As a former Lineage restaurant regular, I did not think I’d be able to enjoy a meal at 242 Harvard Street again. Its closing left me with a hole in my heart that needed to be filled. That may sound a bit extreme, but I mourned the loss of my favorite restaurant like I did a lost love. I figured the solution was to dislike anything that came into its space. I can confirm now, that was the wrong initial approach. What this really meant was that It took me a while to warm up to the idea (pun intended) of Prairie Fire in 242 Harvard Street. While nothing can fully replace Lineage, I really like and appreciate the warmth, food, atmosphere and people at Prairie Fire and I recommend it highly as a place to try if you’re in Coolidge Corner. Heck, it’s even worth a specific trip to the area especially if you can snag one of the coveted bar seats by the fire.
One of my favorite things about Prairie Fire, as I mentioned, is their bar seats. I love going and connecting with my friends and family and chatting with the chefs Jordy and Brendan or the bartenders. They care so much about creating community and about food bringing people together. I appreciate that they make delicious, local, fresh food that can be enjoyed by anyone, any age. I went with my friend’s 3 year old, and she loved her kids pizza so much she ate the whole thing while doing a happy dance. While I think that their pizza and other tasty dinner items are worth a happy dance, I’m going to focus this post on brunch. There are very few places in Coolidge Corner for a good brunch, and Prairie Fire is a gem in this category as well.
Brunching by the fire
We had just gotten back from Spain and woke up jet lagged and ravenous! We needed a brunch fix quick and close by and had admired the Prairie Fire brunch menu for a while but hadn’t gotten around to trying it despite regularly having dinner, or drinks there. After my husband and I ordered coffees, full caf for him and decaf for me, we started the great brunch debate-- what to eat. As a New York transplant, I’m a sucker for great pizza and smoked fish. Lucky for me and my fireside and chefside seat, I saw the chef, Jordy, putting together a smoked trout pizza and decided to try it. I am often hesitant to try anything warm that has smoked fish in it because it changes the fish’s consistency. Part of what sold me on trying it over the other tasty dishes was that Jordy managed to mix cold smoked fish with a warm crust.
The pizza had dill creme fresh, capers, greens, and smoked trout atop homemade sourdough crust, and it was an ideal temperature and consistency. In addition to being a huge smoked fish fan, I have been really excited about fried eggs recently over my typical scramble. There is something comforting about a runny yolk in a farm fresh egg with the change of the season, which was the ideal complement to the sourdough pizza crust.
My husband and dining partner ordered the breakfast sandwich and ate it too quick for me to get a picture because he enjoyed it so much. One thing that struck me was that it was vegetarian and that there were carrots on it-- these are two aspects of a meal that don’t usually attract my husband. I tried a bite and I thought it was a great balance of flavor and appreciated that the sandwich was on a homemade English muffin (yum!).
My overall thoughts on brunch at Prairie Fire-- I can’t wait to go back and I think the fire will be a welcome addition to our weekend mornings. I highly recommend that you try it too!
One of my favorite things about Prairie Fire, as I mentioned, is their bar seats. I love going and connecting with my friends and family and chatting with the chefs Jordy and Brendan or the bartenders. They care so much about creating community and about food bringing people together. I appreciate that they make delicious, local, fresh food that can be enjoyed by anyone, any age. I went with my friend’s 3 year old, and she loved her kids pizza so much she ate the whole thing while doing a happy dance. While I think that their pizza and other tasty dinner items are worth a happy dance, I’m going to focus this post on brunch. There are very few places in Coolidge Corner for a good brunch, and Prairie Fire is a gem in this category as well.
Brunching by the fire
We had just gotten back from Spain and woke up jet lagged and ravenous! We needed a brunch fix quick and close by and had admired the Prairie Fire brunch menu for a while but hadn’t gotten around to trying it despite regularly having dinner, or drinks there. After my husband and I ordered coffees, full caf for him and decaf for me, we started the great brunch debate-- what to eat. As a New York transplant, I’m a sucker for great pizza and smoked fish. Lucky for me and my fireside and chefside seat, I saw the chef, Jordy, putting together a smoked trout pizza and decided to try it. I am often hesitant to try anything warm that has smoked fish in it because it changes the fish’s consistency. Part of what sold me on trying it over the other tasty dishes was that Jordy managed to mix cold smoked fish with a warm crust.
The pizza had dill creme fresh, capers, greens, and smoked trout atop homemade sourdough crust, and it was an ideal temperature and consistency. In addition to being a huge smoked fish fan, I have been really excited about fried eggs recently over my typical scramble. There is something comforting about a runny yolk in a farm fresh egg with the change of the season, which was the ideal complement to the sourdough pizza crust.
My husband and dining partner ordered the breakfast sandwich and ate it too quick for me to get a picture because he enjoyed it so much. One thing that struck me was that it was vegetarian and that there were carrots on it-- these are two aspects of a meal that don’t usually attract my husband. I tried a bite and I thought it was a great balance of flavor and appreciated that the sandwich was on a homemade English muffin (yum!).
My overall thoughts on brunch at Prairie Fire-- I can’t wait to go back and I think the fire will be a welcome addition to our weekend mornings. I highly recommend that you try it too!