In an attempt to improve upon my writing for Map & Menu, I picked up a copy of Elements of Style and quickly found out that for every blog post I write, I use approximately twenty or so exclamation points more than I should be using. In my defense, it simply shows how excited I am to write about the places we visit and the things we eat, and I have to tell you, a post about brunch at Gather, written by yours truly, really deserves no less than 30 exclamation points! Thirty overly excited sentences would almost perfectly indicate just how enthralled I was with our Sunday morning brunch experience there, but I’ll try for the sake of proper writing style, to contain myself. (For those that don’t care about said proper writing style, just replace the period at the end of each of the following sentences with the exclamation mark I originally intended to use.)

Gather, in nearby Yarmouth, has been on our local must-try list since it opened in September. Located inside a historic Masonic Hall in the darling village of Yarmouth, Gather concentrates on locally sourcing as many of their ingredients as possible – their motto is even “farm fresh eatery” and the list of local farm suppliers prominently displayed on the wall only reinforces their mission.

The moment I walked through the door, I was completely enamored with the space. How could I not be? The focal point of the great hall is a 16-foot farm table with potted green centerpieces, flanked by black Marais bistro chairs, and set underneath rustic lights. From there, the eyes are instantly drawn to the open kitchen located on a stage. A stage! The space is unlike anything we have in Portland right now, and the communal atmosphere of the open kitchen and long farm table reminded me of a few of the Pacific Northwest restaurants for which I felt the same immediate attraction – Clyde Common, Oddfellows, and Sitka & Spruce.

When I finally moved on from obsessing over the space (poor Michael), our food arrived, bringing something new on which to fixate my excitement. The food was incredible! Instead of scarfing down my root vegetable hash like I really wanted to, I made an effort to take it slowly so I could taste each vegetable used in the hash, mixing in a bite of creamy scrambled eggs here and there. Michael made his veggie benedict not-so-veggie by ordering a side of pork sausage, but judging by the way he sopped up his eggs, hollandaise, and spinach (the first of the year, none the less) with the piece of thick sourdough toast, I’d say that the sausage (which he polished off with a similar vigor) was just icing on the cake.

Throughout our meal, we couldn’t help talking about how amazing a place like Gather would be in our own neighborhood and how clearly envious we were that Yarmouth gets to play home to this tasty gem. I’m already looking forward to our next meal at Gather, and all of the exclamation marks I’ll be able to use on the subsequent review!