Russell Williams

http://www.russellwilliamsrestaurant.com/

On my visit to Burlington, mon cheri's sister suggested we go for brunch. This place fit our criteria of old, authentic and family-owned.

APPEARANCE
old, dark pink - brown shades

From the street it seemed like an dull house in brown and beige. It has a stand-up vertical restaurant sign, very hotel-like. There are a few benches outside, which would be great in the warm days.

NOSE
violet flowers, red fruits, hint of oak

Inside there was a wait list. Even the wait area bleacher-sofa and chairs were full, but 15 min later we were at a table near the back and the kitchen. The front area seemed great though - bright from the big windows, open-concept, large booths and hanging plants all around. I really wish the light spread all the way to the back sections which had no windows around. Overall the interior was mainly wooden with brick walls. Drawings of the house from before, as well as awards, cute animated illustrations and vintage objects decorated the walls and kept the homy charm in this rather large restaurant.

SWIRL
hints of ponderous fruit
- lacking freshness
Our waitress asked us for coffee and tea as she put down the menus and cutlery. The menu was the regular three-fold plastic sleeves with old-style gradient yellow background and a red frame. It used the same script typeface as the restaurant's logo for the dishes names. I am not a big fan of having the body description type in 4 colours. Nevertheless the menu did get a mom-pop feel across. I ordered a Williams Eggs Benedict, while cheri got the Smoked Salmon Benny and his sister built her own omelette (cheddar and mushrooms). When we opened our cutlery, both cheri and his sis needed new forks. Their washing machine is really slacking. Under the menus there were papers with lots of different ads and coupons.. it was a sort of entertainment to read though them, but also a bit on the tacky side.

PALATE
sweet beginning dry near the end, medium bodied
Our dishes came quickly. My benedict was great. The paprika in the perfect-textured Hollandaise in combo with honey mustard, I believe, and the back bacon made the dish sweet and special. Their famous home fries had lightly burned crusts at times, which I'm a fan of. Cheri's salmon benny was also lovely. I was not crazy about the omelette as the egg base almost seemed paper-like dry and plain. The top combo of cheddar and mushrooms was quite pleasant though. It took our waitress quite a few long minutes to move out dirty plates out of the way. Oh wait, it wasn't even her who did it. Lastly we ordered a fluffy buttermilk pancake to share with raspberry topping. The pancake was neither fluffy nor flavourfull, but perhaps that is because it is not necessarily ordered as a sweet dessert. The raspberry sauce just came in a little bowl on the side.. someone really didn't want to worry about presentation.


FINISH
easy and light at the end, although initial aromas seemed complex and a bit aggressive
This was packed with families. It had an old and cozy feel, no doubt. I would've loved to sit near the front or even outside, when the weather gets warmer.

overall.. an aged rosé, a little generic near the end