Easter Sunday is this weekend, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in the kitchen and miss the holiday time with family and friends. But there’s another option: Going out for an Easter feast! Here are three spots ready to take your reservation.
Gadsby’s Tavern, 138 N. Royal St.
When it comes to festive dining rooms, you can’t do much better than the likes of Gadsby’s Tavern. The historical restaurant brings with it ambience galore, perfect for ringing in the Easter holiday. And Gadsby’s is rising to the occasion with a three-course prix-fixe menu to serve the Easter crowd.
Start brunch off with a choice of chilled strawberry soup or Gadsby’s signature peanut soup, and then move on to the main course, which offers up selections for carnivores and vegetarians alike. Steak and eggs, eggs Chesapeake, and the restaurant’s famed Sally Lunn rum-laced French toast are all on the menu along with some other compatriots. Finally, select one of several desserts to add a sweet ending to the meal and toast the spring day in style. Brunch is $29 per person, and reservations are recommended.
Ramparts, 1700 Fern St.
Book a reservation for after church – brunch service starts at 11 a.m. – and head over to Ramparts for the works. Rather than a menu, the neighborhood bar and grill takes the buffet approach. And for good reason: The buffet runs the gamut from breakfast favorites to Easter dinner specialties.
The buffet is teeming with options for all palates, from buttermilk pancakes and made-to-order omelets to honey-baked ham and Caribbean mahi-mahi. Breakfast fans can also gravitate toward sausage links, scrambled eggs, and buttermilk biscuits, while dinner purists have their pick of beef tenderloin, smoked salmon, shrimp and scallop scampi, and wild rice pilaf. The price is $25 per person ($10 for children under 12); reservations are recommended.
Bastille, 606 N. Fayette St.
The venerable French café in north Old Town offers an international twist on Easter lunch, offering diners a prix fixe menu with a dash of flair to boot. Sometimes, three-course fixed menus skimp on the selections, but Bastille comes hard to the hoop and offers a plethora of options for diners to choose from.
Begin your feast with oysters on the half shell or an order of shrimp beignets, to name two of the half-dozen selections; next, choose from brunch or all-day entrees ranging from PB&J French toast to duck a l’Orange and many stops in between.
Finish up the meal with a bittersweet chocolate truffle cake or a lemon butter bar and revel in doing zero dishes after the meal. The prix-fixe menu is $49 per person; reservations are recommended.
Hope Nelson owns and operates the Kitchen Recessionista blog, located at www.kitchenrecessionista.com. Email her any time at hope@kitchenrecessionista.com.