Clearly I’m on a brunch kick. Adam and I met a group of friends old (Ilyse, Jessica) and new (Matt, The Ice Cream Man and James of The Eaten Path) at Enoteca Vespaio for Sunday brunch after SXSW.

There were nine of us and we were attempting to get a table on South Congress Avenue during the busiest time of year. This was my idea and I can’t explain the temporary insanity that made me think this would work. The strategy: leave our name at South Congress Café, Enoteca, and Woodland and hope that one could accommodate us with a reasonable wait.

Luck was on our side that day because Enoteca showed us to our table in ten minutes. Adam and I had our first date at Enoteca last fall for brunch but the food didn’t make as much of an impression on me…probably because he did all the impressing

This time, I swooned over everything I tried – from the wonderful skim latte that started off my meal to the perfect pressed prosciutto, fontina, arugula & truffled egg panino. Every dish was cooked perfectly and made with love. Check out their brunch menu for yourself here.

It shouldn’t have surprised me that Enoteca is a favorite local restaurant of David, The Soup Peddler. For his birthday, Adam and I brought over take out that included margherita pizza, pasta Bolognese, suppli – fried risotto balls with cheese , and calamari. This was served with fresh, peppery, arugula from Dave and Meredith’s garden.

For dessert, Meredith prepared a favorite dessert from David’s Baltimore childhood – rainbow cake. According to David, this is a five layer white cake where each layer is dyed a different color of the rainbow and raspberry jam is spread between each. Does anyone else have a memory of rainbow cake from their childhood? David swears that this particular type of rainbow cake is indigenous to the Baltimore Jewish community.