Deco and Dessert

New things come in some pretty fancy packages--this month, at least. My friend John, a former student of ours named Liz, and her husband, Nate had a swanky brunch at the Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel in downtown Cincinnati.



The hotel is a real jewel of a building--a French Art Deco jewel. The hotel opened in 1931, and according to The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the main lobby and mezzanine sport "a half-acre of rare Brazilian rosewood, extensive use of German silver, and a stylized Egyptian decor reinforced with delicate floral motifs. There are also exquisitely detailed frescoes, ceiling murals, an original Rookwood fountain with a pair of matching seahorses, and the refined Restaurants at Palm Court, which includes Orchids at Palm Court—voted as the top restaurant in Cincinnati (Zagat, 2012) and one of the top 100 restaurants in the US (OpenTable, 2010 and 2011)." Our super swanky brunch was at Orchids. Here's the restaurant.


Here're some lobby details.



The brunch buffet included (hang onto your hats) a meat carving bar serving roast suckling pig and prime rib, an omelet station, a salad table with five or six amazing salads, a breakfast area with eggs Benedict, Belgian waffles, bacon, and sausage, a country-style section that included fired chicken and au gratin potatoes; a bloody Mary station; a seafood table with shrimp, smoked salmon, and smoked trout, a bread table with muffins, Danishes, sweet rolls, and dinner rolls; and a dessert table: cobbler, three kinds of cake, four kinds of tarts, chocolate covered strawberries, and several kinds of bar cookies. It was the most extravagant display of food I've seen in one place ever. I was glad I took inventory of the options before I loaded up, or I would have been carrying five plates back to the table instead of one. I'm pleased to say that I stuck to the salads and seafood, though I don't guess that any of it was lo-cal. I am not pleased to report that I ate four teeny tarts and two chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. They were fabulous. Brunch wasn't cheap, but it was really yummy.

Afterwards, we walked upstairs to see the lovely Hall of Mirrors. It's supposed to be modeled after the Palace of Versailles. See what you think:




Here's the real Hall of Mirrors in France:



I was just reading that the Cincy Hall of Mirrors is said to be haunted. A so-called "Lady in Green" is said to wander around the Hall of Mirrors and Mezzanine level of the hotel. According to hotel lore, the lady's hubby was a construction worker who was killed in the building of the hotel in 1930. Legend has it that his body was never recovered, so now the Lady in Green wanders the halls searching for him. I can report that I did not see her today.

We wandered into some other really cool rooms and marveled at the deco details. One room--I think it was the Continental--had these amazing lights all around the room:



All in all, it was a lovely way to spend a September day, even if it was a diet-buster of a new thing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad