweet.
Our overall thoughts of Osteria Accademia was that both the food and drinks on the brunch menu were worth coming back for. Not only that, but we definitely see ourselves stopping by again not only to eat but to take in the beautiful ambiance and atmosphere that Osteria Accademia has cultivated inside the doors of their restaurant. And with their new brunch menu having such a wide variety of Italian brunch items, we can’t wait to come back and try more.
