Sunday Bubbles Brunch at the Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic Photos

Cover Photo : Sunday Bubbles Brunch at the Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic

The Sunday Bubbles Brunch event was held in the Swan's Il Mulino.

The interior of Il Mulino by day, looks just as classy as it does by night. If anything, I'd say it looks a bit more like a museum or library common area — only, there's no art or books around.

There's several different seating areas at Il Mulino. Here's a look at another one of the sections. There's a little more of the brick wall in this room. Far off in the back (on the right hand side), there's a smaller area with very tall windows. I don't believe this was used during the brunch. It would be a little bright in there for most guests.

Here's the menu for the Sunday Bubbles Brunch in 2018. Sorry the top of the left hand side is a little blurry. It was a big menu and I struggled a bit with lighting it evenly.

The main entrance to Il Mulino is through those tall doors at the back. During normal afternoon and evening hours, the space by the windows is used as lounge seating, with a few tables and chairs. For the brunch, it's a made-to-order omelet station!

That large white countertop is normally part of the lounge at Il Mulino, and if I'm not mistaken, has tall chairs right where the parfait station is!

It's granola time! The yogurt and toppings at the parfait bar were all placed in these large bistro bowls with small glasses in front of the set up… so you could build your own parfait cup!

There were so many different toppings! The bowl in focus here contains some walnuts, but positioned around the walnuts — there were blueberries, dried cranberries and sliced almonds.

Such tiny little seeds! These are chia seeds. While it is very popular to make a type of overnight pudding with them, you can also eat them raw like this. They add a nice little pop and crunch, just like a poppy seed or a sesame seed might.

Look at those strawberries! We saw strawberries in several different locations at the Sunday Bubbles Brunch and they all looked great! These are just plain cut, so there's no sauce or anything… great for a parfait cup.

This made-to-order omelet station was a little hard to get a photo of. There's a ton of light coming in from that window! The skilled omelet professional had five cooking stations like this set up.

There was also an omelet topping bar, so if you wanted to add a little more stuff on top of your fresh made omelet, you could!

Some of the more common omelet toppings were these diced tomatoes.

The three pepper mix was really pretty! Probably great for a "fiesta" omelet.

Diced Salmon anyone? Well that's something you don't see everyday… but it makes culinary sense… I think I'd like my salmon cooked in the omelet. Now if only there were a bagel and some cream cheese around somewhere.

Oh feta, you never looked betta. I'd like to take this big bowl of feta home with me… it's gorgeous and large. There's probably 24oz of feta in that big bistro bowl.

Here's what a fresh-made omelet looks like once it's plated with some other food! There's just so many top-notch options available!

The "Fruit" station featured fresh cut and compressed fruit along with a couple of brûléed fruit options.

I believe the melon, cantaloupe, pineapple and watermelon were compressed while the blackberries, blueberries and raspberries were fresh picked. Not sure about the kiwi.

Here's a selection of the compressed fruit from the Sunday Bubbles Brunch, that has been cut and placed on small plates. That way, you weren't messing around with tongs trying to grab some off the larger trays.

There was also a selection of brûléed fruit. Pictured here are some brûléed oranges. Basically, some additional sugar is placed on top of the cut oranges, and it's quick seared with a brûléed torch. The process caramelizes one side of the orange and helps seal in some of the juices.

Here's some Florida grapefruit that has been brûléed.

The fresh waffle station was located closest to the main entrance. There were a total of five waffle machines all ready to go, so there was always a hot, fluffy waffle ready to go.

These waffles were pre-plated with two quarters or basically half a waffle. There were never more than six plates made ahead — but they went really fast and were refreshed often.

While it might seem like the Chantilly Cream and Strawberry Compote are the main subject of this photo, my eyes are always drawn to those sample syrup bottles on the left.

Ahhhh… fresh, crunchy, fluffy waffles with Strawberry Compote, a little bit of Bourbon Maple Syrup topped with sweet Chantilly Cream. Honestly, I could have eaten a couple of these with some bacon and would have been super happy about the brunch — but there's so much more food to cover!

I know this is the Juice Bar, because there's a giant word on the bar, that reads "Juice".

I think the red juice is the "detox" juice and the green juice is for "energy"… but when there's bottomless mimosas… I pretty much stick to those.

From left to right — green is Energize, orange is Antioxidant, and red is Detox — as near as I can remember. They sure are pretty though! Based on the quality of everything else at this brunch, I'd say these were extracted fresh, using a high-quality process.

This little "hot breakfast items" station started to bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch. Items like carved roasted turkey, applewood smoked bacon, sausage and breakfast potatoes were always kept hot and fresh.

One of the surprise items here were these amazing, hand rolled Potato Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Sage! That keep-warm dish isn't very deep (which is a good thing). As soon as these were gone, new ones were brought out. They tasted as great as they sound! Light and fresh, with brown butter and sage!!!

Here's just one of the bazillion plates I made while at the Sunday Bubbles Brunch. A fresh waffle with Strawberry Compote, maple syrup and Chantilly Cream, crispy Applewood Smoked Bacon, and some pillowy soft Browned Butter and Sage Potato Gnocchi!

This sushi table physically bridged the gap between the breakfast and lunch options. The breakfast items were all served in the hallway that leads into the main Il Mulino dining area. This Sushi station was set up at the end of that hallway… which leads into the restaurant's interior. All of the lunch items were set up in this area, closer to the kitchen.

The presentation of the "Dragon Roll" was great! It kind of looks like a little dragon!

The Spicy Tuna Roll was so colorful. The Sushi selections were supplied by Kimonos, and this is what they call their "Spicy Rainbow Roll" — which is a combination of Spicy Tuna, Salmon and Avocado on top of the roll.

This cute little board features Salmon Sashimi.

Pictured in front is the Salmon Nigiri. The pink fish in the background is Yellowtail (amberjack) Nigiri.

This cool looking item is Shrimp Sashimi (served with zucchini strips).

Here's another look at that Dragon Roll. It combines Crispy Shrimp and Tuna.

What a great looking Wasabi dome! I think this is enough Wasabi for everyone at the brunch though!

No, it's not easy getting all of these back to the table standing up like that.

The shrimp in front is Shrimp Sashimi (pierced meat, no rice) and the one in back is Shrimp Nigiri (two fingers of rice with shrimp draped on top). They are separated with a zucchini stick.

It's the Carb Table! Ahhhh… fresh baked bread!!!

Look at all those warm buns. Crusty on the outside, fluffy on the inside.

A basket of breadsticks from the Swan and Dolphin's Sunday Bubbles Brunch event in 2018.

An assortment of bread from the bread station.

There were also two kinds of breadsticks available. I'm pretty sure these aren't chocolate chip breadsticks though. But then again, maybe they are.

The Leafy Green Salad table featured two salads… a classic Caesar salad (the lemon-garlic dressing is in the bowl in the middle of the table), and a more interesting Toasted Farro salad.

It was great seeing the Caesar salad on the Leafy Green Salad table. It certainly was very green. I think most of the grated parmesan cheese has slipped through to the bottom of the bowl though.

This is the Toasted Farro Salad, and it was pretty great! It combines charred asparagus, toasted walnuts, arugula, persimmon, feta cheese, and a honey black pepper vinaigrette.

And this is the Fromage Station! Fromage is the French word for cheese. I think, the word Fromage is being used here because it's one letter longer than the word cheese — and the extra width is needed to hold two cheese boards on top of the display.

This is Crottin Cheese or Crottin de Chavignol to be more precise. It's a goat cheese from France.

This creamy bit of goodness is Brillat-Savarin a triple cream cow's milk cheese that has a 70% or greater amount of butterfat.

Oh hey there Blue Cheese. It's smelly, but oh so good… especially with apples or a burger… maybe that's just me. I bet it would taste good in that Toasted Farro Salad from a couple of pictures ago too!

Oh these aren't just Deviled Eggs, they're Lake Meadow Farms "Naturals" Deviled Eggs. (Lake Meadow Farms is local to the area, so they're fresh.)

And there's a Charcuterie Station too! Well technically, it's "i" fell off and now it's a Charcutere Station — but I still figured out this is where all the meat is.

Coppa (or Capocollo) is a traditional Italian cold cut made from pork.

There's actually two kinds of salami on this board (note the slight color difference in the center and right most line of slices). There's both Napoli Salami and Calabrese Salami.

Near the Meat and Cheese tables there was a side table for some prepared sides. The Panzanella is front and center, but there's a couple boards of marinated, roasted veggies that were pretty great too!

Near the Meat and Cheese tables there was a side table for some prepared sides. The Panzanella is front and center, but there's a couple boards of marinated, roasted veggies that were pretty great too!

Caprese Salad... sort of. I'm used to seeing a little more basil on there, but all the other elements are in place.

Panzanella is a bread salad (kind of like croutons, but not dried and hard yet), and also includes mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes, red onion, and a red wine vinaigrette. There's also some fresh diced parsley added to the mix for color and a little extra herbaceous flavor.

it's a bowl of marinated and lightly roasted mushrooms to be used as an extra topping.

Hello gorgeous veggie board! There's so many great things on here… all were lightly marinated and grilled. From left to right carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, with red, yellow and green peppers.

The prepared plates from the kitchen were not small plates. This is the Chicken Fried Chicken with Potato Puree, Pickled Carrots, and Peppered Milk Gravy.

And here's the Striped Bass Limone that featured Seared Atlantic Striped Bass, Aged Carnaroli Rice, Romanesco, and Meyer Lemon vin Blanc.

Chef Laurent Branlard's desserts are always amazing — that's certainly true with these small Coffee pot de Creams!

Hazelnut Crunch Domes with Gold Leaf Flakes.

These are Limoncello Meringue Tarts and they were very, very popular… and for good reason! They were so light and bright with a surprisingly delicate cookie like crust that didn't overpower the meringue.

These tall glasses contain a White Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Compote. The only thing missing, is a tall spoon!

These little cups contain a not-so-traditional (but very, very good) Tiramisu.

Look at the gorgeous feet on those Macaroon cookies! And these aren't those Mini Macs you see everywhere either… these are genuine, full-size Macaroons with Pistachio Cream. So light and delicate.

The texture and flavor of this simple little almond cookie was really great... light and fluffy.

Hello there Pistachio Macaroon. That little bit in the center is as edible gold leaf flake.

Here's just one of many dessert plates that made it back to the table.

And here's another dessert plate that does a better job of showing off how tall that White Chocolate Mousse glass was. I don't actually remember too much about that brown square dessert. My guess is, it was a carrot cake or a pumpkin spice cake.