Chef de cuisine Jason Bamford wants to revolutionize the way diners think about brunch. Though the daytime boozy meal can be found at various eateries across Miami Beach, Bamford, who joined Bianca last May, believes its remodeled Sunday feast is different from others. Instead of offering eggs Benedict, French toast, and pancakes, the restaurant's brunch teeters more toward lunch than breakfast and adds a Mediterranean twist to the age-old meal.
At the Italian eatery, located inside the Delano in South Beach, the weekend meal is a global affair, similar to the guests vacationing at the hotel. Bamford, along with assistant food and beverage director Mahmood Abousalem, officially relaunched Bianca's Sunday soiree this past February 7.
"We've made quite a few modifications to brunch here," Bamford says. "We're trying to go for something more international. Though Bianca is Italian, if we just stuck to that, it would be limiting."
Bamford and Abousalem added a variety of new stations to the hotel's buffet-style brunch, with Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Middle Eastern-inspired dishes. The two say its kickoff was a huge success. They kept the indoor dining room and outdoor patio filled throughout the day, and club-like music blasted outside, adding to its South Beach vibe.
"The comments we received proved the hard work and dedication from the entire team paid off," Bamford says. "We're going to stick with the theme we have going, but we'll continue to evolve to ensure we always offer the best guest experience we can."
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Though Bianca's new brunch offers various plates from around the world, the meal features an underlying Mediterranean theme. Start with a sampling of few mixed salads and greens. They're made with couscous, quinoa, spinach, or lettuce as a base; blended with tomatoes, cheeses, carrots, and spices; and topped with various vinaigrettes. Pair your salad combination with a few pita slices or freshly baked sourdough bread, and add a scoop of homemade guacamole or hummus on the side.
For the entrée, diners can go in a variety of directions. Those looking for an American-style breakfast should head to the egg station, where omelets, scrambled eggs, and sunny-side-ups can be whipped together in minutes. Grab some bread and pastries from the bakery section to make a traditional brunch.
Forgo eggs and customize a pasta dish instead, because the egg station doubles as a linguini-making section too. Choose a pasta and add toppings such as red sauce, white sauce, meat, cheese, onions, and tomatoes. It's cooked to order and takes about five to ten minutes.
Sushi rolls, using ingredients such as salmon, tuna, crab, avocado, and cucumber, are made throughout the afternoon. Find dumplings, Asian-inspired salads and small bites, and miniature Chinese take-out boxes with different flavored noodle dishes packed inside too.
Eggs, breads, and noodles aside, the brunch's main highlight is its raw bar and grill selection. Inside, find large bowls filled with shrimp, crab, lobster, and oysters. Outside, a two-table-long spread brims with barbecue and grilled items, including baby-back ribs, churrasco, grilled lobster tails, oysters, shrimp, and smoked vegetables. Whether you're in the mood for breakfast or lunch, make sure to snag two or three grilled shrimp skewers while you meander through the feast. They're too good to pass up.
End brunch with a few trips to the dessert spread. Bianca being an Italian eatery, it's no surprise the sweets selection is over-the-top. Items vary, but expect chocolate-dipped strawberries, gooey chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, cakes, mousses, lime and meringue-infused bites, and macarons.
For $85 per person (excluding tax and gratuity), spend the day South Beach-style with bottomless glasses of Veuve Clicquot or Belvedere bloody marys and unlimited trips to the buffet. Brunch runs Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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