46 Westerly Road
Ossining, NY 10562 (Map It!)
Attendees: Sylvia, Jeffrey, Jason & Claudine, Andrew, Yuee, Shelley
Remote posting from: Pat,
It was a big day for WBC today. Two of its core members participated in the Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon; one member is back from her brief leave of absence; and we were joined by Andrew (who also participated in the Sleepy Hollow Tri), his wife Yuee, and Claudine (who won third place overall out of the women in the tri…yay!!) and her husband Jason.
Post-Tri, we were all pretty darn hungry. After quickly hopping into the shower to wash the Hudson off ourselves, we made our way to Ossining. Its website states that The Boathouse is located just north of the Ossining train station. It is, except down a rather sketchy road and bear left at the next ramp to an overpass. I can’t imagine what it would be like to try to find this place at night! Good thing we are the breakfast club!
I had originally called in reservations for 8 at 12:30. When we arrived, there was maybe one party inside and another seated outside. They were nice enough to offer us a spot outside, even though they had already set up our seats inside. After some moving around of tables, we started to study the menu.
Undecided, I waited until everyone else ordered. The omelettes are made to order, and the “special” of the day was blueberry pancakes. I was torn! But since Claudine ordered the blueberry pancakes, I decided on the Challah French Toast, with a side of sausage to go with my cup of coffee.
The meals came out in waves. Once we finally got all of our meals, we dug in! My french toast seemed to have a crab underneath it! The french toast itself was actually really good. It was soft and moist but not soggy, and there was a glazed look to it, which made it seem like it was cooked in the syrup. It most likely was since it was perfectly sweetened and didn’t need to be dipped into the little dish of syrup provided. It was also topped with slices of fresh strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Yum yum!
My only disappointment with the food was the side of sausage. When the dish was placed in front of me, I automatically recognized them as your usual frozen brown and serve type. And they weren’t even the good quality type! The sausages were spongy, and not brown and crisp. The seasonings were there but, alas, the sausage part was missing. So sad, since at $3.50 for three, I could have gotten a whole box of a dozen of something more higher quality and with more sausage content at the local supermarket.
To finish off the meal, a slice of Oreo cheesecake and a Peanut butter Cup Cake were shared. The types of desserts available meant that none were made on the premises. It was all different types of cheesecakes. Regardless, the Oreo cheesecake I shared with Shelley and Jeffrey was an excellent end to a brunch that was much enjoyed.
The Czar says: A nice place to grab a leisurely brunch by the sailboats on the Hudson. The view isn’t much of the Hudson itself due to the parking lot located between the restaurant and the Hudson. Nonetheless, the food was good and sitting outside with the marina in the background made it a very enjoyable experience.
After a nice long triathlon, I think the Louie family deserved a good breakfast. We decided on the Boathouse in Ossining. We were to meet Claudine, another triathlete, after much needed visits home for showers and general clean up.
Getting to this place wasn’t the easiest task. Somehow, one must find a way to cross the tracks over to the riverside. This was easy enough since you just have to follow the signs for the Ossining train station. It’s when you get to the other side that it starts to get difficult. We had no idea which direction to go in order to get to the Boathouse. Also, there are no address numbers on the buildings. This is probably because the buildings are run down storage units from the old days. We eventually found the place. It would have been easier had we used the GPS, but Sylvia didn’t want to use it. She said she knew where it was, which is to say, she knew close enough. Oh well, we got there eventually. Parking wasn’t such a breeze either. In front, there were four parking spots. There’s more parking in the back, which is something I took issue to later on in the breakfast event.
We entered and our presence was known. Yes, we were the party of eight. Make way for us. They were ready. They had a nice table set up by the window in the dining room, but we didn’t want the dining room. No, we wanted to eat outside. Also, the air conditioning was a little too cold. Outside was nice, but the parking lot extended around the restaurant to the back. The outside dinning area provided a nice view of the cars parked near us. The only time the view changed was when one car moved to reveal another car. The view wasn’t entirely bad though. We did have a view of the marina and all the boats that we could never afford.
Sitting outside, we were given menus to browse over. The menus were delightfully packed with various choices. Deciding on what to eat was actually difficult. I finally settled on the Crabby Val. The Crabby Val is just Eggs Benedict but with a crab cake instead of the Canadian bacon. Was it good? I suppose it was. I feel like it would have been better with a bigger crab cake. There wasn’t a strong enough flavor of crab, I feel. Oh well, here’s wishing for more crab. I thought the potatoes deserve a comment. They were good and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. Just like I like them.
Dessert consisted of an Oreo Cheesecake. It’s the same caliber cheesecake one would find at the Cheesecake Factory. It wasn’t terrible cheesecake. I just wasn’t impressed.
Overall, the Boathouse wasn’t incredibly impressive. I would go try it at lease once. I probably wouldn’t go again, but that’s also because it’s so far away from me and hard to get to. Another thing, getting out of the parking lot seemed like a hassle. It’s a one lane two way street. Granted, it’s only for about 25 yards, but still. I guess that’s the end of my review.
The Boathouse tries to be an upscale type of establishment much in the way that FAB is, except The Boathouse has the advantage of being out on a pier. The river views give the atmosphere a bonus as the outdoor seating is very relaxing. Unfortunately, the food and service was weak sauce.
Our waitress, professionally dressed in a clean uniform, first brought me a cup of coffee. It wasn’t until I had consumed about half the cup that I noticed dirt stuck to the inside of the coffee mug, gross to say the least. The waitress replaced my coffee cup with a clean one and fresh coffee, but these are not mistakes that should be made, I’m not at the local truck-stop diner. If The Boathouse wants to present itself as a fine-dining establishment, this is a large black mark against it.
Next up, Eggs Benedict. $11
In one word: Bland.
While the initial presentation was nice, the egg yolk viscosity was too high. It was more like water than egg yolk. The egg yolk should be a rich orange-yellow color and should flow slowly when you cut into it. The poached eggs I got were a drab yellow color and a high viscosity. The hollandaise sauce was just plain bland, no spice, no flavors, I was only really able to taste the slice of ham underneath, and that was mostly salt. The English muffin at the bottom was about the only thing that was decent.
The dish came with some home fries, but they had the taste and texture of pre-prepared frozen potatoes.
Lastly, dessert.
The table ordered a slice of Oreo cheesecake and some peanut butter cake. Again, the waitress handed me a dirty spoon. Is it really that difficult to look at the silverware before serving it to the customers? Would you serve guests in your home dirty silverware? It’s not even like there were a lot of patrons at the restaurant for brunch, maybe three tables max. It’s just sloppy and would make the biggest difference in the overall impression of the place if she just looked at what she served you.
I had some of the peanut butter cake, it was fine, not amazing, just fine. Tasted strongly of peanut butter and not much else.
Overall: Service suffers at The Boathouse, and they could at least use fresher ingredients for their prices, which is right on par with FAB.
Crabby Val at The Boathouse in Ossining was not crabby or crappy at all. It was poached eggs over crab cakes. The eggs were cooked well, because once they were cut, the yolk spilled out and blended with the hollandaise sauce. There was a bit of spice to the sauce and it made every bite stand out. This brunch dish beats regular old Egg Benedict for people who enjoy flavor and spice.
I’m back! With a vengeance? Nah, but it was good to eat some yummy breakfast again with the WBC.
Although this Sunday was a cloudy one, the temperature was pleasant and I was hoping we would be able to eat outside at The Boathouse in Ossining. Sure enough, when I arrived I found the group sitting outside. The Boathouse is a bit out of the way, and it’s definitely worth looking up directions before going there for the first time. You make your way down to the Ossining Train Station and cross over the tracks, then go down a road that looks like it’s leading to a work yard, then turn left onto a small road that looks like it’s a one-way street (but there’s no signage stating this, so I assume that somehow cars are able to pass each other). There’s a small parking lot in the front of the restaurant, which can be initially alarming if it’s almost full, but never fear, there’s a much larger parking lot in the back.Unfortunately, the outdoor dining patio is adjacent to the back parking lot, and depending on the location of your seat and the number of cars in the lot, your view of the Hudson River may be fully or partially obscured by, say, a Honda Accord. Fortunately for me, I was seated with about a 90% clear view of the water and boats, creating a very soothing Sunday ambience.
We arrived for a later-than-usual brunch, so we were presented with both the restaurant’s full menu in addition to their one-page brunch menu. I didn’t look at the full menu (which was the size of a pamphlet and looked like it had been assembled at the local Kinko’s). Having been on an egg kick for the last week or so, I settled on an omelette with cheddar cheese and peppers (which, if you pay close enough attention, you’ll know is a recurring omelette choice for me). The food arrived within a reasonable amount of time–not especially speedy, but the wait gave us all a chance to enjoy the rather loud conversation being conducted by an elderly Frenchman at the table behind us. The presentation of the food was good: simple, clean, and orderly. Arranged on a basic white plate was a perfectly sized omelette (with the peppers contained inside the omelette–Wobble Cafe, take notes!), a helping of seasoned potato cubes, and four slices of lightly buttered toast. Neither the menu nor the waitress mentioned that the omelette came with toast, and I imagine that for some people it might be a problem that a) no choice of bread was given and b) the restaurant presumes to put the butter on the toast instead of leaving it up to the diner. However, I was fine with this, and indeed was pleasantly surprised that toast was served. I was a bit disappointed, though, that mine was the only meal at the table to not be served with a small portion of fresh fruit. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Fortunately, Jeff was kind enough to share a bit of strawberry with me.
The omelette was well-proportioned, with a balanced helping of cheddar cheese and peppers inside. The eggs were well-cooked and fluffy. As I mentioned, the omelette was a good size–not so large like at some other places so that I felt completely stuffed at the end of my meal, which was a good thing. The potatoes were well seasoned and the right consistency, and they were not at all greasy. The toast was lightly toasted and, as noted before, was very lightly buttered, both of which suited me just fine.
It was good that my meal left me feeling satisfied but not stuffed, because our waitress returned when our plates were cleared and asked if we’d like to hear about the dessert options. I was intrigued. Since it was by that time 1:15, I thought it was an appropriate hour for dessert, and when the waitress named Oreo cheesecake as one of the choices, I jumped at the chance. Jeffrey and Sylvia said they would share the slice with me, so I didn’t feel like a complete glutton. The cheesecake came out on a nice square, clear glass dish with a small dollup of whipped cream. I must say, at first I was a bit startled by what I took to be the small size of the slice. I then realized that the ginormous sizes of cheesecake slices at places like the Cheesecake Factory have given me unrealistic ideas about dessert portions and that the size of the slice at The Boathouse was, in fact, a normal (and much more reasonable) sized slice of cheesecake. What wasn’t reasonable, however, was the $7 charge for the slice of cheesecake. I don’t think even the aforementioned Cheesecake Factory charges that much for their huge slices
All in all I was satisfied with my brunch at The Boathouse. The food was of good quality. The $9 I paid for my omelette was a reasonable price, but the dessert was overpriced. The service was friendly and attentive and the setting was nice (even with a partially-obscured view). The Boathouse provides a relaxed atmosphere and solid food for a weekend brunch.
Fairfield Inn & Suites Portland South/Lake Oswego
6100 Southwest Meadows Road
Lake Oswego, OR 97035 (Map It!)
What I Had: A hard-boiled egg, an english muffin with butter and grape jelly, a banana, coffee
What It Cost: $99 a night
Worth It: If your Nana pays for the hotel
The Rating: Seriously?
The Details:
Waylaid for the weekend in Lake Oswego, Oregon, I was unable to attend The Boathouse outing, which brought me much chagrin, since it’s literally a hop, skip, and a jump from my house, and would have been the one WBC meeting (besides Wobble, now that I think of it) where I had the shortest commute. But even though I wasn’t with the WBC, I still require breakfast. Fortunately, it was offered continental style at the Fairfield Inn & Suites where I stayed the weekend.
The options are bountiful. There are frozen Jimmy Dean Breakfast sandwiches (egg, cheese, and either bacon or sausage), four flavors of yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, bread, bagels, english muffins, mini-muffins, mini-donuts, 10 types of cereal, three kinds of juice, apples, and bananas. I went with a hard-boiled egg, an English muffin (topped with butter and grape jelly), a banana, and some coffee. They were all exactly what you would expect.
It should be noted that they also have two waffle makers going at all times, cooking up fresh waffles for interested parties. If I hadn’t eaten so much on this vacation already, I would definitely have given it a shot. My brother reviewed the waffles and said they were: “nice.”
The Bottom-line: Not a bad option if you find yourself in Lake Oswego, Oregon in pressing need of a hotel room and a “deluxe” continental breakfast.
Sylvia
June 20, 2010 at 9:32 pm
What happened to the gallery of pictures?