Rainy Day Brunch in Brooklyn

View of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Promenade

The second day of my weekend in NYC was not nearly as pretty as the first: it was chilly, rainy, and foggy for most of the afternoon and evening. But that didn't stop us from venturing out. We visited a church that Anne was interested in, then stopped for brunch at Le Gamin Cafe on Vanderbilt Avenue (recommended by blogger Jessica of What I Wore).

It might not look like much from the outside, but this little place is adorable. French posters and advertisements adorn the walls; the water is served in elegant blue and green glass bottles; and, there's a shaded courtyard out back that would've been perfect in better weather. The small wooden tables and plastic wicker chairs are packed in pretty close together, but we didn't really mind. We were too busy enjoying the delicious meal.

Oddly we were both in the mood for goat cheese and ratatouille - maybe the weather made us want something rich, savory, and filling. But whatever the reason, after perusing the menu we were eying the same two dishes, so we decided to order one of each and split them. But we ordered our own mimosas - no sharing there.

Afterwards we wandered around Park Slope for a while, poking around in Unnameable Books and finally landing at Heights Coffee Lounge for a much-needed afternoon hot cup o' joe.

What We Ate:

• Oeuf Gamin - poached egg on a goat cheese potato cake, served with homemade ratatouille
• Vegetarien Gamin - herbed polenta stuffed with goat cheese and smothered with ratatouille
• To drink: coffee and mimosas

The Scoop:
Le Gamin Cafe is located at 556 Vanderbilt Avenue (between Atlantic Ave & Pacific St) in Brooklyn, NY 11238. They're open for breakfast, lunch, & dinner; reservations are not needed. You can reach them at 718-789-5171.

Broadway and Bacon Ice Cream

This past weekend I flew to New York to see my dear friend Anne, who's currently living in Brooklyn. Her birthday was two weeks ago, and since I couldn't visit then, we celebrated on Saturday night instead. Our evening consisted of dinner at the fabulous Union Square Café, a performance of "Promises, Promises" at the Broadway Theatre, and drinks at Flatiron Lounge.

Dinner
Union Square Café was recommended to me by my friend Jen, who works with Topher. A New York native, Jen declares that she's never had a bad meal at USC, and after my experience there, I believe it: the meal and the service were close to impeccable.

USC gets a lot of its produce and meats from the Union Square Greenmarket, a huge open-air farmers' market (open 8am-6pm on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat) that's just around the corner from the restaurant. Many of the menu items feature the name of the farm that supplied the ingredients: Eckerton Hill Heirloom Tomatoes, Sycamore Farms Sweet Corn, 3-Corner Fields Feta, Anson Mills Polenta, Four Story Hill Farm Rib-Eye ...

Anne has a gluten allergy, so I called ahead to confirm that they could accommodate her. Sure enough, upon being seated we were brought a basket of gluten-free wafers instead of bread, and our waitress was prepared to answer all of Anne's questions about the menu - what dishes she could have, and what dishes could be altered to be gluten-free. Yay!


What We Ate:

• My appetizer: "Savory" Kabocha squash bread pudding topped with bacon ice cream, sliced apple, frisee salad, & sherry vinaigrette - This is one of the best dishes I have ever tasted! My entree was good, but for me, this dish (shown above) was the real stand-out of the evening. I never wanted it to end ...
• Anne's appetizer: Black Pearl Salmon Crudo with Cucumber Gazpacho, Crème Fraîche and Steelhead Trout Roe - Anne let me taste this, and it was one of the best pieces of salmon I've ever put in my mouth. The freshness of the cucumber gazpacho perfectly balanced the raw fish. (Check out pictures of this dish and USC's other summer specials here.)
• My entree: Grilled Lamb Chops Scotta Dita, Norwich Meadows Swiss Chard and Potato-Gruyère Gratin
• Anne's entree: Pan-Crisped Duck Confit, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Mission Figs, Chanterelle Mushrooms and Chicory
• My cocktail: USC Cooler (San Pellegrino orange-flavored Aranciata, Campari, fresh lime juice, and an orange slice)
• Anne's cocktail: I can't remember :(
• Our wine: half bottle of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ladera, Napa Valley

The Scoop:
Union Square Café is located at 21 East 16th Street, NYC 10003. They're open for lunch every day, noon-2pm; dinner is served Sun-Thurs 5:30-10pm and Fri-Sat 5:30-11pm. Reservations (highly recommended) can be made online or by calling 212-243-4020.

*****

The show we saw - "Promises, Promises" starring Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked) and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) - is based on the same story as "The Apartment," the 1960 movie starring Shirley MacLaine & Jack Lemmon. Like most musicals, it was a bit cheesy but a lot of fun. And, as much as I like Kristin Chenoweth, this was definitely Sean Hayes' show!

Drinks
Afterwards we went back to down to Chelsea/Gramercy for cocktails at Flatiron Lounge, a swanky but unpretentious place that Topher & I visited last fall with our friends Adam & Meredith. On that trip we went before dinner, closer to opening time, so it was quiet and not very busy. This time Anne & I arrived a little after 11pm, and it was much more crowded/noisy. But the service was still good, and we were able to get a table. I liked their version of a mint julep so much last time that I ordered it again; but their menu is full of unique, culinarily-inspired concoctions. I'd definitely like to visit again!

What We Drank:

• My first drink: Mint Jules - Makers Mark bourbon with muddled mint and smashed limes
• Anne's first drink: King Rose - gin, strawberries, & lime, garnished with a large basil leaf
• My second drink: A Bird in the Heart - raspberry jam, smoky aged rum and egg white foam - the flavors come in stages, so it's a little strong at first with more fruit at the end
• Anne's second drink: Miss Lynn - vodka, cucumber, Pimm's, and Chartreuse

The Scoop:
Flatiron Lounge is located at 37 West 19th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues), NYC 10011. They're open Sun-Wed 5pm-2am and Thurs-Sat 5pm-4am. You can reach them at 212-727-7741.

Breakfast at the Greenmarket

This past weekend I flew to NYC to visit my dear friend Anne for a couple of days. When I landed on Saturday morning, she was working; so I took advantage of the glorious weather and walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

Afterwards I hopped on the subway and rode up to the Flatiron District to visit the Union Square Greenmarket, a huge outdoor farmers' market ...

... with dozens of stalls for local & regional producers selling everything imaginable - tomatoes, peppers, apples, pears, carrots, turnips, mushrooms, lettuces, herbs, baked good, cheeses, seafood, poultry, meats, fresh flowers -

... all right in the middle of downtown Manhattan! It's so strange to smell such fresh, earthy odors, then to look up and see skyscrapers & high-rise apartment buildings.

For breakfast, I picked up a blueberry banana cinnamon muffin and apple cider from Red Jacket Orchards.

My Fall "To Dine" List

Here are a few places that I want to try this fall. Watch for reviews to come!

• The Chef's Kitchen - a restaurant in Williamsburg set up stadium-style, so you can watch the chefs prepare your meal and learn as you go; this one is leftover from my summer "to dine" list
• One Fish Two Fish - a seafood restaurant in northern Virginia Beach; also a leftover from my summer "to dine" list ... sort of ... to see what I mean, check out this post (it's a funny story)
• Boot - a "local kitchen & wine bar" in the Ghent area of Norfolk, specializing in locally grown foods
• Union Square Café - in NYC; uses meats & produce from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket; highly recommended by our good friend Jen

Actually, my "to dine" list is quite long, and it just keeps growing as I get recommendations from family & friends (which I love, by the way)!

Where are you dying to eat this fall? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Gluten-Free Italian on the Upper West Side

Anne (my good friend and maid of honor extraordinaire who I visited in NYC this past weekend) had to work at Alice's Tea Cup on Saturday afternoon, so I had a few hours to kill by myself. I went to see a play -- Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories" starring Linda Lavin and Sarah Paulson -- did some shopping at Columbus Circle, and then read for a while in Central Park.

When Anne got off from work at 8pm, we were both starving, and she suggested an Italian place on the Upper West Side called Sambuca. The real draw for her was their gluten-free menu (she has a wheat allergy).

I haven't tasted a lot of gluten-free foods, and although I tried desperately, I wasn't able to get her a gluten-free cupcake at my wedding last spring. So I was surprised by how well the chef at Sambuca was able to mimic the texture and consistency of real bread and pasta.

They serve their entrees family-style, so we shared a plate of gluten-free (tapioca/rice) ravioli filled with spinach & ricotta cheese, and I sipped a glass of 2008 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo with mine. Sure, the ravioli didn't taste 100% like the real thing, but it was awfully close. And Anne loved it: It was the first time she'd been able to enjoy pasta in years!

Ladies Who Brunch

Manhattan

On Saturday morning Anne and I planned to enjoy a leisurely brunch on the Upper West Side at Good Enough to Eat, a few blocks from Alice's Tea Cup, the cafe where Anne works. Unfortunately when we arrived at GETE, the line was already quite long. There was no hostess to take our name or tell us how long the wait might be; we were just supposed to stand outside in a line on the sidewalk and wait.

Anne and I didn't wait very long. Diagonally across the intersection of 83rd & Amsterdam, another cafe had a banner hung on their railing that read, in huge letters: BRUNCH. Good marketing, no? We glanced at their menu and decided to give Fred's a try.

The food was delicious, the waiters very friendly. They let us linger, talking over our (constantly refilled) coffee cups long after we had finished eating. And linger we did, for almost three hours!

What We Ate:

• Raisin toast with whipped strawberry butter - that butter smelled (and tasted) incredible!
• Anne - omelet with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, & brie, served with mixed greens and potatoes; coffee & a mimosa
• Me - omelet with spinach, mushrooms, & goat cheese, served with mixed greens and potatoes; coffee & red sangria - the goat cheese was just oozing out of it :)

The Scoop:

Fred's is located at 476 Amsterdam Avenue at 83rd Street. Brunch is served on Sat-Sun 10am-3:30pm.

Brooklyn

On Sunday morning, after attending church at Brooklyn Tabernacle (quite a cultural experience!), we brunched again -- this time with Anne's friend Gretchen and her sister Madeline. Walking through Cobble Hill, we must have passed a dozen adorable cafes with chalkboard easels propped on the sidewalk outside their doors, colorfully proclaiming their brunch cocktails and World Cup specials. Verde and Apartment 138 caught our eye, but we ended up at Sweet Melissa Patisserie.

From the front there doesn't appear to be much (if any) seating room inside, but the host led us straight through the patisserie/cremerie shop to a patio garden out back, filled with umbrella-covered cafe tables.

What We Ate:

• Madeline - Smoked Trout & Potato Croquette w/Poached Eggs, Sour Cream, and Mango Salsa
• Gretchen - Banana Rhum French Toast (made from a croissant) w/Bruleed Bananas, Sweet Cream & Bacon - because it was made from a croissant, this French toast was much lighter and less filling than the typical dish
• Anne - Three Scrambled Eggs served with salad, potatoes, & applewood bacon
• Me - Omelet w/Spinach, Caramelized Onions, & Gruyere, served with salad, potatoes, & toast - I know, it's basically the same thing that I ordered at Fred's the day before, but what can I say, I love good omelets!
• To drink - coffee, and two rounds of mimosas for the table!

The Scoop:

Sweet Melissa Patisserie has two locations in Brooklyn: one in Park Slope, the other in Cobble Hill. The Cobble Hill location is open M-R 7:30am-10pm, F 7:30am-12am, Sat 8am-12am, and Sun 8am-10pm.

Thai in Brooklyn

I spent this past weekend in NYC with my good friend Anne, and we had a delicious time!

It all started last Wednesday afternoon when Topher called and told me that work was sending him to Bath, England, for four days. After I stopped being jealous, I decided to look online for cheap flights to NYC and texted my good friend (and fabulous maid of honor) Anne to see if I could visit her in Brooklyn. Two days later I was in the Big Apple.

On Friday evening while Anne was in NJ for a few hours, I went out to dinner with her friend/roommate Gretchen & Gretchen's sister Madeline. They were in the mood for Thai, so we started walking down Court Street to find a place that looked good. I was amazed: In just 3-4 blocks, we passed at least half a dozen great-looking Thai places, including Joya. I'm not sure we have that many Thai restaurants in all of Hampton Roads!

We ended up at Ghang. The staff wasn't that great--we had to flag down our waitress to get drink refills and, finally, our check--but the food was good. I ordered Panang curry chicken with carrots & bell peppers, with a glass of the house pinot grigio. The curry was a little more spicy than I usually like it, but that night I didn't mind the burning tongue & drippy nose--the spice actually felt good. Maybe my heat tolerance is improving; if so, Topher will be thrilled.

Later this week: brunch spots in Brooklyn & Manhattan, and gluten-free Italian on the Upper West Side!

Thank You, Bobby Flay!

Last fall my husband and his friend Adam planned a surprise weekend getaway to New York City for me and Adam's wife Meredith. No reason, no special occasion - they just wanted to do something nice for us. Aren't they awesome? :)

We flew to NYC early on Saturday morning, stopped at the Bleeker Street Magnolia Bakery for a breakfast banana nut bread cupcake, and spent most of the day walking and shopping in SoHo. That evening we went out for drinks at the Flatiron Lounge (they make a mean mint julep) before the big event: dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

What I Ate:

• Shrimp & roasted garlic corn tamale with fresh corn & cilantro sauce - I like cilantro
• Spiced rubbed bison filet with corn & ancho chile sauces, and crispy red onion - I never knew bison was so delicious!
• Mashed potatoes with cilantro pesto - did I mention that I like cilantro?
• Churros dusted with cinnamon sugar & star anise with dark chocolate dipping sauce

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my husband's entrée here:

• New Mexican spice-rubbed pork tenderloin with bourbon-ancho chile sauce

It's been the inspiration for many a meal at our house since this trip -- lucky me!

The recipe for the bourbon-ancho chile sauce is featured in Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook. Step one: reduce two cups of bourbon completely into chopped red onions.

The Scoop:
Mesa Grill (www.mesagrill.com) is located at 102 5th Avenue, New York City, NY. Reservations are available by calling (212)807-7400. Note: You must call on the day of your reservation to re-confirm!



On Sunday morning we had brunch at the Belgian brassiere Markt (Meredith: "Have you ever had a Belgian beer with your Belgian waffle? I have!") before heading to the MoMA. Picasso, Warhol, and Pollack, oh my! I especially liked their sculpture garden (photo above). That evening we flew home to Hampton Roads, back to regular life.