Birthday brunch at Stone House at Stirling Ridge - Grits in the City

This year we did something different to celebrate my birthday — a birthday brunch! We’d been to Stone House at Stirling Ridge in Warren, New Jersey before but only at night. I was so curious to see what brunch would be like and it felt like a luxurious throwback to the more carefree days when we lived in the city and brunch felt like a way of life. Plus? We didn’t know but they had live music. So fun!

We made reservations and I was thrilled to see we could even reserve their outdoor seating. It was mid-September — warm but with a slight chill in the air. They did it right, with their fire pits lit to take just a bit off of the crisp starting to be noticeable in the air. I told them that it was my birthday when we reserved and they surprised me with a custom printed menu wishing me happy birthday at the top. A lovely touch!

We decided to do a bunch of appetizers, several desserts (because obviously) and get their amazing cauliflower main course to go. This proved to be a perfect plan. For appetizers we had their crab dip with creamy jumbo crab, garb panko crust and crostini. We love gazpacho so we had to get their strawberry gazpacho, which was prepared with tomato, jalapeño and pickled onion. And of course, had to try their mini lobster rolls, served on brioche buns with lemon and tarragon.

I tried a couple of their cocktails — both delicious. I started with the Spiced Watermelon, made with Lunazul Tequila, Ramazzotti, lime, grapefruit, watermelon, jalapeño and agave. A lovely end of summer option, with a little subtle spice to it. The SH Bees Knees — Aczu Gin, spiced honey syrup, fresh lemon juice and honey foam — was so good. I’ve never had a honey foam!! Hot tip though — this is one to skip when dining outside as the yellow jackets couldn’t leave us alone!!

For our self-made dessert buffet we had three different ones from their menu. We skipped the French toast in favor of ordering the brioche bread pudding, which had bananas foster and whipped cream. Proved a wise choice. We also had the hazelnut semifreddo — which was both delicious and gorgeous. That brittle! It had a blackberry compote, hazelnut brittle and whipped cream. Finally, there was the blueberry and peach crostada, with almond crumble and creme fraiche ice cream. Seasonal, fresh and delicious.