How we made Southern Specialties a staple on our buffet!

When we were developing the items to feature on our “ Amazing Breakfast Buffet”, we knew that we would have the basics; eggs , potatoes, pancakes and sausages. But we also wanted to include some more unique items, including one that we enjoyed on our winter road trips down south – Sausage Gravy and biscuits!

Many a salesman tried to convince Tony that the gravy should be made the easy way, with a pre-made mix: “just add milk”.  This didn’t satisfy us.  Instead, Tony set to work, and with a little trial and error he found the perfect recipe for this southern specialty!  Like everything at Laura and Tony’s, it is prepared fresh and from scratch. 

At first people were very skeptical. Then it became so popular, we made it a buffet staple!

Our success with the gravy inspired us to expand our menu even further with Southern Specialties.  Tony’s father John, an avid hiker, inspired us to create a meal that sticks to your ribs and gives you energy all day long.  One of his favorite breakfasts while hiking was grits; a southern breakfast staple. 

The grits we serve are no ordinary grits. My husband makes them with the same love reserved for a creamy polenta, adding caramelized green onions, ham, or andouille sausage with caramelized red onion. And, of course, always finished with Cabot Cheddar Cheese, and more importantly, always delicious!!

We know have people coming in and asking when the grits will make it to the buffet.  I wonder what  we will think of next to add to our “ Amazing Breakfast Buffet”?  Come in and give our southern specialties a try, and suggest anything else you’d like to see on our menu!

Our Food Philosophy

Our motto is “Fresh is best”! One night, while preparing Tony's Award Winning Clam Chowder for a catering event, we realized that our kitchen doesn't even have a can opener! Tony actually had to run to our house to get the opener; we laughed, but this is an example of how we believe that fresh ingredients produce fresh results.

We prepare all of our buffet items from scratch using fresh ingredients. We focus on local, organic products whenever we can! We do all of our cooking in small batches to help ensure that all of our customers enjoy a warm and tasty breakfast, fresh from the kitchen!

We serve “The Beanstock “, an organic Sumatra Coffee. It's locally roasted, and sometimes the beans are still warm when they deliver! Who else can say that?

We squeeze our own orange juice daily - we know that we could save a lot by purchasing “ Fresh squeezed Orange Juice” but we have taste tested them and our fresh squeezed is just that much better. No preservatives , no pasteurizing - just the juice of the orange!!

To put it simply, we've found that fresh, organic, and local ingredients make the best food. We use the same philosophy when it comes to our catering menu - Fresh is always Best! Come in and try it; we think you'll agree!

House Made Cinnamon Rolls

Many years ago  I remembered going to this funky little café in Vermont.  They served the best coffee in mismatched coffee mugs and  an amazing Cinnamon Roll that came straight from the oven - it was so warm and so delicious that I wanted to try to recreate that experience for my customers at our restaurant!
I played  with a recipe until I was able to get it as close to what I remembered. Now, we are proud to say that at Laura & Tony’s Kitchen, we make our Cinnamon Rolls daily and serve them warm straight from the oven; the way they taste best!
        They have definitely caught on through the years. We even have customers who like to buy them unbaked so they can bring them home and enjoy them hot from their own oven.  Our Cinnamon Rolls are in big demand!
  Of course, those aren’t the only baked goods we serve.  We also have our Signature Carrot Cake with an Old Fashioned Cream Cheese Frosting and our own Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping, among several other additions. Most importantly, we are happy to be able to say we do all baking at Laura & Tony‘s Kitchen!!

How Laura and Tony's Kitchen came to be….

        We were winding down another season at “ Aesop’s Tables “ and although we loved working at “Aesop’s”,  we always had a dream, like most chefs I know, about owning our own restaurant.

  Late, one afternoon in October, I was driving on Route 6 and I saw that the Art Deco building that  was formerly occupied  was finally available. I quickly  pulled over and called the landlord - we set up an appointment to meet the very next day.

        I convinced  Tony to join me, just to look, but  it was love at first site for both of us. We returned the next day and  quickly gave the landlord a deposit. We had been looking for years for a place of our own, and come very close to buying buildings in years past, but we had always had a feeling that it wasn’t quite right. With this building, neither one of us had any other feelings then this was the one , the funky building that would be perfect to showcase our food!!

   We were  lucky to have our good friend David Martin (who is very creative) to help us design the dining rooms, filling them with glorious color to reflect the spirit of our restaurant.  Dave also created a colorful mural on the wall for us that joins our two dinning rooms. It can even be seen through our vast windows from Route 6!

   As far as the name, we spent days (which felt like weeks) filling notebooks with all kinds of possibilities.  In the end we couldn’t agree on any of them; those who knew us, however, were already calling it Laura and Tony‘s! We settled on “ Laura & Tony’s Kitchen” because that’s what it is! It is OUR kitchen to express our creativity through our food and to nourish all who enter through our doors!!!

Welcome to Laura and Tony's Blog!

For those who don't know, Laura and Tony's Kitchen is a husband and wife team in the heart of Cape Cod.  We are a part of the "slow food" movement (as opposed to fast food), because all of our food is prepared in small batches, from scratch, and with fresh ingredients.  We pride ourselves on our gourmet breakfast buffet, freshly baked goods, and years of catering experience.  All of our food is made from scratch, and we've managed to attract some celebrity attention; Rachael Ray called our restaurant one of "Cape Cod's best kept secrets".  Our plan with this blog is to share our philosophy on food, give some of the stories and thoughts that go into establishing a Zagat rated restaurant, and hopefully inspire others to follow in our footsteps!

Find out more about us at http://www.lauraandtonyskitchen.com/
Follow us on twitter for updates, special discounts, and more! http://twitter.com/lauratonyskitch