I don’t know whether it’s getting away from the rough and tumble of the week, or just having a lazy morning, but I love brunch. I love the “carby” fluffy and eggy brunch foods. I love something salty and hearty accompanying that. I love bloody mary’s, I just love everything about brunch. And great deals make it love it even more. There’s a lot of love floatin’ around now… you see?
For my birthday, I did brunch last year, because I should do my favorite thing in the whole world. For reals. I had unlimited mimosas, bread, lamb sausage, and eggs at Taboon. Loved it. This year, I am thinking of hosting my own brunch up on the roof or something. Or I might be lazy and just pick a place.
If fact, for my birthday last year, I was originally hoping to go to Merkato 55, which hosts a brunch dance party. I thought, “What Fun!” You know, drink some bubblies, dance on a sofa, eat some brunch, and still get home by 5pm. They were real assholes, though. The story is is that on Sunday, April 26, a friend of a friend was DJing at Merkato 55. I emailed them to ask whether I needed a reservation for Sunday Brunch (since they don’t pick up their phones) and they emailed me back with just a line, “We don’t do Sunday brunch.” The thing is, aside from knowing that there was a party there Sunday, which I was invited to, which I specified, on their site it featured a page that said, “New Brunch Menu On April 26th!” WTH? I emailed them back and they just replied with, “No.” That’s it. No other sentence. What kind of stupidity is that? So I decided not to go, and I told my friend why.
As much as it got hyped in the New Times Styles section, I won’t be going to a douchey place like that anytime soon. Instead, I want to talk about two places. One in Manhattan’s midtown and the other in Brooklyn right off the L Train Graham stop.
Anyway, few weekends ago, when I was apartment sitting my mother’s place while she went to Japan, I decided to go to Taboon. It was one of the first WARMEST days of pre-spring in NYC. Unfortunately Taboon was doing some re-modeling and missed out on a great brunch crowd opportunity, and I was stuck trying to find some other place to eat.
KyotoFu
705 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019-7929
Luckily, I remembered Kyoto Fu had some weird and interesting things. The thing about Kyotofu is that they have the cutest deserts, but they are “interesting” rather than good. I never ate there before, but the cocktails left more to be desired, when I went there last for a night cap. However, I held out hope… I’m one of those… they had such a good idea. Good Japanese food in small cute bites, done really WEIRD. This is also where Ryan and I came on our second date nearly 2.5 years ago. Maybe that’s why… I still really want to come back here Sunday afternoon for their sake happy hour and sake flights. It’s a great place and up front you can buy tons of little home-made Japanese treats.
Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand. BRUNCH. They have a really great brunch. All of their brunch menu items come with a complimentary bloody mary, mimosa, or bellini. I got the Brioche bread with truffled poached egg. It was DELICIOUS. Although, my only thing against the eggs were that I would have liked it REALLY RUNNY, but I know how hard it is to get the timing right. It probably was really runny when it left the kitchen. Also, instead of poaching, it looks like they soft boiled the egg. The presentation was REALLY cute, too. The brioche was baked in a fluffy WIDE Japanese shoku-pan style, buttered with the middle cut out for the plump beautiful soft boiled egg. All this sat on a thin layer of shaved truffles with a side of citrus arugula and parmesan. Nice, eh? It was around $13 bucks for the whole shebang.
Ryan got their curry rice with egg. He couldn’t resist the lure and said it was pretty damn good. They had other things, such as, french toast and omelettes (because Japanese people do great omelettes with rice). They all ranged around the $10-15 and all came with a complimentary drink.
The bloody mary’s are pretty good. It’s a light refreshing drink that’s VERY JAPANESE. It’s not a thick tomato juice. It’s like a watery tomato and pepper flavored cocktail. It’s good, just you should know what you are getting. This is not to be confused with bad bloody mary places that just use canned tomato with no other flavorings or just watered down tomato juice.
And just look at those adorable, and yummy, little chocolate filled treats with our receipt. <3 it.
I’m not too diligent about it, but one of the things I’ve been striving to do is to find yummy places in Brooklyn. It isn’t hard to find a place to have Brunch in Williamsburg, but going to a place like Egg just isn’t on my list of fun things to do. I don’t like crowded spots and I don’t like to wait. If I am made to wait, I like accomodations like, Northeast Kingdom, who lets you sit downstairs, watch cartoons, and drink complimentary coffee.
Harefield Road
769 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211-3701
Harefield Road is a GREAT deal. They have a big brunch menu complete with french toast, eggs benedict, turkey clubs, huevos rancheros, etc… They all come with a coffee or tea and either a mimosa or bloody mary. All of that for $12, which includes tax. It’s a block from the Graham L stop, and although often there is a wait, it’s usually around 15 minutes for parties of 2-4. It’s standard fare.
I ALWAYS get the harefield eggs, which is a poached egg on smoked salmon and an english muffin, with a side of charred rosemary potatoes (exceptional) and fruit, which I substitute often for salad. The bloody mary’s are SOLID and EXCELLENT. They are spicy. I get unlimited coffee while I wait and at my table. The service varies, but with my drink, I hardly care. They have $5 draft beers on top of that at Brunch. $5 for any additional drinks and an extra side of potatos is $2.
This is my new “go-to” place. I think I go there at least 2-3 times a month. It’s always gotten good marks with the people I take, and it’s a little more close to home. After brunch, I usually take a brisk walk to Bedford and window shop before heading home.
