Celebrating Mom

Tom always said that Mother’s Day was the busiest day in the restaurant industry. In the normal days of The Cool Water Ranch, my Mother’s Day choice was to eat at home, since we always ate out. But now that I am driving this ship, I do have to have something to say about Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day and our daughter’s birthday have been inexorably linked since the day she was born, which was the day before Mother’s Day. I was in the hospital with her for Mother’s Day. I love this connection, but she’s not so charmed by it. This particular year, I was not even with her for the birthday because it was the date of a First Communion for my grandson in Los Angeles. I flew home on the evening flight, so I would be here for Mother’s Day.

We stayed on the Northshore that day, and had two experiences. One was a buffet brunch at The Gloriette, and I picked up a Mother’s Day Brunch Box from Tchefuncte’s Restaurant.

When I arrived at the Gloriette, I was surprised to see servers in the dining room delivering food to tables. The Gloriette was an easy sell for ML because we had a fantastic Thanksgiving there in 2024. It was Tom’s last, and that makes me sad because of the many years we hosted and how much he loved those. But the meal was outstanding, and we had a great time.

E

ven though ML knew we had booked a buffet, we were both surprised to see there was another option. I was even more surprised to see the buffet itself. It was $50, which kept my expectations lower, but this was meager. Exactly a week before, I had a $55 buffet brunch in Las Vegas that was much more elaborate. This one was scrambled eggs, roasted breakfast potatoes, excellent bacon, and basic biscuits. There were fruit, juices, champagne, shrimp and grits, a chicken dish, and Horatiki salad. It was fine. The food itself was good: perfect roast potatoes and fluffy scrambled eggs. The bacon was fantastic. I wasn’t crazy about the shrimp and grits or the chicken. The salad was nice. We had a lovely time sitting outside under an umbrella, where it was breezy and actually delightful. We had our fill of great bacon, but culinarily, we left unsatisfied.

That changed when I picked up the Mother’s Day Brunch Box.  It was here that we scored.  I was skeptical of a take-out brunch box for $120, but it was so full of interesting and eclectic items, I found it almost a thrill. The box itself was impressive. Almost 3 feet long, it was about 4 inches high and 2 feet wide.  It was like a cake box with a window for peeking. Inside were little pink food boats lined with gingham tissue, and pastel tissue paper dotted the landscape of the entire box, cradling interesting piles of treats. 

There were two boats with housemade Lavash crackers. There were 3 pastries that were soft, light and flaky. One was filled with chocolate, and the other two had raspberry jam. A huge croissant that was also light and flaky was in the center of the box, perched atop a slab of white chocolate on which the message “Happy Mother’s Day” was scribbled in chocolate.

Two long pretzels partially coated in chocolate and dotted with sprinkles were placed beside the message. A little bag of heart- shaped cookies was on the other side. Another bag of really nice Florentines was also in that center space. There were different chocolates, chocolate truffles, and fudge in one of the pink boats, along with chocolate-covered strawberries.

There were two little bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice. And two small quiches. There were two unidentified bags of what looked like more chocolate. I took a bite of one of these pieces, and inside it looked like a campfire, with layers of orange and yellow. The chocolate looked like campfire soot. Actually, it looked like pieces of lava. I was intrigued by it so I took a bite. It stuck in my teeth. We checked the card for a list of items and discovered it was honeycomb! I have never had honeycomb, but it is everywhere in Europe, and I’m seeing it more here now. Because of its sweetness I’ve never tried it, but I really did like this. I get the fascination. In Europe, these things have to be changed frequently on a breakfast buffet because they are so popular. Next time I’ll get some myself.

One of the focal points of this box was a cluster of cupcakes that were decorated like a floral bouquet. I’m not much of a cupcake person, but these were pretty and tasty vanilla cupcakes. The two bottles of orange juice were freshly squeezed.

Two small onion quiches were nestled in this corner. The crust was flaky, and these were tasty, but I just can’t get past stringy onions, unless they are crispy and fried. I love onion tarts like Flammekueche, but enclosed in a pastry shell, they fall flat. The custard and flavor of these was nice, though.

The Lavash crackers needed to be crisped, so we popped them in the oven along with the quiches. They were dusted with poppy seeds and sesame seeds and were crispy and flaky after toasting.

In one boat, the crackers were paired with soft cheeses and Parmesan crumbles, and the other included a small salumi selection of braseola, prosciutto, and salami. 

I tend to ignore fruit and yogurt, but there was a cup of assorted fruit cubes and two yogurt parfaits with oats and berries. My initial reaction to this box before I saw it was that it was too heavy on the sweets, but it was an ideal assortment of sweet and savory things, and an interesting contrast of familiar and unusual. I loved it.

This impressed me as a different way to spend Mother’s Day, until I spoke to a friend who went to her son’s house. His wife is Filipino. There was a grand hunt for banana leaves first, since the grand meal is served on banana leaves on a table. The banana leaves are washed and the meal is cooked, then dumped in the center as everyone picks at it. No utensils. Very exotic.

It was an interesting mix of New Orleans stuffed artichokes, shrimp, lumpia, Longganisa sausage, mango salsa, Filipino BBQ, coconut squash, chicken adobo, and fried garlic rice.

A lot of celebrating Mom, all kinds of ways. And that’s all that really matters.