Brunch Bunch: Wright's at the Biltmore

Week 2: Wright's at the Biltmore | Slideshow
Week 1: Au Petite Four | Slideshow

The Arizona Biltmore is the epitome of sophistication. The beautiful, spacious resort with a Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced design from the late 1920s exudes class and relaxed luxury. It is not teeming with “thousandaires” trying to look important nor is filled with stuffy old-money acting pretentious.

It offers the beautiful tranquility and exceptional service that you would expect from “one of the most spectacular resorts in the world.”

We chose brunch at Wright's at the Biltmore, which is offered 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. The basic brunch is offered as a small but plentiful buffet of hors d' oeuvres and desserts for $29.

Wright's also offers nine entrée selections if you desire something more.

The appetizer portion of the buffet includes a few notable vegetable dishes. We all particularly loved the grilled portabella mushrooms with an assortment of accompanying sauces.

The includes nearly 8-feet of fresh seafood goodies: lobster tails, assorted sushi, crab legs and caviar; served appropriately with a mother of pearl spoon.

Committed to our mission, we ordered a few entrees, including the Wright's Eggs Benedict ($35 including buffet), the Smoked Salmon Hash and Eggs ($37 including buffet), the Three Egg Omelet ($31 including the buffet) and the Grilled Apricot Brioche Cristo ($32 including buffet).

The large English muffins for the Benedict were topped with smoked pork loin and poached eggs then covered with a shallot scented spinach and chive hollandaise sauce. This eggs Benedict was smoky, thanks to the pork loin, and the attractive green sauce was flavorful, light and delicate.

The salmon arrived as a large, flaky piece of mesquite-grilled fish accompanied by two eggs on top of a hash containing smoked salmon, potatoes and grilled fennel brioche.

The three-egg omelet is served with either chicken apple sausage or applewood-smoked bacon and rosemary rösti potatoes. Our group's choice included tomatoes, baby spinach and goat cheese in the omelet from a list of ingredients. The omelet was good and had been thoughtfully divided onto separate plates by the kitchen.

The potatoes that accompanied the meal were basically shredded hash browns with cheese. Although they were tasty, the rosemary was not pronounced and the flavor was bland. Fortunately, the chicken apple sausage had good flavor.

The prosciutto and fontina were a salty compliment to the sweetness of the brioche with blueberry compote, Chantilly cream and maple syrup.

Although it was difficult, we managed to save room for dessert. We hit the dessert buffet with a goal to sample one of everything offered. We liked almost everything but the light, not-too-sweet cheesecake was our favorite. The bread pudding with caramel sauce was easily deserving of second place and was quickly devoured.

Stuffed and sleepy, we did manage to finish our outrageously priced drinks – Mimosa ($11), the Biltmore Original Tequila Sunrise ($14), Wrights Bloody Mary ($8.25), coffee ($4.50) and iced tea ($4.50).

We were thrilled to find Wright's to be family friendly. Our junior dining companion, a 9-month-old, was made very welcome. We also noticed that several of the other dining guests had well-behaved children at their tables.

Our service, including the valet, hostess and doormen, was excellent. We do, however, have a complaint with the telephone service. One of our team was on hold for nine minutes waiting to make a reservation for brunch, and a call to confirm directions went so long without an answer that we hung up.

Tip 1: Although visitor self-parking is available, it is not plentiful. A free valet is available by the front door.

Tip 2: The Arizona Biltmore is offering a Mother's Day brunch on Sunday, May 13th. Trust us, your mom would love it!

Hungry and ready to serve the readers of azcentral.com: Maggie Wright, Maria Witt and Kristin Parker