Boulton and Watt

After Pickle Day Albert and I wandered til we found a good brunch spot, with the goal being bottomless brunch.  Nothing jumped out at us until we got to the edge of the LES and saw Boulton and Watt, a spot we had each been to a couple times and enjoyed as a bar.  But now we were in broad daylight and unsure if it would work as a place to eat.

Not only did they have food, they had a large, thoughtfull menu and were doing a booming business.  What I thought was a bar first and restaurant second may actually be the other way around.  It also kept with the pickle theme as they feature tons of pickled veggies as snacks and a few different pickleback versions.  We'd been pickling it up all day so we decided to chill and just order normal brunch.  Albert ordered the full English breakfast, which came with two eggs, house-made pork sausage, bacon, stewed beans, wild mushrooms, and a hash brown cake.  Tons of food for $16.  I ordered the braised short rib and bone marrow benedict, which was served on a hunk of country bread instead of english muffins.  It was delicious.  Though I was feeling carnivorous that day, I was still impressed to see plenty of inventive vegetarian options on the menu like a cauliflower souffle, fried oyster omelette, and frittata with goat cheese, braised leeks, and wild mushrooms.  We didn't end up finding a bottomless brunch deal, but the cocktails were only $5.  Typically a bottomless deal may work out to $10-$15 on top of the entree price and though you may end up drinking more than two or three, they won't be as strong as the drinks here.  The mimosa, for instance, includes gin so your $5 will get you pretty far.

MexiBBQ

There is no better way to celebrate a successful race completion than by brunching.  Hardcore, bottomless brunching, to be specific.  Since we were going to be in Astoria Sunday afternoon for Karina's birthday, we decided to do brunch in that neighborhood and picked MexiBBQ since they had a $16 bottomless deal.

I would say the menu is Mexican first, BBQ second.  But that doesn't mean the BBQ is absent...it's just used with restraint, like by adding brisket and jalapeno cornbread onto the eggs benedict, which also uses chipotle in the hollandaise.  Albert couldn't pass up a chance to order brisket so that's what he went with.  Beth and I both ordered the Hangover Cure.  Though neither of us were hungover, we had both just run 6.2 miles which left us in virtually the same hazy-eyed state as if we had partied all night.  This dish was basically a breakfast version of chilequiles.  Fried corn tortilla scraps are softened after sopping up sauce and then layered with salsa, chicken, and chorizo.  Then there are two fried eggs on top to make it more brunch appropriate.  It was huge enough that we could have shared, honestly.  Carbing up is always important when it comes to running, but it's more fun to carb up with tortillas than boring bread.

Bitches Who Brunch

For today's post head on over to Quarterlette to read my latest piece.  It's an interview with Cori Sue Morris, co-founder of Bitches Who Brunch, a lifestyle site that focuses on my favorite meal.

Breads Bakery

I was very strategic with my run recently.  I planned it so that I would finish at Breads Bakery just in time for breakfast/brunch.  After running the 1.7 miles there, I felt confident I had earned my meal.  In fact, I felt confident I had earned three meals because I purchased a leek quiche (seemed breakfast-y), a tuna sandwich, and a bureka (how could I not?!  They're hard to find in NYC!).  

Everything was great and nothing was too dense.  Like perfect French pastry...except it's made by an Israeli.  I would NEVER normally order a tuna sandwich.  I'm scared of them unless I make it myself.  This time, however, the cashier recommended it highly and I was in the mood to go wherever the wind took me.  I'm glad I listened.  The tuna was less of a salad, more just tuna on bread (that's a good thing in my book) with tomato, sliced hard boiled egg, lettuce, and cucumber.  Not only do I now trust their tuna sandwich, I think it's better than mine.

Cotta

When it comes to the UWS, I'm usually out of my depth.  I'm not in the area often enough to know which spots are good and which, more importantly, offer a great brunch deal.  That's why when we met Shawn in his neighborhood for brunch last weekend, we had to follow his lead.  He introduced us to Cotta, which serves rustic Italian food that on weekends is paired with bottomless drinks for only $24.  I ordered the Brussels sprout pizza with pancetta, and parmesan.  It was amazing and I ate the whole thing.  That's right; unlike Albert who generously shared his meatball pizza or Shawn who offered a bite of his smoked salmon eggs benny to everyone at the table, I ate my entire pizza by myself.  And you know what?  I don't feel bad about it because it was delicious.

Terrible pic due to flash use and the fact that I had already devoured almost the entire pizza.  Sorry.

Avocado and Egg Breakfast Pizza

This avocado and egg pita is one of my earlier Pinterest pins.  Somehow, however, I never got around to making it which is crazy because it's easy enough to throw together in the middle of the harried getting-ready-for-work dance.  I like to toast or warm my pita a bit first.  Then, while the egg fries, it's just a matter of mashing the pita on top with a fork (leave some chunks), perhaps with a bit of crushed red pepper if that's your jam.

So.  Freakin.  Satisfying.

 

Goat Cheese Toast with Peas and Eggs

Sometimes having a power breakfast on a weekday makes you feel, well, powerful.  I was in the mood to let out my inner Superman so I adapted this goat cheese and egg toast with peas last week.  I used a scrambled egg instead of a fried one because I didn't want to have to deal with a knife and fork.  Though the recipe says to use two if you're scrambling, I found one to be sufficient.  My other change was to use chives instead of dill.  Fresh herbs of any kind would be good here, but I happened to already have chives in the fridge.  Plus, I always liked my Grandma's onion egg dish (basically egg salad with fine onion) and the chives lent a similar flavor to the dish.

This whole breakfast only took about 7 minutes [max] to put together so power up in the mornings, my friends.

National Mechanics

For my last Philly foodie post, I want to focus on a great brunch find.  If you are one of those people who judges a brunch spot by their bloodies, you will love National Mechanics thanks to their bloody mary bar.  You pick the type of vodka (I went with bacon vodka) and the rim (I chose Old Bay) and then you take your glass up to the bar where you can add their homemade mix, any number of their hot sauces (I lost count at around 30), olives, capers, celery, horseradish, and Slim Jims.  I am pretty sure I crafted the perfect bloody.

For my meal I ordered the veggie skillet.  I was concerned that my cast iron pan would not have ample cheese, but there it was.  The perfect amount of oaxaca cheese covered the mound of potatoes, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, and poached eggs.  It was all good and stretchy, pulling against the weight of my fork as I shoveled bite after bite into my mouth.

As the name would suggest, there are some savvy mechanics behind the decor who have designed lighting fixtures and faucets out of old pipes, wire, and exposed bulbs.  The real decor, however, is found simply in the building itself, which was constructed over 150 years ago and previously housed a bank.

 

Rayuela

And now for my third brunch post in a row I'll tell you all about Rayuela.  This one is another bottomless brunch spot.  For just $15 you can have sangria added to your entree (which will only set you back about $13 in itself).  You can switch off between sangria flavors, but I started with the passionfruit and liked it so much I never made it to the guava or regular red.

The nuevo latino menu was also enjoyed by all.  I did my job of checking, and all twelve plates at our long table were clean.  I thought my plate of huevos partidos looked small, but I was full for hours.  At first it looks like your basic eggs, potatoes, and sausage.  But then you realize those aren't potatoes, they're pieces of fried yuca.  And it's not regular sausage, it's chorizo, which is just chor-ific.

Bottomless brunch deals like this usually come in smaller, more...rustic restaurants.  But Rayuela is two stories of breezy space.  It really puts the oasis in Sangria Oasis, which, incidentally, is what they call their weekend brunch.

Hash Browns Casserole

It's rare that I make breakfast on the weekends.  I usually either use the weekend as an excuse to grab a bagel or breakfast sandwich from around the corner or to sleep in, lounge around, and make lunch my first meal.  But this Sunday I convinced Albert to come over for a proper weekend brunch.  The main dish was one my mother has perfected: hash browns casserole.

Hash browns casserole is not something you find often up North, but it's common on Southern breakfast spreads.  It's incredibly easy to put together and reheats well so it's also great for potlucks or a party where you want to get some of the cooking out of the way early (leaving more time for mimosas).  Start with frozen hash browns (2 lbs) and thaw until the little sticks of potato are broken apart and able to mix with the other ingredients.  To the hash browns add 10 oz shredded cheese, one (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup, one pint sour cream (reduced fat works fine), 1/2 c. melted butter or margarine, one small chopped onion, and salt and pepper.  Bake uncovered in a greased 3-qt. dish at 350 for an hour until the top gets a bit crusty.  If it suits you, add a couple dashes of hot sauce when you serve it.  Like all good casseroles it's creamy and cheesy - I can't think of a better way to start the day.

Hu Kitchen

I was wary when Amy wanted to eat at Hu Kitchen before a movie this weekend.  One look at the menu and I could tell it was super healthy - and not in the sneak veggies into your kids' meals sort of way.  The word "organic" was thrown around a little too often for my taste and I couldn't find cheese anywhere on the menu.  Hu Kitchen tries to adhere to the principles of the paleo diet which sounds absurd to me.  The idea behind paleo is to eat only things that were available to cave men.  Well, I think cave men evolved for a reason and that reason was to eat better.

I grumbled and sneered all the way to the restaurant...and then something weird happened: I really enjoyed my meal.  There was no cheese in my socca wrap burrito #1 (with egg, turkey sausage, carrot, celery, mushroom, onion, and chili, wrapped in a chickpea sponge bread) but it was packed with flavor.  At Hu Kitchen "healthy" doesn't just mean lo-cal.  It means unprocessed.  I think the fact that the food was all fresh is a big part of why I remained full for so long after eating it.  The food is still solid - you're getting more than a piece of kelp and a sweet potato fry with agave nectar on the plate.  The lack of dreadlocked diners is another indication that the health food movement does not have to be alternative.  While I'm still in New Years Resolution mode, this is a good option to stay on the healthy track.      

Madison Bar and Grill

Madison Bar and Grill does a crazy brunch buffet with seafood, eggs benedict, hanger steak, a chocolate fountain, and more.  It's $25 and comes with a cocktail and unlimited coffee.  It can be a bit overwhelming so when Steph and I met at this uptown Hoboken establishment, we ordered off the regular menu (the fact that it was 2 PM and we wanted non-breakfast food had something to do with it, too).

I'm not knocking the buffet, but by ordering off the regular menu we got to try the french onion soup dumplings.  The onion-filled dumplings came in an escargot dish and were topped with a generous layer of gruyere.  They were as good as I hoped.  We both ordered the cobb salad for our entree, and I liked that they served it with a light vinaigrette instead of a thick dressing.  Solid continental food with a live jazz trio playing in the corner is a great way to spend a Sunday.    

The Sparrow Tavern

Convenience is important.  When leaving the island of Manhattan, knowing the destination won't be too out of the way is key to actually getting you on the subway and leaving the comfort of your home borough.  I would never miss Karina's birthday brunch, but realizing the restaurant was just off the Astoria Blvd stop on the N line made me much more comfortable making my first trip to Astoria.  Not only is it close to the subway, The Sparrow Tavern is directly across the street from the beer garden.  Talk about convenient.

I started off brunch with a bloody mary that was made with smoked chipotle peppers.  I like spicy bloodies, specifically when that spice is peppery vs. horseradishy.  Using chipotles to add the spice was a nice change from the usual black pepper.  Once we all had our brunch cocktails, it was app time.  Matt assumed the role of host and ordered a couple chocolate croissants and mac and cheese for the table.  The mac and cheese was nice and cheesy with a good crust on top.  Good, but not the standout.  I really enjoyed the croissants.  Instead of a typical pain au chocolat that's filled with thick ganache, this was a regular, buttery croissant that was split in half, grilled, and then lightly gifted with a swipe of chocolate.  Grilling them made a huge difference.  It's such a simple change but gave it a whole new texture and taste.  If I host a brunch, these will definitely make an appearance.  For my entrée I ordered the egg and brie sandwich with speck on country bread.  The egg oozed on my fingers and since I was with friends I had no qualms about just licking it right off.  Just a tad more brie would have made it perfect...though it was a solid breakfast sandwich just as it was.

If you're planning to hit up the beer garden, you're going to want some food to soak up the booze.  I highly recommend this over some lame pretzel with mustard.  The food is good and cheap.  We all had about two drinks, shared appetizers, entrées, and shared desserts and the total for our group of eight was only $25 per person.

Over six years in NYC and I finally made it to Astoria.  This seems like a milestone event.  Good news for the borough of Queens: my first experience was a good one so I'll be back!  

Pear Cinnamon Muffins

Ever have a feeling that's so rare you need to pause and acknowledge it?  Well last week I had the urge to bake muffins and since I never want to bake I had to stop and give this feeling some attention.  I don't bake because I don't really like it - it's too precise.  At least, that's what I tell people.  The real reason I don't bake is because I'm terrible at it.  I always manage to screw it up.  But since I didn't want to neglect this fleeting desire to act like Betty Crocker, I started doing a little planning.  I hit up Google and typed in "easy muffin recipe."  Among the results, this recipe popped up and it looked so overly simple that I began to think even I couldn't screw it up.

Because I don't bake, I don't really have many of the tools needed to bake so I stopped by Whisk to scope the scene.  When I found adorable teal paisley muffin cups, my resolve to make this attempt strengthened.  They were just too cute not to use.  Armed with a 12-muffin tin and my fun muffin cups, I was ready to get to business.  

I've heard all those "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" rumors but can never seem to get myself in the habit.  I thought muffins might just entice me thanks to their grab-and-go nature.  Of course I wanted to do a little something to make the recipe my own because I knew some sort of twist would make me that much more likely to eat it.  After following the recipe as directed, I added one pear, peeled and sliced thin along with 1.5 tsp of cinnamon (I didn't alter the cook time).  I rocked this recipe with my change!  In addition to having those great Fall flavors, the pear helped keep the muffin moist.  Because it was thinly sliced, the pear cooked all the way through - almost melted into the cake.  Not only did this get me to eat breakfast, I'm actually reaching for two of these babies each morning.  A great breakfast with a recipe that's too easy not to try.  Can't wait to test out another flavor combo...what should I go with next?!

Agave

Here's another one to add to your drunk brunch list, folks: Agave.  $25 gets you an entree plus bottomless mimosas, wine, or frozen margaritas.  Bazinga!

I ordered the Southwestern eggs benedict and thought it was a great twist on the traditional.  The English muffins were topped with firm tomato, avocado slices, poached egg, and a chipotle hollandaise sauce.  It's not spicy (I actually added some hot sauce to mine), but it was a nice switch up to the regular eggs benny.  Avocado is a nice switch up to any dish.  Basically, if you ever want to make people fall in love with a normal boring dish, just add avocado to it.  Everyone cleaned their plate - and not just because their taste buds were masked by the ever-flowing booze; the food was just tasty.  The flavors aren't hardcore Southwestern so even pickier palates will find plenty on the menu to enjoy.

  

Stonestreet

When someone says Stonestreet, I'm sure you immediately think of happy hour swamped by banking guys in suits letting off some steam. On a typical weeknight you would be right, but I think it's worth giving Stonestreet a chance on the weekend, too. Sure, FiDi is significantly quieter when the market is closed and all those banking types flee to their uptown digs, but bottomless brunch is enough to bring me back down to the bottom of the island. The portions will fill you up and this particular spot of the financial district is one of the few places in NYC that still has cobblestones, which makes for a pretty atmosphere when it's warm enough to drink your mimosas outside.

Perry's

After a big night out on Saturday, Liz and I were looking for a quiet brunch on Sunday.  Eggs Florentine were about as crazy as I planned to get.  Perry's looked like a great Sunday spot to get some brunch food and maybe people watch at the tables outside.  But as we started walking up the stairs to see the hostess we began to notice the inside didn't seem as calm as the outside.  The music was pounding.  The girls were cheering.  We had walked into DRAG BRUNCH.  

For $25 you get a full drag show and an all-you-can-eat buffet.  It was such a random mix of food (california rolls, scrambled eggs with bacon, greek salad, and soup), but I was too concerned with the performing transexuals to really notice.  I recommend a few mimosas to ease you into the wackiness that is drag queens lip synching to Lady Gaga but those are $7 each so count for that in your budget.  I would also budget a handful of ones as the ladies performing like to get a little something extra in exchange for their act.  Drag brunch was a wholly unexpected way to spend a Sunday afternoon but it left me in great spirits for my bus ride back to NYC.

The one on the left is Miss Gigi Paris Couture and she has a great set of knockers.

 

The Whitefish Challenge

You're wrong if you think the whitefish challenge of this post's title means a competition to eat the most whitefish in the least amount of time.  I don't know if that would excite you or gross you out but either way that's not what it refers to.  The whitefish challenge is something my brother, sister-in-law, and I dreamed up back in October when they were here for their last visit.  They had recently discovered the bagel topper and though I was thoroughly disgusted by its name alone, they convinced me to try it and I found it was not so bad.  Though they are both Ess-a-Bagel devotees, they thought the whitefish from the random bagel place below my apartment was better.  That got us thinking: if a no-name guy was better than one of New York's most famous places, there could be some major whitefish salad competitors out there.  We decided to try them all and crown one of them king.

10 months we've been talking about this and it finally happened.  In that lag time between visits, I spent my time researching.  I looked at all the blogs and reviews I could find to determine who could score themselves entrée into our little taste-off.  The final three were Daniel's Bagels (the place by my apartment that we already knew was great), Zucker's Bagels (famous for their smoked fish in Tribeca and happened to have just opened their second location near my apartment a couple months ago), and finally Russ and Daughters (known to be the premier source of NYC's "appetizing" for years...not that I knew appetizing was anything other than an adjective until recently).  We left at 11:30 to grab all the ingredients, picking up bagels from Ess-a so they would all be on an even playing field.  It's a good thing we were committed to this project because that's the only way we could have spent the two hours it took collecting everything and then finding a park bench to commence the judging process.  We spent a lot of time discussing each one because as my brother put it: "If you're gonna spend two hours getting this stuff ready, you better analyze the fuck out of it."  Here's how it played out:

1. Daniel's: by far the creamiest.  They must add some sort of cream cheese or sour cream to it.  Also the saltiest, which, to me, makes it seem a bit fishier.  
2. Zucker's: middle of the road creamy.  Had a very smoky flavor vs. Daniel's' salt-cured.
3. Russ and Daughters: Not creamy but pureed very fine for a smooth texture.  Includes smoked salmon for a different flavor.  Most bland in flavor but points for being in the LES and maintaining the neighborhoods Jewish roots.

If we're talking about just fish, we all agreed we would rank as above.  Allison in particular was a major Daniel's fan.  But then we started playing around and discovered some great pairing that changed the game.  Mark mixed the Daniel's and Zucker's whitefish and thought that was the holy grail.  It had the creamy texture we wanted with the smoked flavor we liked.  I loved putting whitefish row on top of the Russ and Daughters version.  Since they are now located near each other, this would not be a difficult thing to do.  The caviar and bagel sandwiches are what Russ and Daughters is famous for so it made sense that the caviar would take the seemingly boring whitefish salad to a whole new level.  It bumped it up to #2, maybe #1 in my book.

So there you have it.  The Konter sibs have done all the research so you don't have to.  Now you know exactly where to go when you're serving brunch to a bunch of hungry New Yorkers.

Cornelia Street Cafe

This weekend was sweaty.  The heat in NYC was BRUTAL and it didn't take more than five minutes of walking outside before my shirt was stuck to my back.  But it takes more than heat to stop my Mom and I from hoofing it all around the city.  We walked around the humid mess of the city until we couldn't stand it anymore, at which point we ducked into a store or restaurant...usually a restaurant.

On Saturday, that restaurant happened to be Cornelia Street Cafe in the heart of Greenwich Village.  We were dripping and so thankful the bartender was happy to keep filling up our water glasses for an hour while we ordered zero alcohol and waited for the rest of our party to arrive.  New Yorkers became pretty considerate in this scorching heat.  It was nice to see, but I'm sure they'll go back to their rude Yankee ways once it cools down.  For the area of town, the prices were far more reasonable than I anticipated.  My BLT was fabulous (yummy aioli, soft toasted challah bread) and cost $12.  The huevos rancheros I saw walk by was huge and only $11.  Pretty good for a restaurant in an area of town where only the fanciest of people live.  My Mom saw there were wine flights of three small glasses for only $15 and she was sold.  Not a typical Marcy Konter brunch move, but when that lady goes on vacay I guess she just becomes a wild woman!

 

Spicy Shrimp Breakfast Tacos

Years ago my family took our boat out for a weekend camping trip.  On the last morning I was put in charge of making breakfast out of whatever we had leftover.  I ended up making breakfast burritos out of shrimp we caught straight off the side of the boat and some cajun seasoning we had used on steak the night before.  I basically just threw stuff together, but everyone loved it.  Looking back, that's probably when I realized how happy cooking and feeding others makes me.

I decided to re-create that first cooking experiment for brunch the other weekend.  After scrambling some eggs I threw some grape tomatoes in the pan to start blistering.  I coated shrimp with cayenne, paprika, chile powder, and garlic powder (really get em good with that spice mix) and cooked them alongside the tomatoes.  It only takes a few minutes (about 2/side).  There's not much to assemble: tortillas, arugula, eggs, shredded cheese (barely any - the shrimp have tons of flavor), shrimp, and tomatoes.

It may have been simple enough for me to quickly whip up in my early cooking days, but that didn't make it any less delicious now.