February, 26, 2023
Why “Brunch at the Brown Palace” instead of “Brunch at Ellyngton’s”? Ellyngton’s is undergoing a complete interior renovation after getting flooded. They got a plastic tarp over Danny’s piano just in time! Therefor they’re doing their brunches on the magnificent second floor. We missed the first few, they’ve been doing them for a couple of months now, but Wow! They are back! Not quite like they will be once they’re back at home, but still the best brunch in the Denver metro area.
Here are the 1st 2 stations of the buffet, a Strawberry Cinnamon Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Pecans and a simply amazing dressing, that was like a somewhat sharp Caesar, but not quite. Martin, being addicted to strawberries had to try this one. This salad needed a unique dressing and they gave it one! Bill tried the Tortellini salad and it was excellent.
We’re looking north across the big open atrium where the Champaign glass tree was built for the Champaign Cascade event.
Here are the 2nd and 3rd stations of the buffet, a melon and berry selection, and the wonderful smoked salmon. The salmon isn’t like what you get in the supermarket but is a much milder smoke done in-house.
Here are the 3rd and 4th stations of the buffet, an artisanal cheese selection, and prime rib mini sandwich bites. Martin tried out several of the cheeses and they were all good, the round white herbed cream cheese roll slices in the middle were amazing.
The 5th station. Bacon and Sausage is far too plebeian a name for this! This is some of the best bacon and sausage I’ve ever had.
These are O'Brien Potatoes and drat, I didn’t get back to check them out, they looked wonderful. Bill did and they were very good.
Now we’re around the corner looking east and I’ve lost track of the station number. Again, the simple “Prime Rib” just isn’t grand enough for this. It’s slow roasted overnight and the au jus was perfect.
Seared Ahi Tuna with Japanese Noodles and vegetables. Sigh, yet another wonderful looking dish that neither of us got ‘round to trying out☹️.
Ah, turkey and gravy, but since there was no stuffing, we actually do this better 😉.
Roasted Cheesy Potato Wedges. Bill tried these out and he liked them.
Mixed vegetables is the label, but these were sautéed just right so they were tender-crisp, even the zucchini squash wasn’t falling apart.
Tortellini Alfredo is a bit different and Bill liked this one too.
Herbed chicken. I don’t know how they do it, but even the chicken stayed juicy and delicious in the steamer!
Oh, my, the deserts! Yes, that’s Martin in the mirror with the iPhone.
Martin tried out the Chocolate Mousse tartlet on the middle shelf - pure chocolate bliss! Then the Espresso Mousse turtle on the bottom shelf and it was pure espresso. Finally, the cheesecake in the center was perfect.
Sigh, didn’t get to the Peach Pie tartlet on the top shelf, the smoked pecan pie at the back left, the mini cherry truffles at the front left, the blueberry pie tartlet at the back right, or the White cake with dark chocolate filling to the right of the cheesecake.
This is just part of the ballroom that Ellyngton’s takes over, but you get a feel for just how lux this place is. At the right are the breakfast pastries. The black and white photo at the left is part of the Brown Palace’s history collection and they change it to match the seasons.