More Burgers

Yesterday, I shared with you the wonder that is Five Napkin Burger.  I could blog for days about burgers, but I leave that to the burger blogs. 

When I was looking to start my burger journey, the first night I was available happened to be a night where I had to stay local.  I read good things about a place called Brgr, so off I went with Alex to see what Brgr was all about. 

Brgr.  Chelsea on 7th avenue and 26th street..  Burgers.  Order at counter. Five minutes later, burgers arrive. 

There are three types of turkey burgers on the menu, which is nice.  And you can also order any burger a la carte - choose your beef, number of patties, cheese, toppings, etc. 

I wish I could remember which burgers we ordered (I know they were not turkey, and one had gruyere).  This was back in August.  We picked up two Corona's, at $5.00 a pop, and split "The Trio:" russet fries, sweet potato fries, and onion hay, for $4.00. 

The food comes out. My burger is wrong so I had to send it back.  The burgers were...fine.  Nothing too great.  The trio was overwhelming.  Although I like russet fries, sweet potato fries, and onion hay, I did not like that they were all in the same carton.  The flavors combined, and I would have preferred the trio laid out, so I could reach for just one of the three fries, not all of them.  The beer were lovely of course.  But, this meal was about $32, for the burgers, fries, and beers.  And we did not get waiter service.  Shake Shack is not waiter service either, but the burgers are under $7.00, and it fun, and amazingly delicious.  Most of the burgers here were $8.00 and over!  I can get brunch for that cost, and be waited on, and spend more than 25 minutes in the establishment.  Nothing was awful...just not really worth it.

http://brgr.us/index.cfm?page=home

A few weeks later and we decide to try Jackson Hole, a place people rave about.  It has eight locations (we went to Murray Hill).  This is more than a burger place.  This is a bar type of place with an extensive menu - known for its burger, but with several other options.  For $12.65, Alex ordered the Eastsider.  It is a burger topped with ham, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and fried onions.  So it is a heart attack on a plate.  I think we had to add $2.00 to make it a platter, to get the french fries.  I got the cheeseburger platter, for over $10.

The food arrives.  The steak fries...are ok.  The burgers...well...the meat was really good.  But it was so big, and SO juicy, that the entire bottom bun was soaked.  We could only handle the burgers for half of the time, and had to fork and knife through the rest of it.  Although it tasted good, it was such a huge mess.  Thank goodness this was not some sort of date...because that would be embarassing.  If you like huge, messy, will fall into a coma burger, then this is the place for you.  And huge, messy, comma burgers are not a bad thing!  But we just felt a little overwhelmed by it all.  As a Bill's Bar & Burger and Shake Shack lover, I like a burger I can grip and sink my teeth into. 

http://www.jacksonholeburgers.com/

All in all, BRGR and Jackson Hole are decent, but they are not my go to spots for burgers. 

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

FIVE NAPKIN Burger... and other Burger Favorites

My boyfriend and I are searching for NYC's best hamburger.  I have shared with you the wonders of The Smith, and of Bill's Bar & Burger.  But I need to update you on other places we have tried in the past few months.  Today, I will focus on Five Napkin Burger, a popular spot in Hell's Kitchen.

I made an opentable reservation for Five Napkin Burger two weeks in advance.  I called the day of to switch the time for 15 minutes later, and they said they had no availability.  Five Napkin Burger fills up FAST.  And they have a very limited number of reservations available on opentable.com. 

Please NOTE for future opentable reference: just because there are no reservations available on opentable.com does not mean that the restaurant does not have tables available.  Restaurants grant opentable a certain number of reservations.  Sometimes a lot, sometimes just a few.  A place like Five Napkin Burger gets a lot of traffic from people walking past on the street.  Therefore, they do not take a lot of reservations because they want tables for the passerbys.

So I arrive a few minutes late, since I coud not change my 6:00 p.m. reservation, and the restaurant is HOPPING!  Appetizers?  Nope.  The burger requires FIVE NAPKINS so I thought an appetizer would be overkill.  But the appetizers otherwise are standard wings, spinach and artichoke dip, soups and salads.  Other than burgers, this menu offers an extensive sushi roll list (strange?), sandwiches, mac and cheese, and a hot dog.  But we wanted burgers.

The waitress came over and asked for our order.  We had only been there for five minutes and I wanted to linger over the menu a little bit longer.  We order sodas instead.  We look at the burgers, and we see that we have EIGHT options.  Ok.  Must. Pick. The. Right. One.  Four of them are not in the ham category - lamb, turkey, ahi tuna, and veggie.  The turkey burger was Italian, and sounded great.  The Ahi Tuna burger sounded extravagant, which came in at $15.95. 

As for the hamburgers, one is a "burger for two." You get two side dishes, two patties, the works, for just $22.50.  Sounds great!  This was NOT on the menu when I visited.  The inside out burger was a hamburger without a bun, wrapped in lettuce.  A little bit healthier, but I was not shopping for healthy.  We are down to two burgers.

1.  The Original Five Napkin Burger (what I ordered):  10 oz fresh ground chuck, caramelized onions, gruyere cheese (o yes), rosemary aioli, soft white roll.  $14.95.

2.  Bacon-Cheddar Burger (what bf ordered): 10 oz fresh ground chuck, sharp cheddar, bacon, raw onion, lettuce & tomato, white roll.  $14.95.

As for the prices of the other burgers, they come in at $12.95-$15.95.  So these burgers come with a price.  Now, they do come with fries, so not to worry.  And I guarantee that this will really fill you up, so you won't be disappointed.  As for what we thought of the burgers, my burger with the gruyere was incredible.  Alex enjoyed his too, but liked my gruyere burger better.  The fries were excellent, and we really enjoyed sinking our teeth into this meal.

Now remember what I said earlier - this place gets crowded and they take a lot of passerbys from the street.  So, they want you in the restaurant, chowing down, and they want you out.  Even with lingering, contemplating the dessert menu and passing, we were in and out, check paid in 1 hour.  Keep that in mind if you are looking for a longer dining experience.  Or if you make a reservation for this place before an 8 p.m. show, the earliest you need a reservation is 6:30 p.m.  I promise you will get out of there on time.

http://www.fivenapkinburger.com/index.php

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Seoul Garden - KTown DEFINITELY near a subway.

Subway Series Monday!  What subway today?  TONS OF SUBWAYS!  Basically, get on the subway to Herald Square (N,Q,R,W,B,D,F,V) and walk to 32nd street.  Just two blocks from 34th street.  Koreatown runs from 31st to 36th, between 5th and 6th.  I went to 32nd street, between 5th and 6th, and had my choice of Korean restaurants!

My destination - Seoul Garden.  Walk upstairs into a big restaurant with decor that is...well...nothing to blog about.  But you don't go for the decor.  You go to eat.  Alot.  Now a lot of these places in K-Town do barbeque, and you sit in front of the grill and cook your food.  I was just going to try the non-bbq eats.

We got dumplings to start, which were great, but unnecessary.  Our entrees were so big, that we didn't need the dumplings.  Then they bring out all of these little bowls.  Look at how many bowls there are!  Broccoli, noodles, sauce, all sorts of things!  Luckily, I was with a K-Town expert.  Literally, when these bowls came out, I thought, um....what the hell do I do with these bowls?  I was so confused!   So my boyfriend ordered a hot dish that came with ribs.  The ribs were excellent.  I got the Tofu Doslot Bibim Bob.  Look at it on the left.  You get this hot bowl of food with vegetables and tofu.  It is REALLY HOT.  Then you add all of the little side dish items into the bowl.  You actually even crack and egg into the bowl and stir it in.  It is so hot that the egg cooks. 

This was one of those dishes that took about 10 minutes to start enjoying becuase it was so damn hot.  But, once I started eating it, I really enjoyed it.  I really enjoyed how big the dish was, which meant it took a pretty long time to eat.   I love meals that take forever.  It is nice to enjoy the food, take my time, and enjoy the company I am with.  And I could not even finish it! 

All in all, if you want to eat a lot of great korean food, hang out with a group of friends, and linger of an abundance of food, K-Town is the place for you.  And when it is cold and you just want to get off the subway and enjoy a meal, you have your pick of places in K-Town!  For $40 for two, it was not a bad deal.  And take out the dumplings, and this meal would have been under $30. 

http://seoulgarden32.com/

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Eve, and Merry Christmas! I thought I would take tomorrow off from posting so that we can all enjoy the holiday, away from a computer.  Although the computer is a source of entertainment, I urge you to seek out other sources of entertainment, such as friends, family, wine, and presents.  And appetizers.  And cakes!

Last weekend, I had friends over to decorate Christmas cookies.  It was a blast.  Think about activities you could plan for kids, and chances are, you can do it with adults.  You just need to add one thing - alcohol.  For example, making ginger bread houses is fun... with wine.  Building a fort is great... while drunk.

I love food.  You all know that.  And I obviously love restaurants.  But I have started cooking recently, and it makes me appreciate the food I eat at restaurants even more.  I see how difficult it is and how complex it can be to make dishes that seem so simple.

So for those of you that like to entertain, we can talk for hours about great dishes to serve.  But, food is also fun, and you can certainly have a little party or a small gathering where everyone is a part of prepping the food.

As you can see above, I made Christmas Cookies, a snowman, a star, and a tree, using a sugar cookie recipe and cookie cutters.  Here is the recipe: 
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChristmasSugarCookies.html.

This recipe is a little bit more complex than regular sugar cookies because you want them to be thick, so that you can handle them without the cookies breaking in your hand.  I thought that working with the dough might be tough, so I made the cookies the night before the gathering, so that decorating would be the main event.

Cute right?  I bought Christmas M&M's, candy canes, green sprinkles, and chocolate frosting.  I crushed some of the M&M's and the candy canes so that you could sprinkle them on.

Now, keep in mind, you have to think about transport when you have these gatherings. How will your guests get their creations home?

When my roommate Emily and I had friends over to build gingerbread houses, no one wanted to take them home.  What a hassle! So we had a bunch of leftover gingerbread houses. I'll be honest - ain't nothing you can do with a bunch of leftover gingerbread houses other than eating stale treats.  The next year, we smartened up.  We got shoeboxes and had people build their houses in a shoebox.  They could transport it home very easily!

These cookies just needed some aluminum foil for transport.   Everyone decorated three, ate one, and took 2 home. If you want to decorate more, just tell your guests to bring tupperware with them to transport their cookies home.

On the left you can see the end result!  It was a fun and delicious activity.  And we probably only spent 15-20 minutes decorating them.  As adults, thats all we needed.  We just wanted to drink and talk, and it was nice to have a cute little activity as a bonus.

Have a delicious holiday!
NYCMenuGirl

To Brooklyn, for Brunch!

My old roommate Emily moved to Brooklyn.  And I went to visit her and see her lovely kitty who I used to cohabitate with.  We decided to go on a brunch adventure.  We were in Clinton Hill, and made our way over to the Fort Greene area.  Her boyfriend Jordan, who also adores restaurants, had a few places in mind for us, and we set out on an adventure.

We passed one place that had a wait.  Another that did not have a brunch menu.  So we started heading towards a brunch place that Emily and Jordan liked, and in doing so, we saw a cute little restaurant called Cafe Lafayette.  We stepped inside, and I realized that I have probably never been in a restaurant so small.  There were 2-3 tables on the right, 3 tables on the left, and 2 tables in the front, and that was it.  The restaurant was full, and one table was on their way out.  A mere three minutes later, we were seated.

A bottle of water was placed on the table.  Lovely.  Jordan and Emily asked for coffee.  When they drank it, they realized they really liked it, and asked the waitress what kind of coffee they were drinking.  The waitress went to the back, retrieved the cannister, and told Jordan all about the coffee.  It was a rather nice gesture.  And Jordan ordered some french onion soup to start, which was nice for such a cold day.  And quite frankly, the door opening and closing to let patrons in an out kept the restaurant at a temperature a little below warm. 

The menu offered a variety of salads, burgers and omelets.  A lot of patrons ordered the burgers, and they looked incredible.  When we saw them come out, we had a few regrets that one of us did not try the burger.  Of course, my choice was easy.  Why you ask?  Because they had a goat cheese and spinach omelet, and I can't say no to the goat cheese.  Usually I whine when restaurants only let you choose two fillings for omelets.  But this was different because it was predetermined, as if they were deciding that these two fillings were a good combination.  The omelet was $9.00, and I ordered it with egg whites.  The waitress said it would cost more.  I said, how much?  She said $3.00.  WOOF.  That is alot of extra dollars for me to spend just to feel better about eating the omelet.  I contemplated.  And contemplated.  Awkward pause.  Make a decision Kerry.  SAY SOMETHING.  Ok.  I will take the damn expensive egg whites. 

As we waited for our egg dishes, a bread basket arrived.  Not even listed on the menu.  YAY!!!  Love the bread basket.  No bread plates though.  Ah who cares.  It is brunch.  I'll live.  It was delightful.  Now I was not feeling so bad about spending more on the omelet. 


I should note that the decor was lovely.  They had wine bottles and old art.  It was the cutest, artiest, most interesting looking place I have had brunch.  I felt like great minds used to meet at Cafe Lafayette to engage in discourse far beyond my understanding. 


On to the entree.  Omelet arrives.  Side salad. Approximately 7 big home fries.  Emily and Jordan also got egg dishes.  You can look at the brunch menu here, but it does not look like the brunch menu we got at the restaurant on Sunday.  And as a side note, look at the specials.  They have an all you can eat mussels and frites for $15 on Wednesdays!  With a glass of wine too!  Amazing.

There is the omelet.  Emily thought the home fries were too peppery.  The little salad was delightful.  And the omelet was pretty good.  It could have been a little fluffier.  But the goat cheese was nice.  And the best part was, they only ended up charging me $1.00 for the omelet. 

When it comes to brunch, you can find so many cute places that have not been majorly hyped up and overrated.  And if you are in that brunch mood of "strolling around town with nothing to do," why not try something new that looks cute?  There are certainly some really fancy brunch places that have entrees at an average price of $16.00, and of course there are variables of mimosas, bread baskets, egg whites, etc., but for the most part, the price range from one brunch place to another is not extravagant.  It probably won't kill your wallet to try something new. 

I should also say that I really love when friends want to show me their neighborhood.  I am due for pizza in Brooklyn with friend and blog reader Justin soon.  The excitement that people show for their favorite neighborhood spots, allows me to enjoy a meal with them from a completely different perspective.  When people are excited to show off their favorite restaurants, I get excited with them.  The personality of a restaurant is largely shaped by the people in it, so getting to know those usual patrons makes you feel that comforting home-like feel.  And I love it.

http://www.99cafelafayette.com/site/menu.html


Have a delicious day!
NYCMenuGirl

LUNCH at the Pourhouse

Newsflash - not all deals are advertised on the menu.  Why?  I think these restaurants want to WOW you when you come in.  You picked the restaurant and you were prepared to pay their prices.  Then, the waitress says, "O we have this special."  And you think, that is awesome, I was not anticipating a special, and am now overjoyed at the thought of saving money, I love you waitress, thank you for making my day.  Ok.  Maybe it is not that exciting.  But, it is the little things that get us through the day, right? 

One day this summer, my friend and blog reader Taylor, and I embarked on a day of bar hopping.  We decided to barhop in the East Village.  We started at one bar, and decided that the second bar would have to include lunch.  I looked up some lunch spots, and sure enough, The Village Pourhouse, on 11th and 3rd, offers $1 bud and bud lights with any lunch entree.  Perfect.  This would go well with our barhopping. 

This place is pretty empty during lunchtime.  You have the place to yourself.  It is bar, more than a pub, and as Taylor says, this place offers more than what you expect from the looks of it.  It has private rooms in the back that you can reserve for parties.  One even has a separate entrance.  Taylor wanted a hamburger.  The waitress said that during lunchtime, a hamburger would cost just $5.95.  Add $1.00 for cheese.  Add $1.00 for beer.  For $7.95, you get a big cheeseburgers, lots of fries, and a bud.  Pretty sweet.  It is really good cheeseburger too.  

Recently, we returned to the Pourhouse for lunch.  We looked on the menu and the menu said nothing about the burger special, or about the $1.00 beers.  And the waitress did not say anything either.  Taylor asked: "You still have the burger deal, and the $1.00 beers?" And the waitress said yes.  He ordered his cheeseburger and beer, and it was $7.95 as expected.  Doesn't it look pretty?  I think so.

Now, I have not had this special.  Why? I have been for dinner and have had the burger, so I wanted to try other menu items.  Recently, I got the grilled chicken sandwich for $9.99.  The sandwich was very good, and it was extremely filling. I did not eat for another five hours (I tend to eat something every hour so you should be SHOCKED). 

Why this place rocks:

1.  The beer and burger special.

2.  If you don't want a burger, the beers are still $1.00 with any entree at lunch.

3.  The menu gives you beer recommendations for each entree. 

4.  If you are entertaining an out-of-towner who only dines at TGIF's, this is a good NYC happy medium.  It has standard bar food, chicken fingers and wings, etc., and offers those big portions that NYC dwellers are not always used to at restaurants. 

5.  And it is usually empty at lunch, so it is great for conversation!

http://www.pourhousenyc.com/

Have a delicious day!
NYCMenuGirl

Subway Series! R,W Trains to LURE FISHBAR!

Lure Fishbar is located at 142 Mercer Street in Soho.  Take the R or W train to Prince St. Walk one block west and down a flight of stairs into a boat-like oasis.  No, seriously.  The restaurant looks like a boat.  And you are in the basement, like a submarine.  Far away from the noise of the street, this dining experience allows you to sail away into a blissful night of eating. It is cold, and you took the subway to Lure so that you would not have to walk a lot.  And lucky you, this restaurant will keep you out of the cold and entertained for hours. 

I went to Lure Fishbar last February with a group of girls.  We had a 7 p.m. reservation (I recommend reservations at this place) and decided to meet at 6 p.m. for drinks at the bar.  Happy Hour is from 5-7 Monday-Friday, and they have fancy $7 cocktails, like a champagne bellini and a grapefruit margarita.  They have $5 beers, $6 glasses of wine, and great bar snacks, if you just want to drink at happy hour and eat a few appetizers.

The scene was hoppin at 6 p.m. on a Friday.  We were seated at our table for five, and a very attractive waiter came to our table to take our order for appetizers and more drinks.  Five girls - definitely needed a bottle of wine.  We got a bottle of wine for about $32.  And we started with crispy calamari and crabcakes.  While we waited for our appetizers, the waiter brought out homemade chips.  I thought, sweet, instead of bread, we get these awesome chips!  Our appetizers came out and they were great.  Fried food is usually pretty great, and this was amazing.

Then, another basket arrived. FRESHLY BAKED BREAD.  Sweet!  Chips AND bread.  Hell yes.  Ok time to order dinner.  Now, let me tell you something about Lure Fishbar - it is a pricey place.   I knew going into it that the only thing I could afford would be the sushi rolls.  Most of the entrees are between $25-$45.  I have occasionally spent $25, but not when bottles of wine, cocktails, appetizers, and all of that were involved.  I had to keep my entree price low in order to account for the drinks and splitting appetizers.  The sushi rolls were between $6-$12.  So we each ordered a 1-2 rolls and shared a little bit.

The rolls were by far the best sushi I have ever had. I would love to go back and skip the wine and cocktails, and just get a lot of sushi.  It had that melt in your mouth flavor that was incredible.  And granted, we did not have a lot of sushi due to budgetary issues, but between fried calamari, crabmeat, chips, and rolls, we were doing ok on the full factor.

Hot waiter comes back.  He says: "do you ladies want some shots?"  Um, what?  Shots?  This is a classy joint.  And I bet shots are $7 a pop, so no thanks.  Hot waiter comes back.  "Here are some birthday cake shots, on the house."  So you brought us alcohol that tastes like cake?  Which means, you, Mr. Hot Waiter, must be heaven on earth.  These shots were delightful.

We have already been at this restaurant for 2 hours.  We took our time.  We finished the wine.  Um, Hot Waiter, round of beers please?  He comes back with the beers.  "Do you ladies want dessert?"  No thanks, we will just continue to be lushes and drink.

Hot waiter returns - free chocolate cookie drops.  They were incredible.  He brings the bill.  With tax and tip, and depending on who ordered what, each person owed between $42-$50.  Ok.  So for me, this is a very rare occurrence to spend so much on dinner.  But, here's the thing - it is one of the top 3 dining experiences I have had in Manhattan.  I am not sure what the other 2 are, but Lure Fishbar takes the cake - the birthday cake, if you will.

When you want to go above your budget, it can be stressful.  You want to make sure it is worth it.  If you need suggestions for that one perfect pricey meal, email me at nycmenugirl@gmail.com, and tell me what foods really excite you, and what kind of ambiance you look for in a perfect night out.  I would love to help!

http://www.lurefishbar.com/

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Flashback Friday! To... PERILLA!

I am cheating.  I am flashing back to... last night.  But Perilla was so amazing, I could not wait to tell you all about it.

First, lets set the stage.  Flashback to - March 9, 2006.  I watch the first episode of the first season of Top Chef.  I had just returned from Spring Break in the Bahamas (spring break woot woot!) and while on the JetBlue flight, I watched a Project Runway marathon.  There were endless commercials for this new show called Top Chef.  I sit down to watch Top Chef, and I am thoroughly amused.  The season continues and I fall in love with all things Top Chef, and with its very first winner, Harold Dieterle.  So cute.  Such a good chef.  When Harold took the title, he opened a restaurant in NYC called Perilla, in the Village, on 9 Jones Street. 

Flash forward to - 3 years after Harold wins Top Chef, and I get my day in the sun.  I made an opentable reservation for last night at 7:15, to celebrate the holidays with my boyfriend.  We turned left off of West 4th street and onto Jones Street, residential, quiet, and quaint.  And Perilla was smack in the middle.  I am always so impressed by restaurants that have such a strong following, regardless of the fact that they are tucked away on these small side streets with no other restaurants in sight.  This means that these restaurants create such a strong buzz, on blogs, word of mouth, etc., that they do not need to rely on "passerby" customers.  This restaurant will be a full house every night, on its little side street.  And for really nice restaurants where you are spending a lot of money, the fact that the restaurant is tucked away means that the bustle and distraction of what is going on outside of the restaurant ceases to exist.  The focus is the restaurant you are in, and the experience you are going to have.  So calming.  Such a relief. 

We walked into Perilla.  It looked like everything you want a trendy, amazing NYC restaurant to look like.  I loved it.  They took our coats and seated us immediately at a nice table for two in the back.  The waiter asked us if we wanted to order drinks, and we had not looked at the drink menu yet.  Then he says water for the table? And I said "Yes, tap" just as he was saying "sparkling or tap?"  I love that about some of the nicer restaurants.  You even get to choose your own water.  We peruse the wine menu.  And then, I see him.  It is HAROLD!!!!  He looks great.  Very calm.  I was so pleased.  Add him to my list of Top Chefs I have seen.

My boyfriend ordered a beer, and I ordered a glass of white wine ($10).  The wine was fabulous.  The waiter poured a little into my glass first to let me try it.  That is pretty customary when you order a bottle of wine but not as common when you just order a glass.  It was a pleasant surprise.  And the wine was fantastic.  A sign of a really great glass of wine in a restaurant, for me at least, is that just 1 glass gets me through most of the meal, and I have no desire to order another one.  The fact that it delightful, nothing I want to rush through, pleases me.  It was $10 so it should be very delightful and filling.

Appetizers.  Appetizers.  Hmmmm.  They have some salads.  Nah.  O wait.  SPICY. DUCK. MEATBALLS.  Done.  We order them and the waiter asks "would you like me to split them for you?" Why sure!  They are probably afraid we will make a mess if we reach over to eat them.

While we wait for the appetizers, we each get a piece of bread.  So, this debate could go on for awhile, but basically at a restaurant, you can get a basket of bread, or a piece of bread delivered to you.  Although I love a good basket of bread, I prefer hand delivered bread.  Why? Because I have no self-control.  If there are 7 pieces of bread in that basket, and I am with one other person, and that person only wants 2, well, I am going to eat the rest of it.  It is there.  I am hungry.  And I want it.  But I know I should not eat SO MUCH bread before an amazing meal.

At Perilla, you get the hand delivered bread.  It was good.  Small.  They pour the olive oil in a little dish.  I kind of wanted another piece.  A few minutes later, another piece came!  Yay!  But then, within the next ten minutes, we each got two more pieces - 4 pieces of bread delivered to our table.  It was kind of strange.  They just kept filling up our bread plates like they were glasses of water.  I had to stop eating the bread after the third delivery.  From my point of view, hand-delivered bread helps me manage what I eat, but not when you deliver so many pieces.

Spicy duck meatballs arrive.  We each get our own dish.  This appetizer was the best appetizer in the world.  Hands down.  I do not like super spicy things, but this had just the right amount.  Do you ever watch those food shows and the judges say "you can taste the smokiness that was infused in the meat and cooked in a bag and blah blah blah" and you just think, "what the hell are they talking about?"  With these spicy duck meatballs, there was a spicy kick and flavor to it that was just part of the meatball - there was almost something intangible about the flavor, that made it so exciting.

So far, I am in love.  I have had some hand delivered bread, am enjoying a lovely glass of white wine, all of the people in the restaurant are just as happy to be there as I am, and I have a spicy duck meatball taste in my mouth.  The waiter checked in on us occasionally.  He was so cute, and really knew the right balance of "how are you doing?" without bothering us.

Moving on.  Dinner arrives.  My bf ordered the Hanger steak, and I ordered the Kingfish, which came with braised kale, applewood smoke bacon (YES), and polenta fritters.  The kingfish, pictured here (you can see the steak in the back) was delightful.  Very light.  The polenta fritters looked like croutons, like when you try to tell kids lies about what they are eating.  Hey kid have a crouton (mwahaha it is actually polenta).  The kale, which was not the main event of the dish, was incredible.  With bacon, yes please.  Amazing.

The steak was also incredible.  I loved it, and usually steak is just fine for me, but not amazing.  This steak was amazing.  The sauce was excellent.  I ate most of my meal.  Usually with these small dishes, I devour it.  But everything here was so delightful, that I took my time, and was actually pretty full when I had a few bites of fish left.

The waiter asked us if we wanted to see a dessert menu.  I was a little full, but I did not make a reservation to finally go to Perilla without dessert.  We went with the dark chocolate ice cream sundae with hazelnut praline and marshmallow.  Look at it.  Homemade marshmallows.  Yes.  Amazing ice cream. Yes.  Pralines, ohhhhhh yesssssssssssssssssssss.  We loved this dessert.  I love simple ingredients that combine to make something incredible.  And I love ice cream sundaes.

The bill came.  It was $100.  My bf's fun times on a casino trip earlier in the week left NYCMenuGirl with just paying the tip.  I wanted to tell you how much it was so you can gauge how your dream restaurant might fit into your budget.  This was one of the absolute best meals I have had in NYC.  Everything was not only cooked amazingly, but every single thing I ate was so unique.  Kale - I have had that.  Kale with bacon - never had that!  It was so pleasant.  The music was great.  The waiters were cute.  There was an abundance of bread.  The energy and ambiance of this place made it a most pleasant evening.  For a special Christmas dinner, it was worth a splurge. 

If you are looking to splurge, figure out your budget first.  Then look at menus online.  Now, this might seem lame, but, it is smart to "pretend" and add up the prices of what you could order.  I do that alot - I pick the average appetizer, entree, and dessert price, throw in drinks, and figure out about how much the bill would be.  There is no reason to go to a restaurant and be absolutely shocked by the bill if you just look at the menu ahead of time.

http://www.perillanyc.com/index.php?page=menus&sec_id=267

Have a delicious day! (because I sure did)
NYCMenuGirl

So-So Nisos

A few months ago, I walked past an interesting looking restaurant called Nisos.  It is a Greek restaurant, covered in stone, on the corner of 19th street and 8th avenue.  It looked so pretty and kind of fancy.  The menu offers a $13 prix-fixe brunch, with several frittata options, a drink included, and my favorite - the basket of breakfast breads.  I never actually need all of that extra bread, but I enjoy the little muffins.  This deal seemed like a steal (and is on opentable) so I decided to try it out.

I had an 11 a.m. reservation this past Sunday.  The restaurant was about half full.  The hostess tried to squeeze us in between two tables, even though there were a bunch more spacious tables available.  I asked if we could sit somewhere else, and she obliged.  I looked around.  Hm.  Well this place was definitely not fancy, as I thought it would be.  It had a hint of diner feel (but in that awesome suburb diner kind of way).  But it also looked Greek. It was some weird combination of Greek/diner/not fancy/kind of kitchy place.

Great choices on the menu - lots of great lunch options, and several egg dishes.  In addition to the dish, the muffins, and the cocktail, we had a choice of coffee or tea.  It seemed like a lot for $13.00.  I ordered the X-TREEME omelette - six egg whites, grilled chicken breast, sauteed spinach, with 7 grain bread.  I thought something healthy would be good since I was going to supplement it with lots of bread.  My friend ordered the Nisos Burger - with mozzarella, tomato, bacon, arugula, on a toasted bun, with oregano, and parmesan dusted fries and greens.

I also ordered my Mimosa.  The waiter said "Sorry, we don't sell alcohol before 12.  It is the law.  Do you want juice instead?  Or you can wait until 12 for your mimosa."  BOO.  And, that is true.  On SUNDAYS, you are not supposed to serve alcohol before 12.  Some brunch places do not even open until 12.  And by the time people get to brunch and order, it is 12 o'clock drinking time.  But, not today.  I was at a restaurant.  It was 11 a.m.  And I was not going to get a mimosa.  And I didn't want to wait until 12 p.m. because I knew I would be ready to leave the restaurant by then.  I went to a different brunch place once that broke the law and served me an 11 a.m. Sunday mimosa.  I now love that place.

So this is the law, and some restaurants follow it, and I guess I can't be mad.  But I was totally mad.  I wanted my damn Mimosa.  And I did not want juice!  Ok - all the egg whites, the mini muffins, the tea would still be good for a $13 deal.  But I like to squeeze the heck out of these deals, so I somehow felt cheated.

The omelette and burger arrive.  No muffins.  We request the muffins and the waiter said "let me go see if they are ready."  Um sir, they better be ready.  If I am not getting a mimosa, I better be getting some damn muffins.  Thank goodness, the muffins arrived.  There were five muffins - 2 berry muffins and 3 bran muffins (one consumed pre-photo).  I am not one for berries, so I had two of the bran type muffins, and they were fabulous.  They were the best part of the meal. 

The omelette was fine. It should not have been a surprise to me that the ingredients in it were somewhat similar to what I put into omelette's at home. It didn't feel special.  It was (1) something I could make at home and (2) Even if I can make something at home, it is even better when you get it out and it ends up being amazing, but this was not amazing.  O well.  Moving on.  Potatoes were pretty good.  The bread was great.  Overall, not bad.  (Sorry the picture is so BRIGHT!  That egg white omelette is so damn white).  So far, the bread is what this place has going for it. 

The burger was great. The mozzarella cheese was such a great addition to the hamburger.  The french fries were a little too potatoe-y, but still really good.  The side salad was really nice.  And the meal itself was really big. 

Look at it.  It looks beautiful right?  It was.  We asked for the check right around noon, and I decided to pass on the mimosa.

All in all, it was decent.  I was full.  I was not disgusted.  And three valuable things happened:

1. I got opentable points! Hurray!

2. I brushed up on my Sunday drinking laws, and now know that if my desire to drink mimosas on Sunday before 12 is so great, I must find a place that will break the law to meet my need (or bring a flask of champagne, of course).

3. The outside of a restaurant may not tell you the story of what is inside.  Some place that looks fancy might be a hole in the wall.  A place that looks like a hole in the wall may have a crystal chandelier behind that wall.  Don't hesitate to walk inside a restaurant to look at a menu, before you log it into your brain as "must return to this restaurant."

http://www.nisos-ny.com/

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Satisfy Your Curiosity

For the past few weeks, I have been walking home through Union Square, after 11 p.m. usually, when it is really dark out.  Union Square itself is pretty deserted.  The usual skateboarders are out in full force, doing skateboard tricks.  I, with a chapeau and a bookbag, am usually lost in my Ipod, and wishing I had not left my gloves in my other coat.  

As I reach the west side of the square, on the corner of 16th street, I pass Blue Water Grill.  And I always walk slowly and look inside.  The diners always look so happy, and they are all classy.  They are still eating, even though it is after 11 p.m.  There are couples, business meetings, and girls night out.  I always see a few waiters whispering by the bar.  The inside is so gorgeous.  

I stand outside and I feel like a puppy left out in the snow.  I almost think, if I stand out here long enough, with a little sad face, the host will see me, come outside, and say "Please, come in.  Have a seat.  And dine with us."  Or, I feel like this red lamp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw.  Please, watch the video.  You have to watch the video to understand. 

Here is the strange thing - I have been to Blue Water Grill.  I went for restaurant week over the summer with blog readers Mom and Denise.  We had an excellent time.  The food was great.  The wine was great.  The service - amazing.  We were there for two hours.  Overall, it was a really fun evening and I really can't wait to go back.

So, feeling like a lost puppy or a kicked out lamp is a little ridiculous since I already know for a fact that the experience at Blue Water Grill is great.  But there is just something about passing the restaurant all the time that makes me want to go even more.  Looking inside so much makes me think that any bad day could be solved by joining the abundance of happiness inside this restaurant. 

I think you all might have a restaurant or two like this.  A restaurant that you come across so much, that your curiosity as to its ambiance, taste, value, and experience is piqued more than any other restaurant.  It does not have to be a super fancy restaurant.  It is just that somehow, by passing it all the time, it is part of your daily routine, and you wonder what it would be like to go.  Think about how many times someone might ask "Have you ever been to (insert name of restaurant or bar)?" And you respond "I pass it a lot, but I have not been."  For some reason, you don't just answer "No, I have not been."  Somehow, the fact that you pass the restaurant all the time creates this connection between you and the restaurant, even though you don't really know much about it.  

Go.  Figure out what restaurant piques your curiosity in this way, that is somehow always in your mind, always what you pass on the way home from the gym, or the place you feel like everyone has said they have been to, but that you still have not tried.  The mystique behind having never been and wondering what it is like will vanish completely.  But that means you will start to notice a new restaurant, and you will create a whole new curiosity. 

Too expensive to go? It is almost 2010.  A new year.  Put it on a goal list.  Make a few cuts in your dining out (lunches out, excess coffee, etc.) for that week and go to the restaurant.  Maybe it won't be all that you wanted it to be.  But at least you will know.  And there will be this satisfaction that you personally experienced what everyone else has experienced as you pass by the restaurant everyday. 

It would be wrong to not follow my own advice.  Perilla has been my fantasy restaurant for two years now.  I don't pass it, but I hear about it a lot.   I am an avid Top Chef viewer and fan.  And Harold Dieterle is the head Chef.  He is also the VERY FIRST Top Chef winner.  And so anytime I say "I love Top Chef!"  someone responds with "Have you been to Perilla?"  And I always have to say "No, but I really want to go."  So even though I don't pass it, I get this constant reminder that I have not been.  

On Thursday night, I am going to Perilla.  It is a little out of my price range, so my bf and I are going as our Christmas celebration dinner (a little early, yes).  We have been purposefully going to more opentable restaurants lately so we can get our $20 dining gift certificate soon, and we set a lower spending limit on Christmas gifts for each other so that we could enjoy an amazing dinner, since it is one of our favorite things to do together.  

I am so excited to go.  I am so excited that after watching six seasons of Top Chef, I am finally going to the Season One Winner's restaurant, after all this time.   And I can't wait to share it all with you... on Friday.  

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Delivery Please . . . To The Bar

I love a good night at a bar.  People relax, drink, meet others, do crazy stuff, play buck hunter, flirt with strangers, makeout in corners.  Whatever.  You do what you want. Its cool.

All bars are really different though.  I am not going to give you a written lecture on the difference between bars, dive bars, clubs, lounges, hot spot, celebrity drops, I don't even know.  I am making this stuff up.

Lets just talk about regular bars.  Sometimes dive-like, other times more pub like.  But you are wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and you want 5 beers, preferably from a pitcher, and you don't want to bar hop.  You want to stay at the bar and make it your home for the night.

We all have a bar like this.  It is the modern day drinking version of "The Max."  So, are you thinking of what bar this is to you?  Maybe you have a few to choose from? 

Ok.  Now.  Does this place serve food?  The place I have in mind does not serve food.  This reminds me of the episode of The Office when Michael Scott goes to a club in The Big Apple to meet Ryan.  When the cocktail waitress comes by, she asks Michael what he wants, and he orders a drink and some chicken fingers.  The waitress looks at him like he is a crazy person, and says "Um, we don't serve food here."

Some bars are bars.  They are for drinking.  And they do not have kitchens.  They need the space for you to stand with tons of other people drinking so they can make all of their money off drinking.  Other bars serve great bar food.  You are drinking your pitcher (because maybe you ordered a pitcher just for yourself) and you order mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, pizza, wings, fries, the works!  Those bars can be so much fun.  There is something that does not feel as bad about drunk eating at the place you are already drinking as opposed to getting a hot dog on the way home when you plan on passing out.

But, there is a happy medium.  Maybe you don't want to spend money on bar food or excessively order because your drunk self thinks its a good idea.  But maybe no food is not a good idea.  Too often we skip dinner to go to happy hour, thinking dinner will work its way into the evening.  But three hours in, and you have not had anything to eat, and it is too late to save yourself.

Lots of bars in NYC let you bring food into the bar.  They don't serve the food - you bring it from home.  BYOF.  These bars don't want you to leave the bar, so why not let you bring dinner with you?  Go pick up some cheap pizza, go to a fun spacious dive bar, grab a table, and enjoy!  This BYOF is also great for birthday parties.  If you are having a party in one of these bars, you can bring chips, dip, plates, cake, gourmet pies, whatever you wish.  You can turn it into your own house party, but the mess stays at the bar.

Or, even better, a lot of these places actually have a whole book of menus and you can order delivery to the bar.  It is like having your own concierge at a hotel. 

Maybe you are thinking, if you plan on sitting in a bar with a few friends to have bud lights, and bring your own pizza, why bother going to the bar at all?  Why not just stay at home and do the same thing?  Lots of reasons.

1.  Maybe your home sucks.  Just saying.

2.  Maybe you want to be alone with your friends but you live with 4 other people.

3.  There is always a greater chance that something random and cool will happen at a bar then in your home.  If I go to a bar, there is a greater chance that I will overhear two people having a ridiculous conversation and watch one of them get thrown out, than in my home, where chances are the most random thing that will happen is that someone will buzz my door but it will just be a broker looking to get in.

4.  Bars can be fun.  More selection of alcohol than what you have in your home.  The tvs are bigger.

Don't get me wrong - I love a good night at home with some ordered in chicken fingers and a huge bottle of pinot grigio (hey I am a classy broad).  But the message here is - you don't have to think of a night at the bar as a $6 a beer, cab home, must get dinner first, type of night.  When you want to hang out with your friends, and no one feels like hosting for fear that one of the friends will just not leave when you finally want to go to bed, find a bar that lets you bring food, which is very likely for bars that never sell food (Like Hi-Fi in the East Village, No Idea Bar in Flatiron/Union Square, and OH SO MANY more) and make a night of it.  You can do all those things you love to do while drinking at home, but at a bar.  And don't forget the deck of cards!

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Subway Series - Jump on the L TRAIN!

We are back with the Monday Subway Series! Quick Reminder - this series profiles a restaurant that is either 2 blocks and/or less than one avenue away from a subway stop.  Once you get off the subway, you are moments away from an excellent dining experience.  You can avoid the cold by minimizing your outdoor time, and you can avoid wandering.  Nothing is worse than wandering in the cold.  If you wander in the cold looking for food, you will freeze AND you will make a poor dining decision.  It is like impulse shopping.  You see the word "food" across the street and you are freezing so you run to it, only to realize that the name of the restaurant is actually "Our Food Sucks" and it is not even open.

Some people really hate planning.  I love it.  I won't rub it in your face.  But let me help you plan on these particularly cold days.  When it is 15 degrees, you need a dining destination with possible backups in case the restaurant happens to be closed due to a fire or some other freak accident.

Today I am encouraging you to jump on the L train, one of my favorite trains! Yes, I sit around and think about which trains are my favorite.  The L tells you how long you have to wait.  And it takes you to great places.  I love all that happens around 14th street in Manhattan, and love the places the L travels to in Brooklyn, so it is the train for me. 

Ok you are on the L.  You are there.  You are judging that punk sitting next to you who has their music on so damn loud and he won't stop fidgeting with his stupid ITouchBerry and then the woman next to you starts breastfeeding, meanwhile someone gets on the train with a donkey.  Damn.  Not to worry, once you get to Bedford Avenue, you can jump right off that train and into your restaurant.

For those of you that are familiar with the Bedford Avenue stop in Brooklyn, you are probably wondering which one of the SEVERAL restaurants within a 2 block radius I am going to profile.  Well, that is a good start at least.  There are several restaurants, bars, bodegas, street carts, etc. right when you get off the L train.  From Manhattan to Brooklyn, this is a quick ride, and fun hits you in the face.  Sounds awesome right?

Well for the pizza lover, today's Subway Series features Fornino Pizza, located at 187 Bedford Avenue, less than 1 BLOCK away from the subway.  You get out of the subway, and walk south for 2 seconds on Bedford Avenue, and bam, you can be seated at Fornino Pizza.  Although you can get takeout, this is a full service restaurant!

The menu

Pizza.  Salads.  Calzones.  Done.

I went over the summer, before heading to the Brooklyn Beer Garden (another post for another day, but damn I love beer gardens).  There are several pizza pies to choose from.  PIES.  Not slices.  You get a pie.  This is classy pizza eating people.  No slices on a paper plate that you can eat while walking through Union Square.  This is for real.

Me and a friend split the Spinach pizza, with mozzarella, ricotta, pecorino, pinenuts, and truffle oil.  Pinenuts on pizza.  CRAZY.  I can picture some old-fashioned person saying "WHAT IS THIS?! Pinenuts on PIZZA?!? I remember the days when I would walk uphill to the pizza shop both ways just for a plain slice of cheese pizza"

The pizza came out and it was delightful.  It was really delicious, the crust was not burnt, and the pinenuts were great.  The place was not too crowded on a Saturday at noon.  And the pizzas are all under $20, and MORE than enough for 2!

So jump on the L, get some pizzas, and go find some cheap beer afterwards.  You will have a good night, I hope.

http://forninopizza.com/Menu.html

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

I Heart Brunch

I really do Heart Brunch!  And if you heart brunch too, you should check out the website below, dedicated to brunch!  I guest blogged for the site and the post went up yesterday, so check it out as you think about brunch this weekend!

http://iheartbrunch.com/

Have a delicious day!
NYCMenuGirl

Flashback Friday - Cuban Style!

Hey blog readers,

A few Fridays I have brought you "Flashback Friday," a series about restaurants I visited awhile back, and want to bring you a few more flashbacks in the coming weeks.  I started blogging 6 weeks ago, but I have been steadily eating in Manhattan as a resident for over 2 years, and I grew up nearby.  I need to make sure that I do not forget to share with you some past greats, even if that means no fun photos to look at.

About 2 months ago, I headed over to Avenue C for an evening of cuban delight at Cafecito.  WAIT don't stop reading because I said Avenue C.  For some, this is just too far to travel.  I get it.  However, Avenue C, and really Alphabet City as a whole, has TONS of restaurants and bars.  So it is not like you would hike over there to eat, and then having nothing to do.  Zum Schneider's is over there, Superdive, Sunburnt Cow, Fu Sushi, Esperanto, Hi-Fi Bar, I can keep going.  Just take the L to 14th and 1st and walk three more avenues.  And you must have a friend in Stuyvesant Town you want to visit.

Cafecito has that great small, East Village feel.  These places are so cozy.  At these restaurants, I feel so relaxed, and more inclined to order more food and drinks.  You do not feel the pressure of "this restaurant is trendy so finish your food and get out please so we can serve even more people."  I feel like here, the hostess is saying "Good evening.  Take a seat.  Make yourself at home."  This is perfect for catching up with friends because you don't have to eat and run, and then find somewhere else to finish your conversation.   

The menu is quite extensive.  And because the restaurant was only 30% full at 6:00 p.m., we took our sweet time deciding what to order.  There were so many good appetizers and side dishes, in addition to the entrees, that I decided to really just look at everything with an open mind and not limit myself to ordering in the traditional appetizer-entree-dessert manner.  Although I love catching up with a friend at a restaurant, or going out to eat with my boyfriend, I have to say that places like this are also good for a nice group of 4.  It may not be big enough for a party of 10, but with so many appetizers, a group allows you to enjoy MORE menu items.  Every now and then, my boyfriend and I will save a restaurant for a night we can go with more people so that we can order more appetizers and split some of the dishes.

We order some beers.  Always a good start.  It came as no surprise to me that Alex wanted the $15.00 Churrasco, a skirt steak with onions.  Considering his choice of a larger entree, and my desire to have an appetizer as an entree, we left shared appetizers out of the picture for the evening.  Although the chicken dishes, beef dishes and the bocadillos all sound great, I can't help but want, desire, crave, drool over, one of my favorite appetizers - empanadas.  I love empanadas.  I ordered three chicken empanadas for under $10 total, and a side of yuca frites for $4.50.  Alex said: Is that going to be enough food for you?

The steak came out and it was really delicious.  Alex seemed to enjoy it.  My yuca frites really hit the spot - and you all know about my love affair with fries.  The three empanadas were pretty big, and I felt reasonably full when we were done eating.  But if there had been more people out with us, maybe I would have ordered more appetizers, even after eating an entree.  Or split a sandwich, because the sandwiches sound great.  All in all, I was really relaxed, enjoying great cuban food and a Dos Equis beer, with really nice service in a not so noisy place.

http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/cafecito/menu 

I highly recommend it.  And I highly recommend the trek to Alphabet City.  You won't be disappointed.

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl

Cupcake Stop UPDATE

312 CUPCAKES LEFT!  Fifth Avenue, 23rd street. GO!!!

We Do Brunch vs. We Have Brunch

SHOWDOWN!  Well, not really.  But have you noticed that some places are solid brunch places - they do brunch, they know brunch, they draw a brunch crowd, they have a brunch following, the works.  Other places, they have brunch.  They sell regular brunch dishes, but they are not too crowded.  They are not known for brunch.  They are not usually recommended to you as a brunch place.  These places have brunch because they are restaurants, and they can't afford to be closed. 

Today, I am focusing on "we have brunch" by telling you about my experience last weekend at place called Lillie's.  Are "we have brunch" places bad because they don't "do" brunch? No, not at all.  Some of these places are really cheap.  Lots of these places are more pub like so they have a good bar and you can eat while watching a game.  So as a category, each "we have brunch" place is different, and you have to judge for yourself.  Chances are you won't have a wait, and you could get food for pretty cheap, but sometimes the experience of it all is not that worth it.  Or, it is all fine, but it doesn't match the fun hustle of "we do brunch." Really, there is no way to pigeon hole these places.  We got the good, and we got the bad.  You have to try them out and decide for yourself.

Who: Me & Bf.
What: Brunch at Lillie's.
Where: 17th street between 5th and Union Square West. 
When: Last weekend.
Why: We wanted something cheap, close, and with Open Table points.  So we made a reservation.  We are trying to get to 2,000 points, and we have been stuck lately.

We walk in at 11, which is when Lillie's opens, and we were the first diners there.  The place is really cool looking.  The long bar looks magestic.  It almost looked like a pub in London - you could tell this was a place to hunker down for the night and drink beer, but it was far from a dive.  The bartender just looks at us, as if to say "there is no one here fool so just find a table and sit down."  So I said "we have an opentable reservation."  She said "you have a reservation?"  No, I'm lying.  Yes I have a damn reservation.  Sometimes I think these restaurants forget that even an empty restaurant that you obviously don't need a reservation for does not mean that I am going to just walk in - I want the open table points!  I do it for the points.  Duh.  She tells us the hostess is not here yet, and I said ok well make sure we get the points (which we did)

No one escorts us to a table.  We understand we have to find somewhere to sit.  We pick a table - all of which are high tops.  We look over the menu, which we had obviously looked over before selecting the restaurant.  Most of the dishes are $10 with a mimosa, bloody  mary, or draft beer.  That is a good deal!  First, we order drinks.  Alex orders a beer, and I order a mimosa.  They were nice. I like mimosas, but I do appreciate places that offer a beer.  Sometimes it just goes better with what you ultimately select as your entree.

On to entree selection.  Alex settles on the "Irish Breakfast" - fried eggs, black and white pudding, potatoes, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, sausages, toast.  Damn.  That is a lot of food. I ordered an omelet with spinach, mushrooms, and gruyere.  I asked for egg whites too.  I have not done that in awhile - I usually don't because restaurants charge you $2.00.  Ok, ok, I can shell out the 2 bucks.  But sometimes, if the omelet is already $13, I do not want to spend $2 more just to get egg whites, because at that point, I would rather upgrade to a better $15 brunch dish.  Done whineing about paying extra for egg whites.  Well, maybe not.  It is annoying.  I want less fat and cholesterol and you are charging me more for that?!  Diatribe on expensive healthy food and highlights of great cheap healthy food is for another day. 

Food arrives.  Hmmm.  This omelet is really yellow.  Like egg yolks.  These are not egg whites.  Egg white FAIL.  I call the waitress over and I tell her - these are not egg whites.  She said "o you are right, they are not."  Thanks Sherlock.  I send them back.  I have a few potatoes off Alex's dish.    His dish was decent.  The sausage was delicious, and the pudding cakes too.  The bacon slices were really wide.  The eggs were ok, but not excellent.  All in all, it was certainly a lot of different types of food, but it wasn't an overwhelming amount.  $10 seemed fair. 

So, Alex has about 1 egg, half a piece of toast and a sausage link left by the time my dish comes out.  I know that they had to make a whole new omelet, but it was pretty long wait and I had to just sit there and watch Alex eat.  Not amused.

My omelet comes out and it was pretty good.  The gruyere was a nice touch.  One of the reasons why I was excited for the omelet is because a lot of "we do brunch" places include 2 omelet fillings, and all other fillings cost additional.  Lillie's includes 3 fillings.  I think three is the appropriate number.  You have three categories of fillings - meat, cheese, vegetables.  I might want one of each.  Or usually, I like two vegetables and 1 cheese.  And I want my omelet to have color.  If I only get 2 fill ins, and I pick a white cheese and spinach, it basically just white, yellow and green on the plate.  If you get three options, you can get spinach, tomatoes, and bacon, and it will look so much more appealing and exciting!  But I am sure "we do brunch" places have to keep costs in mind, and it may not be cost effective to have 3 if people are choosing more "expensive" fill-ins. 

The potatoes were good too.  I kind of wish it had toast or a side salad with it.  I like my brunch to have 3 components, unless it is a sandwich, in which case 2 components will suffice.  O well.  No toast.  All in all, for $10, it was decent. 

I see that the table next to us ordered burgers, and they looked excellent.  I realized at a place like this, that maybe is not so well known for brunch, it may be best to stick to their usual lunch items, that they cook frequently and probably have a better handle on.  Just something to keep in mind for next time.  We were not super full, so we got a piece of cake for $7, and this piece of cake was my favorite part of the meal.  It was delicious, filling, beautiful presentation.  It really kicked the entrees in the butt.  It was a sweet ending to the meal.  All in all, we each spent about $15 dollars total, which was nice treat to our wallets, to be able to get an entree, a drink, and split a dessert. 

Lillie's may not be a great brunch spot because they don't do brunch, but the decor was cool, the food was fine, and I did not shell out alot of money.  I also liked the place enough to consider going back, but going to the bar. All in all, you may not be rushing out of your home to try this brunch place after my so-so review, but I hope you will look for these characteristics in other "we have brunch" places.  Is the service good?  Are you getting a deal?  Is it a good place to watch a football game?  Or is it even better than your regular brunch spots because it is underrated and not crowded? 

http://lilliesnyc.com/HOME.html

What brunch places have YOU been to that have brunch, but don't "do" brunch, and how was it?

Have a delicious day!
NYCMenuGirl