Aqua Restaurant Easter Brunch
Having scheduled the family Easter dinner for Saturday, which came off quite well, including trying a new ( new to me anyway) version of ham from costco which everyone loved, an excellent Applewood smoked full length de-boned ham which had been cut in half vertically rather than horizontally, we had decided that brunch at the “new” Aqua would be just the ticket for Sunday. After a winter’s hiatus, which included a change in ownership, a bit of re-decorating and some staff changes, I was curious to see if the beautiful Aqua Restaurant, which overlooks the Chesapeake Bay in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia just re-opened on Friday, had retained its old charm. And more importantly, its fine flair for preparing regional cuisine. I hoped for the best but feared for the worst as we walked through the door on Sunday but, happily, my fears were for naught as the answer to my first question was a resounding “Yes, Shelly Cusmina is still the head chef.” So, off to a good start in its new iteration, still, as Cole Porter would say, ” Delightful, Delicious, De-lovely.”
Aqua is well known for its tradition of delectable Southern-style cuisine for holiday brunches and Sunday’s food definitely did that tradition proud. If Paula Deen had been there she would have said that they had outdone themselves with this luscious meal, nary a foot put wrong. Although Aqua’s regular lunch and dinner menus are geared towards fine dining, emphasizing the fresh seafood from our Chesapeake Bay region, its brunches often feature some classic Southern dishes that don’t appear on the set menu, including some of the best mac and cheese I have ever tasted, smooth, really creamy. And an ode should have been written to the fried chicken, that’s how good it was, crisp flakes of crunchy coating, mouthwatering tender chicken , accompanied by plenty of spicy Crystal hot sauce. ( You might be a Southerner if you can’t really enjoy fried chicken without an ample sprinkling of pungent hot sauce, preferably Crystal or Texas Pete brand. ) And rounding out the “must-have” trifecta of mac and cheese and fried chicken is, of course, a mess of collard greens. Now the important thing about collards (besides needing to be cooked until very tender ) is that they must be “well seasoned” which is a catch-all description for the rich peppery ham flavor that proper collards are supposed to have. Adding little chunks of smoked country ham or smoked side meat is the best cooking method to give collards the sort of sweet-salty tangy flavor that no holiday table in Virginia is truly complete without. And speaking of not complete, light as air biscuits are also a must serve, in Aqua’s case, feather-light sweet potato biscuits.
There was, of course, a separate omelet station stocked with choices of just about every ingredient one could wish to be added to a fluffy omelet. I’m not really a breakfast person so brunch for me might as well just be called lunch but Hubby is just about the opposite and prefers the breakfast side of a brunch. 
In addition to the omelet station, a huge poached salmon cleverly decorated with cucumber slice “scales” accompanied by a mellow dill sauce, pan-fried Yukon potatoes, mini- sausage links, fluffy blueberry pancakes, bagels and rich flaky pastries were available for the breakfast foodies. Plus gorgeous fruit trays filled one end of a table, offering a wide selection of fruit including some very tempting strawberries, gorgeous, vivid red with an amazing bouquet and ambrosial Hawaiian pineapple slices, literally dripping with juice, a whole array of delights. It was a lovely event, enjoyed in good company, proving once again that a meal at Aqua’s is still “Delightful, Delicious, De-lovely ” ! (Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7135 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA. )
Tags: Aqua restaurant Cape Charles Virginia, Cape Charles Virginia, Chef Shelly Cusmina, Eastern Shore of Virginia, life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, Southern style food, Virginia Eastern Shore