Sunday Brunch at Shadowbrook.
It used to be a thing.
Nowadays they just point you to the Crow’s Nest for Sunday Brunch. Nothing against the Crow’s Nest, but count me among the many who haven’t been able to get over Shadowbrook’s decision to stop offering brunch.
Forget that there isn’t a better atmosphere than the sun drenched Greenhouse dining room for a mid morning feast. Put aside those cravings for the eggs benedict, the Ruben sandwich, and morning mimosa’s.
This is about the orange rolls.
Ted Striker never got over Macho Grande. I’ll never get over the orange rolls.
If you were lucky enough to go to brunch at Shadowbrook then you understand. Unless you’re one of those anti-sweet/anti-pastry weirdo’s that I just don’t get.
Here’s how it would go down. Your server would start by bringing you a complimentary mimosa. Sunlight would be flooding through the greenhouse windows. Bright, beautiful Sunday morning in Capitola. Then you would do the brunch dance – do you want breakfast or lunch? For me that meant eggs benedict or the Rueben sandwich.
Meanwhile, you can’t focus on the menu because you know that somewhere nearby is the bread guy. But today, at Shadowbrook, he isn’t just a bread guy. He’s The Orange Roll Guy. The man! He would work his way through the dining room, delivering the single best pastry on the planet to each person in the restaurant.
The Shadowbrook orange roll wasn’t really a roll. And it wasn’t a sticky bun either. It was sort of a hybrid. It was a sticky sweet roll with orange zest mixed into the dough, and a gooey candied orange coating. They were always hot out of the oven, as if the server snatched them from the oven and sprinted directly to your table. And soft, oh boy. So soft.
The Orange Roll Guy would cycle through so you could always take a second, or third, or…
It’s been 5 painful years since I last binged on Shadowbrook orange rolls. Shadowbrook stopped serving brunch in 2008 to accomodate more Sunday weddings. The most important day in someone’s life vs. an orange roll in my belly?
Tough call.
I completely and wholeheartedly agree!!! I still check their website from time to time to see if brunch is back. I suspect that there must have been an issue with the brunch chef…I had called some time ago to see if I could get their orange roll recipe (since they openly display some of their recipes) and the person on the phone got a little up-tight, started to say something cryptic about the chef, then buttoned up (I just don’t buy the “Sunday weddings” thing).
If we could only find out where this chef took his orange rolls…
But indeed mimosa brunch at Shadowbrook was magical!
Thanks for sharing and reminiscing.
Linda
http://www.food.com/recipe/the-club-orange-rolls-315803
Try these 😉
Been going to Sunday brunch forever… I bet the chef got the recipe here.
Those look pretty good, but are not that close to SB’s.
SB’s did not have a glaze drizzled on after. The “glaze” was more like a orange marmalade, like the consistency of a sticky bun, rolled inside and baked on top.
I think I will experiment with this base recipe though over my winter vacation. Thank you
My wife took me there in the late 80s when we were a-courtin’ and I had one, pretty memorable. Just now we were eating “Morning buns” from Ken’s Artisan Bakery in Portland. They are somewhat similar and very tasty, highly recommended if you’re ever eating your way through Oregon (as you should).
I used to make these in the bakery. It starts with a basic sweet croissant dough which is rolled out into a rectangle. Orange marmalade jam is then spread out over the doug, followed by shredded coconut. The rectangle is rolled into a snake (like making cinnamon rolls) and then cut into segments. Each segment goes into a pappered muffin tin. When they are finished baking they are topped off with an orange flavored powdered sugar frosting. Basic but yummy.