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| - On a Saturday morning in which my family and I celebrated my sister's birthday at the Phoenix Zoo, we needed a spot to go for lunch afterwards. Gertrude's was by far the closest restaurant nearby so off we went. I've come to the Botanical Gardens a bunch of times, but have never dined here. Gertrude's is located right near the front entrance of the Botanical Gardens and fortunately doesn't require a Garden admission to get in. The restaurant is enormous with a bunch of seating both inside and out (I'm guessing at least 200 seats). Despite it's size, I've seen this place packed particularly at night during Luminaria season. We were able to get a patio table for 7 pretty quickly for a Noon brunch.
The brunch menu differs a bit from the dinner menu so I can't speak for what the food is like after 4pm. Brunch options range from the fairly typical all American breakfast options to light lunch options, but with their own twist. Gertrude's sources a bunch of their stuff locally and makes a point of it to say so. None of which is that unusual in today's up and coming restaurant scene of course, but its pretty clear the Botanical Garden staff wants to remind you that their on site restaurant takes its cuisine seriously. I have to say I was pretty impressed with our server Matt. He was unusually knowledgable about the food on the menu including the cooking methods used and even went out of his way to say what was good and not so great that day. Almost as if the chef himself was our server for the day.
Matt was particularly enthusiastic about a menu item they call the Breakfast Bowl. Its a smoked pork gumbo that they put in a bowl on top of a bed of corn muffins and top with eggs any style. I love me some good gumbo so I went with that option with over medium eggs per Matt's recommendation. I also got a side order of their fingerling potatoes as Yelpers seemed to rave about those. To wash it all down I got their seasonal red sangria which uses a variety of fresh seasonal locally grown fruits.
The sangria was a super refreshing start. Not too sweet with a smooth cold finish. The fact that it was served in a red wine glass was a bit odd to me, but no complaints about the drink itself. As for the main event, the gumbo was pretty decent. The corn muffin and roux used in the gumbo was excellent, as were the bits of sausage they included. The pork was pretty good too though it might've perhaps been cooked down a little too much as the pork just disintegrated rather than pulled apart. It didn't hurt the flavor profile too much, but the texture was a little odd. The fingerling potatoes were seasoned well and the side order was very generous, though perhaps they could add just a tad more olive oil. All in all though, a solid brunch.
Total cost for the food, drink, tax, and tip came to about $33. A better than average value in my opinion. I give Matt some pretty solid marks for helping us with our menu choices as the rest of my family seemed thoroughly enjoy their meal. And as many have mentioned, its hard to beat the ambience of Gertrude's when the weather it just right. The view from the patio in particular is work making a reservation for. So if you're planning on making a trip to Botanical Gardens, or are just in the neighborhood looking for a sit down spot as we were, Gertrude's is a hideaway within a hideaway. In the middle of a densely populated desert metropolis no less.
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