Park Slope Gastronome #1

It was gorgeous weather on Sunday and what better way to start off the day than with a delicious brunch. Dan, his little sister Amy who was visiting for the weekend and I, decided to try Cocotte, a Frenchy place across the street that shares the same owners as Dan's beloved LouLou in Fort Greene. We decided it was a tad too breezy to eat outside, so we waited for a table inside. There was no one taking names, which should have tipped me off immediately. I have big problems with places that won't let you leave your name and number in your party and doesn't provide space for waiting. So basically, a bunch of people were huddled by the front door and you had to keep a mental track of where your place in line was.

The inside decor is a near carbon copy of LouLou, down to the vintage silverware and turbinado sugar cubes in a ceramic bowl. The food is pretty much the same as well. Our drink orders were taken soon after we sat down. Strong but not very hot coffee cost $3 a cup. I wasn't very happy about this. A bland, but overall fair Bloody Mary cost $6. It came with a long stalk of celery, top intact, so that was a nice, classic touch. The celery garnish in a Bloody Mary is just too underused these days. So we get our drinks and wait for our waiter to come by to take our food order. We wait and wait and wait some more. Nowhere to be seen. We see tables who were seated after us get their food orders in. Of course I get incensed. We finally see our server; he walks past our table no less than 4 times but not once does he pause to say he'll be right with us. When he finally shows up at tableside, he doesn't apologize for making us wait and that puts me over the top. Listen, I know servers are not paid an hourly wage and rely on tips, but it's not just about taking food orders and bringing the food to your table. I want someone to want their 15-20% tip and not just simply expect it. Amy, the one with wait experience at our table agreed. A simple gesture to acknowledge our presence would have done wonders. Oh well.

I got a ham, mushroom and cheese omelette, Dan got the french toast and Amy got the l'ocean omelette - an egg white omelette with smoked salmon and cream cheese. My food was good but nothing spectacular. A bit of dressed greens would have been a nice addition to the egg dishes. Amy's eggs were quite underdone and looked like a plate of grits.

Of course our waiter never showed up to give us the check. Once again we waited and waited and finally just figured out the bill in our heads and left. Don't think we'll be going back there any time soon.

Food: B
Service: D-
(It would have been an F if another waiter hadn't brought out food and actually came back to check in and see if everything was ok)