Brunch at Roberta's

Starting off the meal with a Hara-Kiri, Roberta's version of a bloody mary. Sake instead of vodka, and a pepperoncini garnish instead of a stalk of celery or olive skewer. The sake makes for a lighter, sweeter and smoother drink, but I much prefer the traditional version. I did like the extra large square ice cube that floated in canning jar.

Dan and I wound up splitting an order of Bane's fried chicken and a guanciale and egg pizza. I forgot to take a picture of the chicken before I started eating. When I remembered, my hands were already chickenified, plus I was holding a baby, so a photo was not going to happen. The chicken was incredibly moist and juicy, and came with a yummy buttermilk biscuit and a gently dressed, small bibb lettuce salad, but for $14, I want more than two small pieces of chicken. And some sort of potato, preferably mashed or au gratined, thank you very much. The pizza could have benefited from a tad more guanciale, but boy was it delicious. Just like you'd dip your toast into a sunny side up egg for breakfast, you could smush around a piece of the pizza crust in the yolk.

Brunch in Baltimore

Fried polenta triangles with two eggs over easy, salsa fresca, house-made chorizo, tortilla and red and green chile sauce @ Golden West in Hampden with DMR, Keri, Sam and Otis. I ate one-handed as I held Sam during the meal. Otis snoozed in his car seat.

When Keri suggested this place for brunch, I was a bit skeptical because the name made me think of Golden Corral. Lesson learned, you should never judge a book by its cover! This was a whole lot of yum. A whole lot of home-made yum. And they served Zeke's coffee which was also yum.

Coming Soon: Double Trouble

I'm headed to the hospital in a couple hours to get induced! Double Trouble should be here at some point on Friday. These were our last meals out pre-DT.

Last brunch: No. 7
We love brunch at No. 7. The food is great and the service is attentive without being overbearing. It hasn't been overly crowded the couple times we've been so Double Trouble and I have had a little more belly room.

DMR and I split an order of waffles and half fried chicken for a DIY version of chicken and waffles. The waffle is good, though I prefer the thicker, Belgiany kind, as well it to be a little more on the crisp, well done side. It's served with two little dishes, one with candied almond slivers and one with an apple and raisin compote. I dig the apples pieces out and leave the raisins for DMR to consume. The fried chicken can be ordered in 1/4, 1/2 and whole portions. The 1/2 order is more than enough for us. You get 5 well seasoned pieces (a drumstick, a breast cut in half , wing and I think a thigh?). The batter gives off a nice crunch. I like alternating between dipping my chicken in the maple syrup and the home made hotsauce.

We also shared an order of latkes and a cinnamon bun the size of a squashed softball. This was the same exact meal we ordered the one other time we had brunch here, with a few minor tweaks. The latkes were all potato on our initial visit but the second time around some carrot and celery was mixed in. Our cinnamon bun was relatively straight up last time, this time it was studded with bacon bits.

Last dinner: iCi
I read about iCi's $25 3-course prix fixe on Grub Street or Eater and it sounded like a good deal. The restaurant offers up three appetizer and entree choices and then a choice of two desserts. DMR and I like different tastes, so we usually order and share our plates. To begin, we went with the crispy potato cake with goat cheese, apple sage chutney and a winter salad of frisee, radicchio and a roasted garlic vinaigrette. I let DMR eat most of the goat cheese as I'm not really supposed to eat soft cheeses, but at this point, it probably doesn't matter. The cakes were definitely crispy on the outside, but still tender and soft on the inside. The sage in the chutney was probably my least favorite part. We both could have eaten two cakes a piece easily, but the lightly dressed winter salad was a good partner and a good idea. Odd appetizer out: house cured salmon.

Dan ordered the roasted pork medallion with kale, pinenuts, currants and a sweet potatoes for his main and I opted for the Spanish mackerel with squash, red peppers and kalamata olives in a ginger lemon beurre blanc. The pork was unfortunately a little over cooked and tough, but the sauce and kale were delicious. My mackerel on the other hand was expertly sauteed. Odd entree out: tagliatelle with sun dried tomatoes.

There were only two options for dessert, so no feelings were hurt. We shared the chocolate pot de creme with chantilly cream and a coconut tart with almond brittle. Left to our own devices we probably would have each ordered the pot de creme, which is one of my favorite desserts ever. It easily blew away with the coconut tart, which was perfectly respectable (with the exception of the almond brittle, which contained some unexpected chewy citrusy ingredient). The pot de creme reminded me those melted chocolate bar cookies from The City Bakery. In a word, deliciousness. Dark chocolately decadent deliciousness.

The General Greene First and 2nd and 3rd and 4th tastes...

Whoops, I started this post months and months ago and never finished it. The General Greene opened in Fort Greene to much fanfare in the cursed corner spot on Dekalb and Clermont. This finally might be the restaurant to not only stick around but also offer up some decent grub. DMR and I had a first taste dinner on a late summer evening. At this point the General Greene was only using the front space. There's also a very long hallway that runs past the kitchen and opens into a second dining room. I had read a lot about the rushed nature of the service and felt it throughout the evening. Also, this is a small plates place and I can never figure out how much to order at such establishments. On the first visit at least, it's difficult to gauge because portion sizes are different things to every restaurant. We over-ordered and our table didn't have enough room for all the plates.

The three bean salad - very basic, but very fresh and delicious.

The roasted beets in a yogurt chive sauce. Super good and a very nice portion.

Nasty nasty "crispy chicken" that was anything but. The meat was stringy and chewy and the skin rubbery.

The pork meatballs were a disappointment as well. They were on the dry side and overwhelmed by a too sweet tomato based sauce that was reminiscent of the sort of vodka sauce you'd get at a pizzeria. We also tried the candied bacon (yum, but nothing I'd need to order again) as well as the cheeseburger. The cheeseburger here is an interesting beast. The kitchen uses a crazy meat to fat ratio so even if your burger is overcooked, as it was in our case, it remains somewhat moist. It will also drip non stop with grease. No fries on the side, instead you get a handful of store-bought potato chips.

Ok, now fast forward to present day. The General Greene starts serving brunch and we head out one weekend morning to give it a shot and guess what, it's delicious! We've subsequently been back a number of times (I think we went three Sundays in a row) and have been very pleased overall. Dan really likes the steak and potato skillet eggs, where all the ingredients are heated up and served in a cast iron pan. The potatoes form a deliciously, crisp crust and the skillet lends itself to nice crispy bits at the bottom which I like to scrape off. Dan does not have the patience. He's also had the surprisingly not overly sweet sticky bun french toast with fruit and some sort of sweet cream, which was also declared a winner. The portion is not big enough to stand alone as a meal so he sticks with the skillet eggs.

I had the frittata once in an attempt to diversify, but it's the egg and gruyere sandwich that makes me happiest. It's got a whole grain mustard aioli and I get bacon added for a buck. On the side are some very lightly dressed greens and overall the dish makes a really delicious and economically prudent ($6, including the added bacon) meal. We always supplement with a baked good, twice the moist, exploding with banana goodness banana bread, which is served warm. Once when the kitchen was out, we opted for an apple turnover which was ok, but no banana bread. We're also fans of the fruit salad and yogurt parfait. It's been a trio of blueberries, apples and bananas the couple times we've ordered it. I'm just happy to see a side of fruit that doesn't contain melon. The coffee can be a little hit or miss, but when it hits, it's out of the park.

brunch at downtown atlantic

i have no intention of ever eating at downtown atlantic again. the pan-seared corned beef hash was a mushy pink lump that looked like a mound of wet dog food. a few bites in, the texture reminded me too much of a beef mousse and i had to put my fork down. i found the accompaniment of "hash browns" to be redundant, especially when the "hash browns" turned out to be very wet home fries. a very good bloody mary and a generous portion of yummy, gratis carrot cake prevented this from being perhaps the worst brunch meal i've ever eaten. despite eating only one of my two eggs and leaving more than two thirds of both the potatoes and hash on my plate i am strangely not hungry 7 hours later.

Brunch at Le Pain Quotidien

Le Pain Quotidien is a chain that touts organic products and a homey vibe. The tables are rustic and many of them communal. All this comes at a premium. DMR and I ate at the one on Madison Avenue, on the Upper East Side, a section of town we are hardly ever in. Dan actually worked in this neighborhood for a few years when he first moved to New York. I don't know how he remained sane riding an overcrowded 4/5 train and dodging the uppity masses on a daily basis. Sorry if you live on the UES, but damn if it isn't one of the ickiest parts of New York.

Sometimes on my way to work, I'll pop into the Le Pain Quotidien near Bryant Park that recently opened up and grab a cheese danish or organic blueberry muffin to go. Prior to this meal, I had eaten at an LPQ just once. It wasn't a meal, but breakfast, actually a breakfast meeting/interview that went pretty terribly for me. In retrospect, I'm glad I wasn't hired and got a nice laugh a few months later when I found out they were trying to get me back in for another interview.

I ordered a single soft boiled egg and Dan got the grilled chicken and smoked mozzarella tartine. We both got individual pots of coffee as well, into which we stirred in organic sugar and drank out of latte bowls. My lone egg was served with rectangles of house breads and expensive as hell - $4, I think. Dan's sandwich came as a surprise to both of us. Neither of us expected it to be cold or open-faced, much less both.




The tartine was good, but not really the type of sandwich you'd want to eat cold. It came with some cucumber and radish slices, and cornichons, all three of which are excellent sandwich accompaniments. A big plus for them there. We shared a large order of fruit salad, which in the photo looks pretty handsome. Unfortunately, two-thirds of the bowl was mostly melon.



Dan got an underwhelming chocolate croissant for dessert. For $3.50 we expected more than a nib of chocolate. We also didn't expect our request to have it heated up be met with a reply of, "We can't do that here."

Hodgepodge at Tom's

Brunch at Tom's on Washington Avenue. Dan and I started with egg sandwiches - mine with bacon, his with beef salami. He didn't quite like his, so we switched. I love bacon but I also love salami and eggs.


We also did a short stack of chocolate chip pancakes, a side of fries and a lemonade to share. Tom's had a couple butters that were new to us, including a peach walnut.


When we were first seated, I noticed the four-top next to us kind of gave us a look when we sat down. It wasn't until they were getting up to leave that I noticed the two ladies were Asian and the two guys, white! We were seated in Yellow Fever alley!

I wanted to punch the group that was seated after they. They seemed fresh out of college, led by a guy who was the only one who had eaten here before. His way of puffing out his chest was to call out Tom's for posting a Best Breakfast award from way back in 2005. Who cares if they got that award in 1975? What exactly is your problem, Mr. Did-You-Really-Come-to-Tom's-as-a-Group-of-8-and-Expect-To-Be-Seated-Together? We overheard some other really dumb things, which I can't remember right now but maybe DMR can chime in. Oh wait, now I remember one of the other gripes he had. He and some of his other friends who weren't present at the table didn't like how Gus and the rest of the Tom's crew were so friendly and liked to pat patrons on the back. WTF?

This Morning's Brunch + Fresh Direct

We were planning to go out for brunch this morning but I wanted to clear out some of the contents of the fridge. I made a frittata using four medium eggs (which were tiny!), cooked spaghetti and cheddar cheese. Then I broiled up the remaining slices of Flying Pigs Farm bacon that Mary had given us as a housewarming present months ago. Bacon holds up really well in the freezer. I dressed up some leftover romaine with Frankie's olive oil and aged balsamic to serve o the side. Rounding out the meal was some toast with small amounts of butter and raspberry jam. I used slices of white bread from Parisienne, a Japanese chain whose products Cafe Zaiya by my work carries. The bread is soft and squishy and I'm a sucker for it. I also grabbed one of the last oranges left from a Fresh Direct order earlier in the week but when I went to slice it, I discovered it was rotten! I've had some bad Fresh Direct orders with bunk produce and missing items, but this one really took the cake. First they were late, then I found mold on some of the fingerling potatoes and worst of all rotten fruit. I have never seen a rotten orange before in my life. Nasty.

Frittata at Frankies 457

I've wanted to try the brunch at Frankies 457 in Cobble Hill for a while now. Of course DMR and I decide to trek out there on a super rainy day. The brunch menu turned out to be a lot smaller than I expected. There were two choices of frittata, a BLT and french toast in addition to the sandwiches and crostini available on the regular lunch menu. I went with the proscuitto and onion frittata and Dan the french toast. We were planning on sharing half and half, but once Dan saw the frittata, he remembered he didn't like room temperature eggs.



The frittata was overall tasty, but the proscuitto was cut into bigger chunks than I anticipated and had a strong gamey taste that I wasn't a fan of. The french toast was amazing. The sugar in the batter melted to form a delicious caramelized crust on the bread.

The addition of a few hunks of bread and a small dish of their house olive oil which I love, rounded out my meal. Coffee isn't included so we wound up spending $4.50 on three Americanos and another $3 on a little bottle of seltzer.

Brunch at Ici

My tumultuous relationship with Ici continues. The first time was disappointing but the other week I was working from home and decided to stop in for some breakfast. I had a lovely spread of poached eggs with truffle sauce atop Anson Mills grits, a side of thick cut bacon (a generous three pieces) and some iced coffee out back in the garden. The weather was as good as it had been in weeks and I liked my waitress. She was attentive and workmanlike and even gave me a free refill on my coffee since I didn't get my first one until my meal arrive (as they had to brew a new pot or something like that). My eggs and bacon were fantastic and I was feeling really high on Ici and ready to try it more regularly.

This past Sunday after we saw off our guests from Memphis, DMR and I decided to get a second breakfast. The two of us had split a bagel with cream cheese at around 8:45 and by 1 or 2PM we were pretty hungry again. DMR wanted to hit Bonita, but I was feeling good about Ici and dragged him there.

I went with my eggs with grits and bacon combo once again and was overall pleased. I would have preferred the bacon a little more well done to render out more of the fat, so next time I'll ask for just that.


The egg dish was not quite as good as I found the grits a little dry, but overall it was satisfying until I got to the piece of twine/string/fishing wire that was tucked into the grits. Foreign objects seem to find their way into my food quite frequently. Or maybe I just notice them more than others. I was about three quarters of the way through my meal and it was probably a good time to stop anyway.


They wound up comping my eggs, but in general the service was not attentive at all. I couldn't get my water glass refilled to save my life. The verdict is still up in the air.

It Crawled from the South Part II: More Memphis

We hit the Beauty Shop for brunch the next morning. This is a converted beauty parlor in Team Plumley's old neighborhood, in a stretch of shops that includes Goner Records. Little Phoebe started off her day with some biscuits and the rest of us with some slices of grilled bread slathered with ricotta cheese and drizzled with honey and mint. Delicious.

I went with the country ham plate. I thought the menu said the apples were supposed to be roasted, but they weren't. I was a little underwhelmed by my dish. All the components attracted me to it, but it didn't feel cohesive. Also, there was a lot of saltiness on the plate, in retrospect, too much. Or maybe the dish could have benefited from a side of toast or a biscuit to counterbalance all that sodium chloride.



That evening, or maybe it was the one prior, Dan, Eric and T-Bone (aka Sam) headed over to the Big S for some quarts of High Life and good times. Now I've always wondered why these bottles are called quarts in these parts, when they look like 40 ouncers to me. Anyway, we didn't eat here (having dined on some marinated skirt steak that Eric grilled up) and I have no idea if they even still serve food, but the Big S is where the legendary J. C. Hardaway manned the pits until his death in 2002. Memphians say his was the best barbeque in the city, and maybe beyond. I'm sorry I never got a chance to try it.

Greetings from Memphis

Just checking my email at the Team Plumley HQ, waiting for Hot Tub Eric and T-Bone to get back from the butcher so we can dig into some Gus' fried chicken that's hanging out in the fridge.

Some of what we've eaten so far: cheeseburger at the Lamplighter, hot rib plate at Payne's, country ham and eggs at the Beauty Shop and a meat and three plate at Arnold's (Nashville).

Stay tuned.

Brunch at Great Jones

Great Jones has upgraded their brunch menu since my last visit. Not the contents which need not to be touched, but the physical menu, which now features Andouille Man much more prominently. DMR and I hit up the Jones for some Memorial Day Weekend brunch before heading over to the Sunshine to catch Once (a word of advice, if you have the chance to do the same, DON'T). We both went with our standards: huevos rancheros with potatoes and cornbread for him, Crescent City smothered eggs with grits for me. And of course my favorite bloody mary in all of New York, made by Pavement's Mark Ibold who was manning the bar that day.

My plate was overflowing with biscuit halves drowned in an orange gravy generously (more so than usual) dotted with chunks of salty ham and andouille. I don't know if it was the heat or what but neither Dan nor I could finish our food. It was a very weak showing. I can't believe I left nearly half my food on the plate. I wish I had the leftovers to eat right now! Maybe this year I'll finally attend their anniversary party.

Mets win! Mets win!

wake up maggie (and franny) i think i got something to say to you

I've figured out why it took nearly three years to try Franny's for the second time. As my (sometimes...seriously, where are you?) co-blogger the CLC would say, "I'm just not into them." I remember feeling pretty disappointed the first time we tried Franny's, which I think was around the time they first opened. Years pass and the near-universal acclaim piles up yet, I have never felt much of a need to go back. Well I finally did over the weekend and I think it's safe to say that Franny's is simply not my type.

DMR, the CLC, Balgavy and I headed to Franny's after downing mint juleps and derby pie at Commonwealth in Southgreenslopeset. I won zilch, thanks a lot Paul Lo Duca. Having not had any time to read up on the horses, I went with Captain Red Ass' Trifecta Picks. Sure, he wound up picking the winner but at 4-1 odds it was nothing like his bingo call of Giacomo a couple years back. DMR and I actually started the afternoon with a couple of tacos from Tacos Nuevos Mexico (aka Jack's). I got a spicy chicken and queso taco and they were easily the best I've had from there. The green sauce on the queso was SPICY!

Anyway, back to Franny's. We get seated after a 30 minute or so wait and delve into the menu, which looks great. The restaurant's environmentally conscious philosophy is admirable but it confused me that it appears they print new menus out every night. I guess when the market dictates your menu you need to do this? Surely they can find an alternative, maybe even a few whiteboards as they use at Superfine in Dumbo?

We began with a couple of starters: the trio of house-cured meats and house-pickled vegetables. The waitress informed us that bread was not served with the meats and wondered if our order would that be enough food for us. I'm not quite sure why they don't serve bread since there are crostini variations on the menu. There's also uh, you know, a nice, hot oven in the kitchen where a thin round of pizza dough could be fired up and cut into wedges to accompany the meats. Our waitress was also not nearly as good as she thought she was. She forgot to bring Dan's beer and went out of her way to tell us that she wouldn't be pressuring us to order more food and drink. Thanks, we appreciate it.

I'll start the least appetizing of the house meats. The proscuitto (although the website lists pancetta, so now I'm confused. I thought the menu that day was offering proscuitto, but I may be mistaken) looked and tasted like uncooked bacon strips. It was fatty and chewy and not overly appetizing. The soppressata and coppa, on the other hand were delicious but our waitress was right, there wasn't enough of it. I think we paid about a dollar per small slice of meat. The vegetables used for the house made pickles were an interesting mix, ranging from kohlrabi to baby fennel. They each had different brines, some were sweet and tangy and some packed a bit of heat.

Our table decided to split three pizzas among the four of us. We went with two tomato, buffalo mozzarella and house-made sausage pies and one with clams, chilies and parsley. The pizzas failed to live up to the hype. Where was this magical light and thin crust? We got bready, puffy crusts that reminded us of Bobolis. Granted, it was fine, but not what was expected and certainly not amazing. I was pleased with the number of little briny bellies that dotted our clam pie, but there was something missing. Some garlic would have been nice. The chilies that were promised were barely there and the parsley dominated each bite. The sausage pie was too much outer crust, with the tomato sauce populating too small an area. I remember not loving the sausage last time because it tasted too gamey to me. Had the same thought this time around too.

Despite the promise of "Brooklyn's best panna cotta," we chose to skip dessert. I don't know if that's a line our waitress was told to say or if she truly believed it, but we wouldn't bite. I had no reason to trust her. The bottom line: the pizzas are good, but not that good to make us want to shell out $16 for a pie. The bathroom is very nice, however.

The following day DMR and I went to Maggie Brown's for brunch. We had nice experience dining on the outdoor patio the week prior, even if the service was spotty. I think our waiter disappeared halfway through our meal never to be seen or heard from again. I again went with the Beryl Evans - corned beef hash with a biscuit on the side, along with delicious raspberry butter. We should have branched out because it was just not Maggie's day. My hash came sitting in a pool of oil so it was barely eaten. DMR ordered the Maggie Brown, which is a scramble of cheddar, horseradish and chives. The kitchen forgot the cheddar. He also ordered a side of yogurt with fruit and honey, only first we realized the honey was missing and then we realized the yogurt was missing! Our server, despite seeming super harried, was super apologetic and even took 15% off the bill, which was definitely unexpected.

I could probably write more, but it's taken me like 5 day to write this so I'll just wrap things up now. Plus, I want to post about dinner the other night at Craftsteak in the next day or so.

I hosted a small ladies' brunch on Saturday!

Over the weekend my good friend Julie Dickover and her mother, Pat, were in town. We had lots of amazing food to eat and were usually accompanied by Youthlarge as well. Just a quick rundown:

Thursday - Dinner at Lil' Frankie's (I had delicious pappardelle in a veal ragu)
Friday - Dinner at Great Jones Cafe (I got a hearty medium rare rib-eye with perfectly seasoned collard greens (wait, SHR, was it kale?), and lots of tasty SHAGGIES!)
Saturday - Dinner at Veselka (I usually get the Deluxe Meat Combination here, but on this visit I decided to try the Beef Stroganoff, which did not disappoint!)

On Saturday afternoon I invited Julie and Pat over for a nice little brunch. I happened to be house sitting for my friend Lauren who lives in the West Ville, so I got up early and went to Citarella and picked up the following items:

- 1/2 dozen large brown organic eggs (I actually popped the hood to see if there were any cracks, which there weren't, but when I got home I realized that there were only FIVE eggs, which I inexplicably missed during my inspection)
- A nice New York State sharp cheddar
- 1 package of turkey bacon
- 1 container of Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. Sheep's Milk Yogurt (Maple)
- 1 container of Woodstock Water Buffalo Yogurt (Black Currant)
- 1 container of Liberte Six Grains Yogurt (Pear - by the way, this one was my favorite)
- 1 medium fruit salad
- 1 pint of raspberries
- 1 bottle of Looza Peach Nectar
- 1 bottle of Red Jacket Orchards Fuji Apple Juice
- 1 rotisserie chicken

Then, I went back to the apartment and cooked up the Yukon Gold potatoes Youthlarge got at the Union Square Farmers Market with the bacon I bought to get ready to make the FRITTATA, to which I added the sharp cheddar. After that, I put out all of the other food I bought at Citarella and just waited for Julie and Pat to arrive with the Prosecco so the Bellini brunch madness could begin!

Suffice it to say, it was GLORIOUS! For anyone who knows me, you can probably imagine that I went a bit overboard on the Bellini front though...

Sunday Brunch

Moutarde (we tried to go to Stone Park, but there was like a two-hour wait or something) with 75% of IYWMB - Young Turk, the Balltrap, Reason to Believe, Sweet Little Rock and Roller and Hot Legs.

We were still feeling pretty excited/exciting from the previous day's victory against our best bocce friends/arch enemies, the Coffee Flats Terrors. Suffice it to say, we chatted about it for a bit. Then the conversation turned to something more serious - food. Or more specifically, the various foods we would be ordering.

SLR'n'R noted that it was sort of obnoxious to offer three poached egg options (the usual suspects - Florentine, Benedict and one with smoked salmon), but no options for people who just wanted eggs, you know, not poached. I also didn't like that there was only one omelette option, which I might add, was MEATLESS. Blech.

So I was vacillating between the Salade Nicoise and a burger with Gruyere and bacon. Hot Legs was having trouble deciding between the banana pancakes and, like me, the aforementioned burger. Since we both suffer from burger envy, I encouraged him to enter into a burger pact with me, that way neither of us could be jealous of the other's succulent burger. I said 'there will either be two burgers at this table, or NO burgers at this table'. Then Hot Legs was like 'listen, if I don't order a burger, what are you going to order?' and then I said, 'the Salade Nicoise'. And then do you know what happened? Hottie L ordered banana pancakes and I STILL ordered the burger! I unintentionally pulled the old bait and switch. Suddenly I felt as though I had no honor...

Anyway, I was adequately punished by the forces who oversee things like burger pacts, because the burger, like so many other things, TOTALLY worked me. I ended up barfing about an hour after brunch. Booooo.

Sunday Brunch: ici

On 9/19/06, The Park Slope Gastronome wrote:
Beth,
Let's talk about our brunch on Sunday at ici in Fort Greene. I was
very disappointed.
Yours,
Sujan

On Sep 19, 2006, at 3:53 PM, The China-Latina Chowhound wrote:
> Sunji,
>
> In addition to feeling disappointed, I felt hurt and saddened. Hurt
> because my silverware was SCALDING HOT as a result of all the backyard
> sun, sans the all-important umbrella protection most establishments
> afford their patrons. And saddened because brunch is supposed to be
> delicious, as well as a good value. This was neither. In fairness,
> the shirred eggs with prosciutto and collard greens were tasty, but
> they were way overcooked, hence NOT delicious. Also, it was just too
> expensive for what it was.
>
> GTLO!
>
> Beth

On 9/19/06, The Park Slope Gastronome wrote:
>>Barfy,
>>
>>I'm still in shock our shirred eggs did not come with any sort of side.
>>For $11, I expected a few nubbins of potato or a couple chunks of
>>melon (though I know you would have been disappointed by the latter,
>>being the starchy sort). There were a few highlights, such as the
>>teapot of coffee, excellent touch. As much as I love Liquors down the
>>street, they don't own a proper coffee maker and thus coffee is served
>>as Cafe American with no refills. But that doesn't atone for LOSAB
>>(lack of sides at brunch).
>>
>>Suzy J


On Sep 19, 2006, at 4:36 PM, The China-Latina Chowhound wrote:
>>>S-ey J,
>>>
>>>The lack of sides was nothing if not offensive, considering the $11.00
>>>price tag for EGGS. In general, I am not a big fan of a la carte
>>>brunches. I can sort of stomach having to pay for my bloody (at Great
>>>Jones Cafe I will happily do so), but I at least want a coffee
>>>included. I DEFINITELY want some sort of side to be included -
>>>potatoes, mixed salad, fruit... Even stupid Schiller's includes some
>>>sort of substantive side with all of their brunch entrees and they're
>>>a total rip! I felt like this place was trying to be a more country
>>>kitchen version of Freemans, which is overrated for dinner, but great
>>>for brunch. Perhaps Ici is the opposite?
>>>
>>>Manch

Sunday Brunch

Les Halles (Downtown location, John between Broadway and Nassau, NYC) with my mother, Mary. This may be my favorite frenchie brasserie place in the City, with Lucky Strike (Grand between West Broadway and Wooster, Soho) coming in a close second. I also prefer this location to it's Park Avenue (at 28th) sister. Despite finding Anthony Bourdain's behavior to be a bit priggish and vulgar, I have to say, I think the brasserie empire he has built is beyond repute in terms of deliciousness and accessibility (monetarily speaking).

I opted for the prix fixe brunch, which included a choice of appetizer and entree. I started with the Petatou de chevre, which is a warm potato and black olive salad with goat cheese gratine. The goat cheese had a wonderful taste and consistency, however I thought the balsamic reduction the salad was served with overpowered the overall flavor of the dish. Being the creature of habit that I am, I ordered the Salade Nicoise as my main. I think it goes without saying that I loved it. The haricots verts were especially crunchy and delicious.

To drink I had a crisp and refreshing Riojan rose. In general, I am a big fan of wine from the Rioja region of Spain. Several years ago, one of my frenchie friends turned me on to Marques de Riscal. He told me that it was often King Juan Carlos' wine of choice with lunch. This is a great wine if you are looking for a nice red to bring to a dinner party, but don't want to break the bank. You can pick up a bottle ranging from $13-$19, depending on where you go. For white I am not a big fan of Marques de Riscal and opt for Marques de Caceres instead. A bottle of this will run you about $6-$10. I don't recommend going vicey versy on the aforementioned, unless you are purchasing a special reserve of the Marques de Caceres red, but even then, I really don't suggest it.

As an aside, I clearly have a propensity for eating food that requires the use of accents, cedilles and umlauts. Does anyone know how to type these on Blogger?

Thanks.

Today's Brunch

Epicerie Cafe Charbon (Orchard and Stanton, LES, NYC) with Sean Murphy.

I had Steak Frites (medium rare) with a black iced coffee. In addition to frites, the steak was served with a nice mesclun salad, lightly dressed in olive oil and balsamic. I've stated this in previous posts, but seriously, the thing I love about frenchie brasserie type places is that they ALWAYS cook your meat to the requested doneness. I really appreciate that because so often one ends up with shoe leather when ordering steak. Last weekend Youthlarge, Listmaker and I all got the same skirt steak special at Song in the Slope. I believe both of them ordered their steaks medium and I opted for medium rare. Regardless, we all got well done. Whatever, it was steak, so I was still able to enjoy it.

Seanny got a croque-madame, which is the same thing as a croque-monsieur, but with a fried egg on top, a coffee and an orange juice - all part of the prix fixe, which I did not opt for.

During brunch, Sean told me that I can be rude and off-putting to strangers. He went so far as to say that he finds me to be obnoxious in general! So I was like, then why do you hang out with me all the time? And then he said something to the effect of wanting to keep me close so I don't turn on him. Man, could this week get any worse? At least my steak was delicious.

Saturday Brunch

Great Jones Cafe (Great Jones between Bowery and Lafayette, NYC) with Sus.

Great Jones Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. It has deliciously comfy fare and is also home to one of my very favorite cocktails - the Shaggy! The Shaggy is a close relative of the Dark & Stormy. The main difference between the two is that the former uses spicy Blenheim Old #3 Ginger Ale, while the latter uses spicy ginger beer, which frankly, is just not as spicy. The Old #3 has a lot of great heat behind it, with just a little bit of a time delay from when it first hits your lips, which I love. The other great thing about ordering a Shaggy at Great Jones is that the chances of it being made by Mark Ibold are very high, as he tends bar there a few times a week. My close friend Dickshack makes a mean Shaggy. In fact, her husband thinks that hers are better than the ones at GJC. Listen, I love Dickshack like a sister (hey Dickie-S, I'll see you in LA on Wednesday!), but I think Mr. Dickshack's judgment has been clouded by love. No one makes a better Shaggy than Sparky Marky. Plus, I lost my mind when I was a wee lass and heard Slanted and Enchanted for the first time, so I guess my judgment is a bit clouded too.

Anyway, the brunch deal there is really good. You get to choose from a number of yummy egg dishes, which are all served with either cornbread or a biscuit, homefries or grits and coffee, tea or juice - all for just $10.75. I've had brunch at a lot of places in this town, and I have to say, that is a seriously great deal. Now, as some of you readers may recall from the Schiller's brunch debacle, I hate paying for my bloodies a la carte. However, at Great Jones I really didn't mind. First of all, it was served to me in a huge pint glass and the cost was $7, not the absurdly insulting $10 that Schiller's has the audacity to charge in the middle of the goddamn brunch rush. Also, it was one of the most perfectly seasoned, well-balanced bloodies I've ever had. In a word, perfection.

I ended up ordering the Andouille omelet (with mushrooms, green peppers (which I picked out), onions and cheddar), the fluffy and pleasantly sweet biscuit, homefries and a coffee. It was one of the tastiest and satisfying brunches I've ever had. I can't believe all of the GJC brunches I've missed out on through the years! I've literally been frequenting this establishment since 1996, but inexplicably, only at dinner time! I feel like such a ding dong. I'm going to get brunch there again really soon.