Brunch @ Centre Street Sanctuary, Jamaica Plain, MA

I must preface this review with the fact that I LOVE CENTRE STREET SANCTUARY!  

It is my favorite night cap spot and one of my favorite dinner places in the neighborhood!  

I, of course, adore Jill, Christina, and Justin behind the stick.  I can't ever get enough of Jimmy on the floor.  And Owner Adam is kind, thoughtful, and an overall sweet gentleman while Abbey, the pastry chef, will rock your sweet tooth!

In saying all of this, I was sorely disappointed last weekend with my brunch experience.  As you all know, I check in here for bites and sips often.  My dinner review some months ago was a good one.  Check it out, here.  

I simply feel the ball was dropped over and over again on brunch...at least on the Sunday I attended with three other girlfriends.

I was anticipating brunch since they were to begin serving it back in  July. 

Jimmy's artistry according to Sanctuary's FB page.  Awesome!

I arrived early and sat at the bar to chat up Jill and sample a couple of brunch cocktails.  Since the bar always features fresh ingredients, I ordered a classic Bellini - fresh peach puree, Peach Schnapps, and champagne.

Classic Bellini

  Once the girls arrived, we ordered our respective meals.  I started with the classic French sandwich (which I love) - The Croque Madame - a grilled ham sandwich where the bread is coated in egg and topped with cheese.  I have enjoyed the Croque Madame at numerous places, including The Wine Cellar in Back Bay and dBar in Dorchester amongst other restaurants.  I was thoroughly disappointed with both its presentation and taste at Sanctuary.

The sandwich was cool and soggy with very little flavor to boot.  One of my girlfriends who also enjoys Croque Madames was disappointed as well.  Overall, it just fell flat.  I chocked this up to chance but made my opinion known as I could not possibly leave the establishment that I adore and not share my thoughts about a not so well executed dish.  Also, to my great dismay, and I am sure to the dismay of other customers, my sandwich used the last of the brioche (at about 11:45 a.m.).  That meant, no french toast or other dishes boasting the sought after bread. 

Next, I ordered the "Chicharons" - fried pork belly with rice and beans served with a sunny side up egg and toast.  

The dish was beautiful in presentation, but a severe letdown in execution.  The pork belly was well overcooked and tough, so much so that I requested a steak knife as the butter knife simply would not get the job done.  The rice was so undercooked that it crunched between my teeth.  The beans not too far away from the realm of undercooked.  The most perfect item on the dish was my egg, which would have been brilliantly slathered on and mixed with the rice, beans, and pork belly had they been remotely edible.

"Chicharons" with rice + beans, sunny side up egg, toast

Before giving up on ordering another entree (3 are not unusual in the least bit for me when I want to write about a particular menu), I ordered the sliders, which I never do at an early brunch, but I was desperate to sample something amazing.

Sliders with cheese, house bacon, Maine Family Farms beef, tomato confit, and  lemon-dressed greens with housemade pickles

The sliders were cooked as ordered (medium), but just didn't hit the mark with me, so to lift my spirits, I ordered another brunch cocktail from Jill - a Bellini Sunrise - made with Agavero tequila liqueur, hibiscus syrup, pomegranate liqueur, peach puree, and Prosecco Asti. 

Bellini Sunrise

We also sampled the "I Can See The Light" inspired champagne cocktail of the day, which is created weekly.  

Sunday's was based on my friend and my affinity for bourbon:  champagne, cherry bourbon, maraschino cherry juice.

Two of my other girlfriends ordered omelets.  One ordered an egg white omelet that was so overloaded with grease, she would have been better off ordering a whole egg omelet.  Same for the second veggie omelet.  

The homefries were perfect!

 The simple two eggs with veggies and homefries was the best dish on the table.  The veggie sausage was depleted from the kitchen early, but my friend did enjoy the dish and I think it was the envy of us all. 

To perk up, we ordered a coffee with Rum Chata!  That was enough to please my palate at the end of the day.

With a heavy heart, I can't recommend brunch at Sanctuary at this time, but I certainly do recommend paying a visit for dinner, dessert, and drinks!  

I've sampled some pretty good stuff on their latest dinner menu.  Review coming soon!