Bona Vita Osteria Adds Italian-Inspired Sunday Brunch to Menu

Bona Vita Osteria is now open for Sunday brunch, serving Italian inspired breakfast and lunch options including a signature pastry basket and signature eggs benedict.

Owner Rocco Flores said many of the dishes diners will find on the new brunch menu are inspired by his wife Adele's grandmother and dishes she used to make for her as a child.

Adele serves as chef for Sunday brunch and in addition to dishes inspired by her grandmother, such as the fresh mozzarella and prosciutto frittata with a side of niman ranch bacon, she also serves up a pastry basket each Sunday featuring a variety of baked goods.

But the signature dish, Flores said, is the eggs benedict with tomato hollandaise, spinach and house-made cottechino hash.

"We're unique," he said. "This brunch kind of fits into what we do."

Residents who frequent Bona Vita may have noticed the restaurant was closed the first week of January. Flores explains this was in order to make modifications to the kitchen to serve the new brunch menu. An additional refrigerator was installed to keep all of the items for brunch separate from the dinner ingredients and a new griddle was installed.

Brunch, served from 10:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. has been extremely well-received by customers, Flores said. The owner says he has seen a lot of cross-promotion from brunch with new customers coming for dinner and regular dinner customers now coming for brunch.

Another change diners can expect to see soon is a new television going up in the restaurant. Flores said the idea for the TV will be to air Sunday afternoon football games so dad's can still catch the game while having brunch after church with the family.

Flores promises though the TV won't be on during dinner hours.

"Brunch and lunch only."

A relatively new kid on the block, Flores said business is booming. Last year the restaurant received several nods from New Jersey Monthly including best new restaurant and best Italian restaurant.

"We're blessed," Flores said. "Our vision has never been to be a 4-star restaurant. We want to be people's favorite, not the best."

Flores insists there is a big difference between the two. The versatility of the restaurant is one of the ingredients to its success, he says. For example, Flores said he often see women come for lunch with the ladies one day and dinner with the family the next.