The Roanoker - March/April 2019 - 90

Regency Room
Contact Info and Hours:
The Hotel Roanoke &
Conference Center
110 Shenandoah Ave NW
Roanoke, VA 24016
Reservations
(Highly recommended)

Visit OpenTable.com
or Call 1-866-594-4722
Grand Buffet Brunch Hours
Sunday 11:30-2pm
Grand Buffet Cost
Adult: $30
12 and under: $15
5 and under: Complimentary

ABOVE, CLOCKWISE

Classic Southern
Hospitality
Smoked salmon, pastry
station, piano music,
waffles and peanut soup.
These are but a few of
the classics that define a
Regency Room brunch.

Shari Dragovich

is a freelance
writer whose work
appears in regional
magazines throughout
the Southeast. Her
favorite pursuits
include all things story,
all things community
and all things wine.
She, along with her
husband and five
teenaged kids, think it
a beautiful gift to call
Roanoke home.
90

MARCH/APRIL 2019

"I came down here to interview and immediately
fell in love," says DeMarco, citing the beauty of
Roanoke's landscape as well as its people.
DeMarco is passionate in his stewardship of "The
Grand Old Lady." While he admits he knew next
to nothing of Hotel Roanoke's venerable history,
he quickly embraced this place where generations
of Roanokers have unequivocally linked their story
to her own.
As such, DeMarco recognizes his responsibility
to feed all Hotel Roanoke's diners well: whether
it's the third-generation housekeeping employee,
the one-time international traveler or the Roanoke
family who's been frequenting Regency Room's
Sunday brunch for the past 40 years.
Ah, the Regency Room brunch; recently named
a Top 100 Brunch Restaurant across America by
Open Table. Since 1939, the Regency Room has
been opening its doors, welcoming guests with her
elegant and revered Southern hospitality. Every
Sunday, DeMarco and his brunch team of 11 to 15
prepare and serve between 60 to 70 menu items.
DeMarco creates a new menu every week, working
around his benchmark items; those foods iconic to
Hotel Roanoke.
"Every week we have peanut soup, bread pudding
and spoon bread," says DeMarco. "And every week
we have our stations: omelets, strip steak carving
station, pastries, oatmeal, salmon and desserts."
Each station is carefully placed throughout the
main dining room and on gorgeous display. Then
there is an additional room in back where hot lunch
entrées can be found.
On my last visit to the Regency Room for brunch,
I overheard a Sunday brunch first-timer declare to

her husband, "I've died and gone to heaven." An apt
declaration when approaching the sheer abundance
of Regency Room's Sunday brunch. It's enough to
make one dizzy deciding where to start.
For me, a Regency Room brunch must begin
with their in-house smoked salmon topped with
capers and red onions, and a cup of peanut soup. I
love the Regency Room's way with smoked salmon:
served in chunks rather than thin-sliced. DeMarco
says they've been smoking their own salmon for at
least 15 years now. It is-by far-one of the Regency
Room's most popular items.
As for peanut soup, my fascination is two-fold:
it's found only at the Regency Room, and I feel
like a kid when I'm eating it, slurping peanut butter
with a spoon.
For round two, I head to the center station
for quiche, bacon and whatever pastry is calling
my name (small pastry, mind you, it's only round
two). I also pour myself oatmeal and smother it
with all the toppings. Then it's back to the salmon
station for anti-pasta salad (wonderful!) or some
other Mediterranean-inspired dish. Or, maybe to
the back for a lunch entrée; something southerninspired with a Chef DeMarco twist to it.
Sometimes I make it to dessert. Oftentimes I
don't. The struggle is real. My husband begins at
the omelet station, then heads over to the carving
station. My kids start with pastries, move on to
waffles, back to pastries and end with cheesecake
(except my oldest, who manages an omelet or two).
No matter how you approach Regency Room's
brunch, you'll never exhaust your options. Good
thing Chef DeMarco and the Grand Old Lady are
both relentless in their commitment to Roanoke. I
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The Roanoker - March/April 2019

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