Tag Archives: brunch

Indian Brunch with Restaurant Fairy

November 14, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

One of my foodie friends, The Restaurant Fairy, hosted a beautiful and delicious Indian brunch at her home and invited a bunch of us fellow foodies to come by.

They say that, in India, the best food is found either in the streets or in peoples’ homes. I can honestly say that I’ve never had better Indian food than I did at this homemade brunch. No restaurant in the city even comes close.

STARTERS

Puri, Indian street food snacks with chickpea spread filling:

Sweet potato and squash spread with Indian spices and flat bread:

Chaat (Indian savory snack food) consisting of chickpeas, avocado, yogurt and spicy sauces with crunchy puffs:

Chickpea and lentil slider:

Entrees

Full plates:

Biryani rice:

Yogurt sauce for rice:

Daal (spiced lentils):

Egg curry:

Cabbage slaw with curry leaves:

We also had some Chicken Tikka Masala toward the tail end but I didn’t shoot it. It was the best version of that dish I’ve ever had.

Dessert

Treats from Iran, similar to Turkish Delight:

Walnut cookies with cream:

African/Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Bustan

November 14, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Bustan means “garden” or “orchard” in Hebrew, Arabic and ancient Aramaic. The Upper West Side restaurant named as such boasts a pan-Mediterranean menu that features dishes from the shores of Southern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, which are home to those languages. Bustan stands out in New York City’s sea of Mediterranean restaurants with its multicultural approach to food and drink, where diners are encouraged to explore and ask questions about their diverse menu.

My wife and I came in for Sunday brunch at noon and the place was already almost full. But the restaurant is spacious, so you won’t have to throw elbows just to cut your food. You may want to make a reservation, though, because the people who live in this neighborhood obviously know how good the food is at this joint.

We started with a pair of bloody marys that had Mediterranean spiced rims.

We enjoyed these. They had the right amount of heat, and the mix was a nice, thick, tomato blend that they must have made in-house, because it was really fresh.

Since I’m on drinks, I may as well mention that they have a really interesting and unique cocktail menu that further highlights Mediterranean flavors. And the bar is a great place to sit and eat as well. There’s a beautiful wide grey marble topper and plenty of seating. They also have a pretty incredible whisky selection as well.

We snacked on some homemade focaccia bread before our entrees came out. This was spiced with the same stuff from the bloody mary rims, along with some toasted and minced rosemary. Really delicious! And its served warm, with a bowl of olives.

We also tried these burekahs, which are spiraled rolls of doughy pastry style bread with feta and minced kalamata olives inside. Super tasty!

I ordered the green shakshouka for my entree.

Shakshouka is a baked egg dish from the region, often made with tomatoes. This green version featured creamed spinach, artichoke, fior di latte and white truffle oil. It also comes with homemade pita.

I was half expecting something heavy and salty, given the cheese and cream elements, but this was light and mild. I really loved it, and the addition of truffle oil really brought a wonderful earthiness to the dish. All you people looking for a healthy protein boost, this is the way to go! There had to be about four or five eggs in this baby. You get a lot of satisfying food for your money with this dish ($18).

My wife went with the potato pancakes entree. A large white plate is covered with one huge, crispy potato pancake, and then topped with two eggs (cooked any style you’d like) and three rolls of really high quality smoked salmon.

The best way to enjoy this dish is to eat a little bit of everything with each bite, so that the saltiness from the cured salmon seasons the pancake and egg with a its natural brine.

This dish also comes with labaneh, which is a thick, tart, creamy, yogurt-like cheese that almost mimics the cream cheese that us NYC locals might eat with lox or smoked/cured salmon. It is a perfect pairing for this dish.

But one other savory item that’s a must try here is the hummus.

This stuff has won awards. In fact, I might as well mention Bustan’s overall awards for best restaurant in the upper west side (2014) and diner’s choice top 100 neighborhood gems in America (2015). This place is no joke.

Anyway, this hummus is super creamy, and the addition of tahini sesame paste gives it a massive flavor boost. I actually recommend getting this as an app for the table to share before diving into those delicious entrees.

But you absolutely MUST save room for dessert, because this next thing is my favorite ice cream dessert that I’ve ever had.

It’s two scoops of vanilla gelato on a bed of candied pistachio nuts, dates and crisped rice, which is then topped with shaved halvah!

It’s called the Turkish sundae, and I get really excited when I see halvah used in anything, since I always loved eating it as a kid.

Clearly I loved that dessert, but I’ll be back in very soon to try the sticky toffee pudding, which consists of dates, walnuts, banana and tiramisu gelato. In fact several items on their dessert menu are really interesting, as are the entrees. Bustan is truly breaking the mold for Mediterranean fare and offering up lots of dishes that celebrate the entire region’s diverse food culture. Get up here ASAP and eat!

Note: I was invited to dine as a guest of this establishment and received a complimentary meal. This was not in exchange for a positive review; all opinions expressed are my own.

BUSTAN
487 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10024

American, Burgers, Other, Press Reviews, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Burke & Wills

September 5, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I’ve only ever been to two or three Australian joints in my day, so I jumped at the opportunity to check this place out with Jay from The Dishelin Guide. When he asked if I was interested in going with him for a press review, I was psyched. Aussie joints always offer the possibility of trying exotic meats, and, as you can imagine, the prospect of something like that gets my juices flowing.

In the case of Burke & Wills, you can find a kangaroo meat burger on their daily lunch and dinner menus. Since we came in for brunch on the weekend, however, we were in for a different treat involving ‘roo meat: a traditional meat pie.

Meat pies are pretty much street food and walking around food in Australia, but this version is served like a pot-pie, not hand food. It comes on a bed of English pea puree with mixed baby greens and a tomato jam. As for kangaroo meat, which is slightly gamey and very lean, it’s about as common on menus as venison here in the States.

Okay wait a second… before I get into more of the food I have to talk about the customizable Bloody Mary menu here.

Our waitress recommended the exact combination that I was thinking of ordering, so I took that as a sign. This ended up being one of the best bloodies I’ve ever had. Kaffir-lime salted rim, Citadel gin, far east mix (sri racha for the spice element) and the deluxe skewer.

Okay so where was I… Right; kangaroo meat. The brunch menu swaps out kangaroo in the burger for a standard beef burger, however there’s nothing else that’s standard about this particular burger other than the beef.

It comes topped with lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese, onion, pineapple, pickled beets and a fried egg. It really is an amazing combination of flavors that I never expected to work well together. The meat is high quality, cooked nicely, and all the various toppings really make it a juicy and satisfying meal.

Aside from tasting good, this burger was really beautiful.

For the reasonable cost of $16, this stack of breakfast food and beef also comes with triple fried “chips,” which are what other people from across the various ponds call French fries. What we call chips, here, are called “crisps” over there. Hey, I’m not judging… just informing you ignorant bastards out there.

The fries (yes, I will continue to call them fries because I’m American and that’s what we do) are thick, almost like potato wedges. They’re blanched several times at various temperatures and then fried multiple times. The end result is a super crisp outside and a mashed-potato-esque interior. Really nice. And they come with a deliciously unique harissa-based dipping sauce to boot.

Another feature of the brunch menu is the ever present and highly trendy “elevated toast” offering. This particular one, however, was not some dainty piece of bread smeared with a little bit of avocado and then topped with a slice of tomato. No. This was a nice thick slice of toasty grilled bread as a base, with a generous amount of avocado as the next layer, to serve as a bed for what was essentially an entire salad of micro greens, tomato, frisee and pickled onions on top. And there was a LOT of awesome feta cheese on there. In fact, that was the bulk of it! I think I might have changed my mind about this toast food trend because of this dish. It was filling and satisfying, yet also light. Perfect for brunch on the weekend, especially with a bloody beside it.

For dessert, we had doughnuts and coffee.

These hot and sweet babies come with two dipping sauces; dolce de leche and chocolate. Both are fantastic.

I definitely recommend coming here for brunch in the back room, which is like a greenhouse:

If you’re not into brunch, then you should at least come in and try a bloody at the bar up front.

BURKE & WILLS
226 W 79th St
New York, NY 10024

Burgers, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

The Shakespeare

August 15, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

When mighty roast beef was the English man’s food,
It ennobled our brains and enriched our blood,
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good.
Oh! The roast beef of old England!

This past weekend my wife and I were invited to a “food influencer” event to help promote the new brunch menu at The Shakespeare. I feel like British food gets a bad rep, and isn’t very well represented in NYC (with the exception of a few places like The Spotted Pig and Jones Wood Foundry). That said, I was excited to give this place a try.

The interior is beautiful, and it’s set up like an old timey British tavern downstairs, with a nice elegant dining room and outdoor courtyard upstairs.

My wife had been here about a year ago and spoke highly of the burger, scotch egg and fish and chips.

She’s absolutely right about those fuckers; they’re great. But we sampled a whole bunch of different items this time around, to highlight the brunch menu.

Starting on September 11, 2016, for $19, you get to choose from three types of roasted meats; pork, chicken and beef.

This beef is easily 9/10 for flavor, and when you add the horseradish sauce to it, it is fucking insane. I highly recommend it. The pork comes with an apple-based sauce, and the chicken comes with a “bread sauce” that’s similar to a bechamel. I’d say that my ranking, in order of awesomeness, was the beef, the chicken and then the pork.

But that’s not all you get for the $19. You also get some potato sides, popovers and seasonal veggies.

Make sure you try a Bloody Mary, too. They’re peppery and chock full of horseradish.

This chilled gazpacho soup was really nice on such a hot day too.

And for dessert, we tried the chocolate hazelnut mousse and sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.

Both were great, but I think my favorite between the two was the toffee pudding pie/cake on the bottom. The flake salt on top really made the flavors pop.

THE SHAKESPEARE
24 E 39th St
New York, NY 10016

American, Florida, Restaurant Reviews

Sarabeth’s

January 6, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

We visited the Key West location of this joint for brunch and liked it a lot. I had a poached salmon cobb salad with a side of duck bacon.

The salad was on point – salmon was perfectly cooked, and all the components came together nicely. The duck bacon tasted a lot like turkey bacon, and it had a similar texture as well.

American, Chelsea, Flash Deals, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Gallow Green

June 28, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife scored a nice Urban Daddy deal for brunch at Gallow Green that saved us a bunch of money and also gave us a carafe of mimosa. The brunch is all-you-can-eat, and includes music by their house band “The Heathens.”

I won’t say much other than the music was awesome, and the food was even better. They even sang songs about the bread pudding.

The fried chicken with black pepper honey was fucking outstanding. Close runners up were the salmon and caperberries, the bread pudding, and the cinnamon rolls.

The setting is great too, on the rooftop of the “McKittrick Hotel,” home to the spooky Sleep No More interactive play (Get tickets. It is amazing).

UPDATE 9/1/17 – CLUB CAR SURF & TURF

“Club Car” is Gallow Green’s surf and turf pop-up. My wife scored a Gilt City deal for a discount on the meal, which was great, because not only did it get us snacks, apps, entrees, and desserts, but it also got us two cocktails per person – all for about $120.

Cocktails:

Skillet bread and crudite:

Apps, chilled lobster corn soup, and endive with tomato salad:

Each person gets a 10oz cut of 30-day dry aged rib eye with their choice of seafood. My wife chose razor clams:

I chose… well… not seafood. I went with the oxtail and bone marrow, because beef.

Lemon chiffon cake and chocolate cake.

A seriously great meal. I was surprised at how much dry-aged flavor was packed into the steak at just 10oz and 30 days. The crust could have used a bit more char on it, but I was happy with the overall flavor and texture. 8/10.

GALLOW GREEN
542 W. 27th St.
New York, NY 10001

American, Burgers, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Parlor Steakhouse

February 10, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED!

I haven’t had the chance to review this joint completely on the steakhouse tip, but me and a couple of friends came here for the bottomless brunch deal (caveat – not really bottomless – limit of five drinks within two hours).

At $29 you have a pretty good selection of entrees to choose from, including steak and eggs. We all went with the burger for this go-round, which came pre-sliced on the plate, and which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (I’m fine with it):

It was a decent burger, but we were all in agreement that there are better burgers around. Good, strong yet soft bun, nice toppings, although I wasn’t too crazy about the pickled onions. A little bit of a thicker patty than I like, but whatever. The real star(s) of the plate were the French fries with fried onions on top:

They were absolutely perfect in every way. Crisp outside, soft inside, nicely salted, etc.

I stuck with the Bloody Mary for my drinks, but managed to get some photos of my friend’s girly drinks (bellini and mimosa).

PARLOR STEAKHOUSE
1600 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10128

American, Flash Deals, Midtown East, Restaurant Reviews

The Stand

October 5, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife scored a sweet bottomless drinks brunch deal at this little place that had a nice menu. I was torn between the duck eggs benedict and the crab cake eggs benedict. I went with the crab cake one, and my wife went with the portobello burger. Both were delicious. The side salads were a little bit overdressed (more nudity needed), and there seemed to be a disgusting and annoying abundance of flies near our seats in the back (near kitchen door), but otherwise this place was nice. Nice spicy bloody marys, good pineapple mimosas, tasty greyhounds and friendly staff, like our waiter/bartender Graham.