Princess Fee and Yankee Hank are regulars in this blog and I will unashamedly blame them when the nice people from MasterCard come to lock me up at the end of the month, for it was over Kedgeree and Lattes in 202 with them, that we decided to join them on their New Year trip to the Big Apple.
They score maximum Beedub Brownie Points because they were also responsible for choosing our first breakfast landmark on the trip.
A Google search will quickly tell you that Balthazar scores great ratings and reviews across the board on all major foodie and travel sites. And there is a reason. Actually, there are several...
#1 The coffee is served in a bowl (if you have read this blog previously you will know how ridiculously happy this makes me).
#2 The service is brilliant - we had a fantastic waitiress called Robyn who was efficient with a Capital E and gave us terrific recommendations. (As an aside, she also told us Balthazar will open in London soon. Yay!)
#3 The Scambled Eggs In Puff Pastry (with asparagus and wild mushrooms) is simply delicious.
#4 The juice is freshly squeezed NOT from a bottle filled with weird additives that make men grow moobs.
#5 The portions are European sized not American so it is possible to leave the restaurant without receiving your own zip code.
#6 There is a breathtaking oyster bar
#7 They have a restroom attendant who hands you towels to dry your hands (in case this seems a little strange read What's This All About Then to understand my slightly weird rating system for restaurants)
Things we ate:
Fee and I went with the Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry (see above) - a big tick. Yankee Hank couldn't choose and so we coerced him into having both his choices - Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal and the Sour Cream Hazelnut Waffles. He said he could really taste the hazelnut in the waffles, but as the only American in our group was a little sad that they weren't large enough to feed all of us. Mr Beedub went with the recommended Eggs En Cocotte - a creamy dippy egg, cream and Parmesan concoction served with bread 'soldiers'. He was the only one who was a little disappointed. Partly because the eggs were just ever so slightly under done and partly because he developed major food envy after spotting the house Eggs Benedict pass his nose en route to our neighbours.
Price wise the dishes range between $4 and $19 - a little pricey, but worth it.
A word of warning - even on a Wednesday morning early, we had to queue for a short while, so if you intend going on a Sunday, be prepared for a wait. Sadly their weekday breakfast ends at 11.30am, but luckily on Sunday their brunch menu runs until 4pm.
Balthazar
80 Spring Street (Soho)
NY 10012
Website and Menu
How To Get There
Any restaurant that has the unlucky position of being the host for the final breakfast of a week long stay in New York has big boots to fill.
As luck would have it, David Burke has big feet apparently and so as Sunday dawned after a week of AM Gastronomical Extravaganza, we found ourselves in food heaven.
We hadn't planned to go there, but as we set off to explore on foot in SoHo, I remembered reading somewhere that the James Hotel had an amazing restaurant for Brunch. The David Burke Kitchen is subterranean - you head downstairs from street level into a modern Manhattan take on a farm stall - cheerful gingham covered tables and fresh flowers with endless displays of fruit and veg. The walls are clad with giant images of grinning people clutching fresh produce - a slightly obvious (and off putting in the case of the lambs) nod to the restaurant's policy of using locally sourced, fresh ingredients.
It should be said that there is a reason it's located in the very trendiest part of Soho - it is uber trend-day and the staff are fairly condescending high end Servers (see I was even forced to use the word Server!). However, our boundless enthusiasm for the incredible menu and what I like to think of as our continental charm, seemed to thaw our allocated Model-part-times-as-a-Waiter and soon we were as relaxed as we had been in Five Leaves.
If Five Leaves hit the jackpot for atmosphere, then the David Burke Kitchen most definitely hits the ball out of the park (ba da boom) for creativity and cooking skill.
Working through the weekend Brunch Menu somehow felt like Alice must have when she first hit Wonderland. How else would you describe finding 'Bacon Brioche Sticky Bun' nestling side by side with 'Pretzel Crab Cake' and being craftily followed by 'Angry Mussels'?
Everything you would expect to find on a Brunch menu was there, but with a gigantic modern New York makeover. For example Ye Olde French Toast, became 'Stuffed French Toast with marscapone and berries' (Yankee and I had it. There are no words).
Or Eggs Benedict came in three versions - Mr Beedub chose 'Kitchen Eggs Benedict' - a humble little combination of perfectly cooked poached eggs on a delicious bed of Italian sausage polenta and garlic spinach topped with a unique tomato hollandaise (English muffins? Don't be ridiculous darling!)
Fee had the most regular dish of all us - Waffle Grand Slam - another great combination of traditional breakfast farmyard friends and sweet waffles, but even that had a twist, with some cheeky little pineapple stowaways.
I have mentioned the Brunch Drinkie phenomenon several times now and as one of my erstwhile nicknames is Schappsel, I felt that I finally had to conquer my fear of tomato juice and have the Bloody Apple - a devilish take on the traditional BMary made with apple schnapps, fresh apple and tomato juice. Unfortunately even my love of schnapps wasn't good enough to overcome the tomato juice aversion, but Mr Beedub happily used mine up as a chaser to his own DBK Classic Bloody Mary (Yes. There was an entire Bloody Mary section in the menu).
For the pregnant among us, there was a Blended section of juices and smoothies and of course the decaffeinated version and usual eye popping strength coffees.
Our final New York Brunch was made all the more memorable by the arrival our friend Slavalava who we haven't seen for a really long time. She is a real New Yorker born and bred and it was great fun to see a New York brunch place put through its paces and made to earn its keep by one of its own.
Who else would have called them on their ever so slightly pretentious approach to serving everything in jars?
David Burke Kitchen
23 Grand Street
SoHo
NY 10013
Website and Menu
How to Get There
I am guessing that native New Yorkers are already completely in the know about Dean and Deluca, but in the unlikely event that you haven't stumbled across it, or are a tourist like me, then Voila! Welcome to the most delectable deli I have been to in an age.
Although we stayed in a hotel this time, in a previous trip to NY we stayed in an apartment in Little Italy and how do I wish I had know about D&D then. It's the perfect place for either a quick pit stop or to pick up supplies for your own 5 star breakfast in.
The flagship store is to be found in SoHo, but there are 14 stores in total across the US. The mother ship is a buzzing hub of various food stations which you can pick and choose from including loads of things that are perfect for breakfast (the bakery section and take out coffee are a must). There is also a sushi counter and deli laden with New York delights.
If you can't wait until you get your loot home, then you can eat European style standing up at one of the counters at the entrance.
Although it isn't as unique as my London favourite Ottolenghi, stocking up there for a weekend Breakfast in bed would be a major treat. I haven't been this excited about food shopping since I discovered Wholefoods!
Dean and Deluca
New York Store Locations
Website and Menus
33 D’Arblay Street
W1F 8EU
Website
How to Get There
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus
Realising that ye old Blog was woefully neglected and having endured weeks on the recruitment merry go round (with the odd cheeky weekend in Austria thrown in), it was time to bust out and hit the breakfast circuit again.
Blue sky in London in Winter can only be a good omen and so with a pasty sun on our backs we set off for Soho. Seemed like a good direction based on a secondary requirement to good grub - interesting photographic subjects. Melissa, one of my co-pilots, is now the proud owner of a fandabulous camera and needed to test drive it.
So to Soho we went in search of the infamous Breakfast Club. Having been there previously for coffee, its been on my hit list for some time.
Now, any place called The Breakfast Club and which serves breakfast dishes all day, every day, can't really go far wrong in my book. We arrived to find a queue outside - clearly we weren't the only breakfast freaks. I am not sure who was more relieved when they let us inside - us or the poor people seated at the table next the window who had had to endure us pressing our noses against the glass oggling their food.
Inside, The Breakfast Club is kitsch and cozy and rammed. We were seated cheerfully on top of each other and beneath a gorgarse picture of The Hoff resplendent in Speedo and Santa Hat. We had already wrestled a menu off one of the other desperados camping in the queue outside and so we all knew exactly what we were having. The menu had me at Eggulars. But to be fair, I would happily cheat with the Mr Big Stuff section or one of the little beauties in the And Finally bit.
Although I was really tempted by the Green Eggs and Ham (see the entry on Huckleberry's, LA for why), how could I resist a dish called Ham Very Eggstatic? Retrospectively, I should have waited for the monster of all hangovers to enjoy this beastie - a stack of pancakes laced with ham and cheese and topped with a fried egg. Oh and drowned in maple syrup to boot - apparently inspired by some bloke called Roger on Twitter. As (for once) I wasn't experiencing the stomach turning, grease craving clutches of a post mojitto overdose, it was actually too much for me and I would happy have swapped with Melissa who had the All American Breakfast (another but slightly less rich mix up of pancakes, bacon and eggs) or gone for one of the yummy French Toast tasties.
Iain had the Full Monty. A most definitely man sized full English breakfast feast to be found in the Mr Big Stuff part of the menu. And Full Monty it was. He was still staggering around with a pot belly 4 hours of Soho rambling later.
I was gutted not to be able to have the Chocolate Orange Latte in the special Christmas drinkie section but they passed my stupid latte order test and made me a suitably milky vanillary concoction which passed the Beedub standard with flying colours. As did the fresh orange juice. So add to that the fact that you can eat Breakfast all the way until 5pm AND they have Eggs Benedict, Florentine and Royale, The Breakfast Club is most definitely a must.
There is no question that I will return soon, but I might wait until that special Sunday morning which dawns foggy with a hint of headache and a desperate craving for a gigantic eggy feast...
PS not to mislead those healthier than I, there are also loads of healthy choices and the smoothie menu looked lush
