Best of Boston

2000 Best Brunch, Gourmet

The Blue Room

Buffet brunches are usually dangerous territory—the food must be constantly replenished—but the Blue Room has the system down pat. Dishes are set up on a long counter snaking past the open kitchen, and when the chefs see that the plate of baby back ribs is running low, they can immediately throw another rack on the grill. Food tends toward the lunchier (cucumber salad with mint, five-spiced shrimp, salmon with fennel vinaigrette), but breakfast (eggs with spinach and feta, fresh corn grits, homemade sausage) is represented beautifully.

1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, 617-494-9034, theblueroom.ne