liXvb {id est. Long Island Vegan Brunch}

Bread. Hot, soft, fresh-baked bread. With a melon-ball of parsley-sprinkled soy spread, it’s a divine start to brunch. Sunday Brunch at Rockville Centre, Long Island’s 3 Brothers… after spying their brunch menu last week I knew I had to go sooner than later. It wasn’t just a option of a tofu scramble; this was vegan bunch with all the Bells and Whistles.

With CandyPenny in tow we were set to bring on the brunch. Here was our spread. The tofu benedict in the foreground, some house-made seitan sausage in the middle, vegan nutella crepes (!) in front of CP and some fruit on the side. Wow: vegan nutella! This is 3 Brothers‘ own version of the chocolate-hazelnut stuff.

There is my tofu benny. A layer of succulent tofu, some pan-fried slices of Canadian “bacon” on top of a whole wheat English-type muffin and drenched in their Hollandaise sauce. Of course there is also the side of potatoes, so dreamy in their simple form. Though the benny was a bit difficult to eat [the knife couldn’t defeat the tough bacon], it was sumptuous savory defined. I wished the Hollandaise was less mustardy though. At $14 for the dish, I wanted a more Hollandaise Hollandaise sauce, a difficult vegan feat I know.

Ah, the sweet crepes, stuffed with banana and drenched in the aforementioned vegan nutella… These were true crepes, thin, light and full of holes, unlike the pancakes that often get renamed “crepes”. What an amazing dish–in taste, texture and presentation. If I were to offer a constructive criticism it would be to garnish with fruits in season. Though the strawberries are darn pretty, their lack of taste and their firmness didn’t add much to the crepes.

3 Brothers’ seitan sausage is divine. Tender, flavorful and made from scratch. I have found in my years of vegan eating that a restaurant’s seitan is a strong indicator of its quality overall– the food craft behind its dishes, the respect and care given to ingredients– and, consequently, its proximity to my heart. After posting about 3 Brothers since 2009, I think that I can say definitively that I love 3 Brothers.