An Orange lunch

I took myself to lunch today at Orange, a “contemporary breakfast” joint in town.

It was perfect: I was getting hungry and really had to use the toilet and there, it appeared as I merged from the Grand Blue Line stop: a two-story building with one side of it painted a Sunkist-orange. I popped in, ordered an orange-infused coffee and did my business.

Anyway, so the food. I’ve eaten there a couple times, at different locations, had the basic scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast, which was so-so. It arrived needlessly arted up on a huge white plate. My memory has the potatoes, molded into a cube, eggs and toast somehow forming a tower. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it arrived, but something was stacked, perhaps the toast on top of the mushy breakfast potatoes? It’s scrambled eggs and toast, c’mon, a little overkill there. And you know, it tasted alright, nothing spectacular. I was more impressed with the coconut-infused rice and grapefruit “frushi.” (Fruit. Sushi. Get it)?

So, on to the current meal. As it was after 1:00, I opted not for the chai tea-infused French toast but for the veggie sandwich. It came towering to me as well, only it was a huge freaking tower. A stack. It came with a steak knife. The slices of grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, caramelized onions, carrots) rested prettily on puffy white slabs of brioche bread. A salad of organic baby greens in a light balsamic vinaigrette and two small cups of sauce took up the remaining plate.

I eyeballed the thing and realized one cannot be prissy when facing a pile of food almost as tall as your head. I slathered on the sauces (one tasted coolly like tzatziki and the other like a slightly spicy mustard) and hacked at the stack of summer-colored vegetables with my knife. Only after several bites did I discover the potatoes buried beneath the veggies. I hadn’t made it down to the bread yet. I tried to eat the salad as you’re supposed to, separate for the main meal, but ended up shoving in scraps of baby greens with bites of zucchini I dragged off the thick slices of bread. And this bread was really more like four slices glued together.

I wish I would have taken a picture to show how intimidating a pile of vegetables can be–especially to you meat eaters. I even had my camera in my bag, but I was more intent on eating my food than snapping pretty picture of it. Especially when it’s so damn good.

Orange’s veggie sandwich: recommended.

Advertisement

Comments are closed.