The Sunnyside for Breakfast, Lunch & Brunch

Before I’d fully stopped whining about Three Rivers closing, Joe Simone (AKA Chef Joe of PBS’s The Chefs of Cucina Amore) popped right in to open The Sunnyside and began serving breakfast, lunch, and brunch in the same sparkling dockside location as its much-mourned predecessor. Against all odds, the space is now even airier, the coffee even smoother, the menu more intriguing, and the idea of brunch out with kids even more alluring. Go on a weekend morning and here’s what you’ll see: tables for four with one parent feeding two kids and a baby while painlessly collecting hero points for letting the spouse sleep in. It’s tough to say which parent’s getting the better deal.

The food and the dining space are fresh, bright, and sunny as ever. Indoor and outdoor seating is available and people of all ages–grandparents, squirmy little kids, the whole cast of characters–fit right in. Women of a certain age dressed in purple suits and red hats whisk the dotted lace over their eyes away to slurp mimosas at one table as a little girl in a pajama top tries to lick whipped cream off of her nose at another. The kitchen is open to the dining room, and when one of the cooks spotted a babe in arms, he offered to make baby food on the spot. This family-friendly outlook is amply evident on the menus–Toad in a hole ($3), pancakes ($2.50), and Scrambled Eggs, Cheesy Style ($3).

The main menus offer beautiful plates of grilled fish tacos ($12), baked eggs with asparagus and pancetta ($11), and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and chives ($11), in which the lovely eggs rest upon what appears to be an entire pound of smoked salmon. Smaller plates with interesting stuff like wood-grilled grapefruit and local honey ($3.50) or organic yogurt with fruit ($4) are available as add-ons or for those with daintier appetites. Sunnyside’s menus change often, as the emphasis here is on fresh, seasonal, local ingredients (and don’t forget the Lucky Charms $1.50.)

What else do diners need to know? The coffee: organic, bottomless ($2.50). Alcohol? Bountifully available (Mimosas $7, as well as Strawberry Wheat beer and Sakonnet Vineyards wine.) Kids’ drinks: lids and straws available; whipped cream galore on cocoa. Our server brought us little cubes of lemon poppy seed cake and homemade rhubarb jam to munch while we waited for our meals. Sweet touches like these are what create a loyal following, and we’re so lucky that The Sunnyside has arrived.

The Sunnyside:
267 Water Street, Warren, RI
phone: 401-247-1200
Open Wednesday through Sunday, 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.