Fried Pizza for Brunch

I admit I was disappointed when Gypsy bar on Greenpoint Ave closed down. Even though one of the bartenders and I didn't always see eye to eye, I liked being around the corner from a bar that was home to Punk Rope happy hours, giant plates of mac 'n' cheese and long group Jenga games.

But then Adelina's moved in and wooed me instantly with five words: fried pizza with house-made mozzarella. Rob and I hit it up on a Friday night and even though Adelina's was clearly still working out the kinks service-wise, the pizza was pretty awesome. Think fried dough pizza from the fair, only with real, chewy mozzarella instead of soggy Parmesan mess that usually ensues.

Brunch was better, if only because it was much emptier. Maybe people still see it more as a bar than a morning restaurant, or because they play heavily on the wine bar thing. I have to say that I like this wine-on-tap thing very much. At night, of course.

The brunch menu, like the dinner menu, is very reasonably priced. For around $12 they offer a prix fixe with a super-charged Americano, a fresh squeezed OJ and entree. Their pizza special on Saturday included speck with the fresh mozz and egg, adding a much-needed amount of saltiness that I thought was missing from their nighttime pesto pie.

Rob had the truffled egg with fontina and asparagus. It was tasty but on the small side and neither of us tasted any truffle. Stick with the pizza here. But go quickly, because this space has been about five different things since it was an Internet cafe when we first moved to Greenpoint six plus years ago.

Adelina's
159 Greenpoint Ave

Brunch at Back Forty West

The girls brunch this month took place at Back Forty West, a cute spot in SoHo with a spacious, homey and air conditioned upstairs seating area ideal for to wasting a few hours on a hot Saturday afternoon. I haven't had a fried poached egg in awhile, maybe since Prune awhile back, and this one reminded me why I love them so much. It came on an open faced sandwich with capers, parsley, large chunks of celery and a lemony mayo. Salty and acidic to wake you up when the iced coffee alone isn't quite cutting it.

Back Forty West
70 Prince St. (at Crosby)

Chocolate, Hot and Cold

First, the hot. The dark hot chocolate from Lily O-Brien's reminds me of the inside of a molten chocolate cake. The milk and the white hot chocolates are good too, but not as rich. Lily O'Brien's uses 55% cocoa in it so it can get a little bitter. An extra packet of sugar does the trick. Plus, they add in a little treat.

Now the cold. This morning's frozen Mayan chocolate with pasilla chili, espresso and whipped cream from Brooklyn Label. Spicy, icy caffeination.

The Brooklyn French Toast made with creamy challah and topped with cranberry pecan butter completed the sugar rush.

Lily O'Briens
36 West 40th St.
Manhattan


Brooklyn Label
180 Franklin St.
Brooklyn

Brunch at Eighty Four on Seventh

Yesterday afternoon I headed to the West Village for a late brunch with a few girls. It's rare for me to leave Brooklyn for an early meal on weekends, especially during the winter, but it seems like the brunch crowds are much more manageable on cold days.

Eighty Four on Seventh was only about half full at 2pm on Saturday. There was only one girl serving all the tables, so the service was a bit slow, but it was nice for a leisurely brunch. Definitely different from the typical long wait and subsequent rush to turn tables at Brooklyn Label.

Hot coffee with steamed milk to start. I had the fennel sausage with honey biscuits, poached eggs and gravy. The biscuit was soft and sweet and the eggs were cooked perfectly. If only it were a little hotter, it would have been perfect.

My friend had the much prettier house cured peameal, which is a type of Canadian bacon, served on top of a potato pancake and topped with sunny side up eggs and cheddar cheese. I didn't get a picture of the frittata (tomatoes, zucchini and feta with pistachio pesto) but that was delicious as well.

We also split an order of jalepeno hush puppies with maple butter dipping sauce -- crispy, savory, salty, sweet. 

Eighty Four on Seventh

84 Seventh Ave South

Brunch Roundup

Salt cod hash and Pani Frattau (breakfast lasagna with ricotta, creme fraiche, poached eggs and parmesan cheese) at Belcourt

Eggs Rothko at Egg (fried egg in brioche toast covered in Grafton cheddar)

Crepe at Cafe Henri in Long Island City 

and Borderline Benedict at Brooklyn Label (blue-corn bread, jalapenos, chorizo and chipotle hollandaise) 

Where to Eat in NoLa

There are so many great places to eat in New Orleans, and since usually we were eating late, in dimly lit bars with a few to-go beers under our belt, I won't even attempt to fix up most of these pictures to post. 

Acme Oysters gets a lot of hype, almost enough to make one a bit suspicious about trying it, but its worth every minute in that out the door line. The oysters from Louisiana are large, mild and flavorful, great on the half shell here and even better chargrilled with butter and cheese (believe it!). The fried shrimp and oyster po boy sounds like it would be way too fishy with too much bread(ing), but they use a soft fresh roll, a flavored mayo, lettuce and tomato to vary the tastes and textures. The sampler platter of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and grilled sausage is fantastic, but you better like rice if you order it.


Coops Place is also great for some original Cajun-style food. The fried chicken, crispy and flavorful with a tender interior, is definitely on par with the fried chicken you'd find at Brooklyn Bowl or the Redhead, only with more Southern spices (they call it a Bayou Blend and they put it on everything). It comes with a rabbit and sausage jambalaya that most people love but I found a little dry. Don't dare to order the fried oyster dinner unless you're ready for lots of fried oysters and french fries. All entrees here are between $8 and $18.


We had lunch at the House of Blues on a whim one day; we were starving and the hawker was convincing. Fun and unique atmosphere, lots of jazz portraits and voodoo trinkets in a large churchlike space.

The steak tacos were unimaginative but good; the lobster mac and cheese was definitely the highlight. Crunchy, creamy, large hunks of lobster and piping hot!

We had a great brunch at Stanley on our last day. Breaux Bridge benedict for me with fried boudin, ham, cheese and creole hollandaise. I can still taste it (dreamy sigh). Corned beef hash for him with huge chunks of corned beef, potatoes and pastrami. Also, they have ice cream for breakfast a LOT down in NoLa. We waited a bit for our brunch (which was nothing compared to most of our waits in Brooklyn, but whatever) so they comped us a free dessert. We had their house made ice creams: Chunky Chartres (a cute spin on Rocky Road) and peanut butter chocolate chip. Fantastic. Go early if you visit on a weekend, they get a crazy line out the door!


If you venture out a bit farther from the French Quarter and into the Garden District, its worth a visit to the small plates Cajun spot Cochon. We split a wonderful crab salad dish with orange beets, fried boudin and a few other plates. We also tried to fried alligator here, which I can't say I recommend, but I won't hold that against Cochon. 


One place I can't say I recommend is Brennan's, but I felt I really needed to go there since its the birthplace of bananas foster. We had a ridiculously overpriced breakfast (the bill came to $100!) that involved yawn-worthy hot soups, over-hollandaised eggs and a pretentious atmosphere. But I did get to have the bananas foster, and they were pretty good.


here's the before picture with a mound of sugar, the bananas and the alcohol vials they use to blow it into oblivion.

Poof!

Then they serve it with vanilla ice cream. A flamey sugar rush to help you forget the rest of the meal.

Acme Oyster House
724 Iberville St.(between Bourbon and Royal St)

Coops Place
1109 Decatur St

House of Blues
225 Decatur St.

Stanley Restaurant
547 St. Ann St. at Chartres St.

Cochon
930 Tchoupitoulas St

Brennan's Restaurant
417 Royal St.

Local Brunch

I used to go to Brooklyn Label for brunch all the time, but after eating everything on the menu so many times it started to get boring.

But I missed it. This weekend I headed back for my favorite cold weather weekend drink -- the Mayan hot chocolate with pasilla chili and two shots of espresso.

Luckily they had a whole list of specials I hadn't seen before. Including fluffy ricotta pancakes with lemon sauce, fruit and powdered sugar. So good!

I'm thinking I might have to get another Mayan this weekend...

Adventures in San Fran: Breakfasts

Rob and I just got back from a 6-day trip to San Francisco! Believe it or not, this was the first vacation we've ever taken just the two of us. It was also the most fun we've ever packed into a single week. We ran around the city to see a few key sights for the first few days (Alcatraz, Mission Dolores, Fisherman's Wharf, the Painted Ladies, Ghirardelli Square, etc.), then rented a car to explore Oakland, Napa and Sausalito. Oh yeah -- and we had TONS of fantastic food.

We tried to keep things light, choosing fast on-the-go meals over long, extravagant ones. As much in the name of saving time as saving money. But breakfast was the one meal of the day we didn't skimp on. The first three days we went to popular places that came highly recommended from a few different people -- Brenda's, Dottie's and Stacks'.

Brenda's French Soul Food was our favorite by a long shot. We got there before nine on Saturday, but there was still about a 20 minute wait. There must be a lot of early risers in this city!

I started with their specialty drink, a sweet watermelon iced tea (very refreshing) and a coffee and chicory. I don't think I've ever had chicory blended coffee before; it gives it a bitter, earthy kick.

We started with a chicken gumbo. It was loaded with lots of rice and scallions. We were starving when we sat down, so this was a great, hearty start to the meal.


The beignets are a specialty here, so I ordered the flight of four different kinds. -- plain, apple, chocolate and crawfish. I don't think I've ever had real beignets like these before, and they were fantastic. They're a lot like donuts, but lighter, less greasy, and filled with something other than Boston creme.The first was plain, not much to be said about it. The next was my favorite -- granny smith apple with cinnamon honey butter. Kind of like a half-baked apple pie -- deeelish. Next was the molten Ghirardelli chocolate; I saved that one for last. The crawfish (which we lovingly renamed "crawdaddy") was Rob's favorite; it was loaded with scallions and cheddar and rolled in cayenne pepper. The sweet-savory combo was a bit strange to me, so I let Rob have most of this one.Rob had the shrimp and goat cheese omelette with caramelized onions and a fantastic tomato-bacon relish (take a second and put all those flavors together in your head... it is heavenly). It came with the best, flakiest biscuit we've ever had and by far the best bowl of buttery grits I've ever tasted. The day we left I came back here to get an order of grits, a biscuit and crawdaddies to enjoy on our hotel bed until the shuttle bus came. It actually made watching old reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies on our crappy hotel bed quite enjoyable.


Brenda's
652 Polk Street (at Eddy Street)
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-345-8100
Brendas@FrenchSoulFood.com

The next day we dropped the ball and didn't make it to Dottie's until around 9:30. We waited in an hour long line with a bunch of other tourists as sleepy locals ran in and out with their takeout orders.
We thought the sign of quoted accolades outside the establishment was pretty funny. They didn't actually mention anything specific other than "Food... in a coffee shop... where breakfast is prepared." Thanks for telling us what to expect, experts.

We started with grilled jalapeno cornbread with a sweet jalapeno jelly. This was probably the highlight of the meal. The bread was super thick and held together really well, unlike normal cornbread. The sweet-spicy combo was very addicting.


I had one of the specials -- a sweet potato caramelized red onion & gruyere tart. It was sort of like a sweet potato pie with a flaky crust -- I definitely didn't taste the cheese. It came with two biscuits that were forgettable in light of Brenda's, two poached eggs (watery and not done well) and fresh fruit. It was nice to see kiwi, blackberries and strawberries in the mix; anywhere in Brooklyn this time of year you'll only be seeing melon and maybe grapes (if you're lucky).

Rob had another special -- the lamb fennel sausage omelette with roasted garlic, tomato, spinach and goat cheese. All the tomato and garlic made me think of an Italian dinner -- the flavors were almost too sophisticated for early morning taste buds. The side of hash browns were slightly burned on one side to add good crisp. They were a bit over-peppered though.
Dottie's wasn't worth the hour long wait, but I'm glad we did it for the grilled cornbread.


Dottie's True Blue Cafe
522 Jones St (between Geary St & O'farrell St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 885-2767

The next day we headed over to Stacks' for a less touristy breakfast. This place was a lot bigger than the tiny cafes we visited the past few days, and was great for people watching. Especially since they sat us outside in the warm Californian sun... ahhh.


I don't usually get sweet breakfasts, but seeing that we're at a place called Stacks' I couldn't really justify getting the huevos rancheros. Instead, I had the banana macadamia nut coconut pancakes. OH JESUS these pancakes were good. You know how Ben n Jerry's are always really addicting because every bite is different? Same with these pancakes. I kept getting different ratios of banana pieces, macadamia nuts and clusters of shaved coconut. It barely needed any syrup. And oh, they were huuuuge. I could only get through half the short stack. Heartbreaking.

Rob had the crab crepe with chives, jack cheese and avocado with hollandaise sauce. The outer part of the crepe was a little browned, but the inside was stuffed with fresh, not canned, crab. I don't think I've ever had hollandaise on anything with cheese before, but it seemed to work. It was served with (oddly) a bagel and some hash browns.


One of the nice things they do here is leave the whole pitcher of water and coffee on your table. We never had to flag anyone down for refills, but we ran out of table space so fast the waiter had to shovethe carafes into the bushes next to where we sat. Now that's service.

Stacks'
501 Hayes St (between Octavia St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 241-9011

Brunch, Snacks and Dinner in Park Slope/Prospect Heights

It's not too often that we go to the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn, but when we do, it's usually pretty awesome. It always helps to have the right neighborhood-aware foodie friends take you to the right places.

We started the day yesterday at Flatbush Farm, which I guess is technically Park Slope. Great atmosphere with high ceilings and modern decor, though we got seated in an adjoining room that was practically empty and fairly cold. Luckily, their "local seasonal fare" was pretty spot on.

I had the Farmer's Breakfast. I usually don't go for the simple eggs any style/bacon/potato breakfast combos, but I figured it would be a good test of the restaurant's commitment to simple, fresh ingredients. The eggs were poached perfectly, and the bacon was a huge, meaty, fatty slab. The potatoes were really interesting too -- cut small and fried with jalepenos and plantains, topped with some kind of spicy aioli.

Rob got the crispy duck confit topped with warm lentils and two sunny side up eggs. The meat was tender and went really well with the substituted crunchy grains, whatever they were (they were out of the lentils).

I also got to try a few bites of the omelette (with talleggio, herbs and yogurt), and the burger (which everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be having). Both were excellent.

Flatbush Farm

76 St Marks Ave @ 6th Ave and Flatbush

Brooklyn, NY 11217

(718) 622-3276

We stopped at BKLYN Larder, a small cheese and organic grocery store owned by the Franny's folks (and no, I still haven't been to Franny's... yet). I tried a sample of their duck pate... fantasic. We took almond and pistachio gelato to go. It's never too cold for ice cream, even if it is seventeen degrees out.

BKLYN Larder

228 Flatbush Ave (between Dean St & Bergen St)

Brooklyn, NY 11217

(718) 783-1250

I was really excited to have dinner at The Vanderbilt. I was drooling over the menu when they first opened a few months ago. I've never been to Saul, but since its one of only three places in Brooklyn to earn a Michelin star, I (and probably many other Brooklynites) figured Saul Bolton's newest establishment was worth a visit. 8pm on a bonechillingly cold Saturday night and the 90 seats were packed to the brim.

The New American menu is all small plates, too big to be tapas but too small for individual portions. Six of us tried as many items as we possibly could and were really impressed with most of what we sampled:

Pickled eggs -- served over some kind of tomato chili sauce with a pleasant kick.

Brussel sprouts -- one of the standouts. Not sure how they got the combination of Sriracha, lime and honey so deep into these little guys. Each bite was crazy juicy with both a sweet and spicy flavor. I bet people who say they don't like brussel sprouts could be coverted by these.

Lamb sausage -- A standard greasy coil, served with chickpeas.

Mussels -- These gigantic and perfectly cooked little guys came in a very Thai currylike broth of coconut, basil and chili. Topped with a kaffir lime leaf (at least, that's what we thought it was).

Serrano ham and cheese croquettes -- Came out piping hot, that didn't stop Rob and I from gobbling them up. Topped with saffron aioli. Definitely comparable to Tia Pol's fantastic croquettes.

Artichokes -- with mushrooms and carrots. Wasn't my favorite -- tasted kind of like an incomplete stew to me. Was this my punishment for trying to add some healthiness to dinner?

Beef shortrib -- The meat fell apart as soon as your fork touched it. Reminded me of a pot roast with carrots, onions and some kind of gravylike sauce.

Chicken wings -- More sweet than spicy, topped with lots of sesame seeds. Cripsy on the outside, juicy on the inside, but was very hard to finish seeing as how full we were getting (and did I mention we had two orders of most everything?)

Hanger steak -- Charred on the outside, medium rare perfection on the inside. I love hanger steak, and these had a meatiness to them far deeper and richer than most other places I've had it. The side of romaine with a light white sauce and pepper was the perfect accompaniment.

I'm not sure why we ordered dessert, since we were literally putting food on each other's plates trying to get rid of everything. Luckily I think most people save room for dessert as a kind of instinct.

Chocolate cake -- with buttermilk ice cream, which had a surprisingly great flavor that went with the chocolate well. Concord grape gelee on the bottom and popcorn on top.

Panna cotta -- with elderflower gelee and fresh citrus. Way better than Alta's version. A great light, sweet end to a meal.

The Vanderbilt did not disappoint. I guess now I should move Saul (and Franny's?) to the top of my Brooklyn to-do list.

The Vanderbilt

570 Vanderbilt Ave (between Pacific St & Dean St)

Brooklyn, NY 11238

(718) 623-0570