If we have one rule about eating in New York, it's never frequent any establishments that promise to specialize in more than one cuisine. If you see a pizza/chicken/subs/Chinese food joint, keep walking. There's no reason to settle for a restaurant that does five things decently when there's a specialty shop for everything.
In that spirit, we're running down the list of our favorite New York one-stop-shops for comfort food classics: ]]>
I'm a huge fan of breakfast, but for some reason, brunch has never done it for me. It just seems like such a wishy-washy compromise between breakfast and lunch, where neither an omelet or a salad seems quite right, and the brief euphoria of the Bellini that's included in the prix fixe soon gives way to a sense of exhaustion that lasts the rest of the day. But maybe I'm just not doing it right. The New York Times has a pretty wild story today about the rise of brunch as an intense daytime party for New York's beautiful people. In other words, my problem isn't drinking that one Bellini, it's not drinking five more. ]]>
To visit L.A. is to act like you wear $300 chinos and drive a black Range Rover and wear sunglasses that would otherwise embarrass you. And to wake up in L.A. is to pretend that you don't have a job and eat breakfast at 10 a.m. L. A. is a breakfast town.... It's a breakfast town because it's a town where people actually eat breakfast, at restaurants, every day of the week, where there are dedicated breakfast spots instead of lame brunch places. And it's one of the few locations where there's no shame in ordering the egg-white omelet with veggie bacon. Because L.A. is a place where, in general, there is no shame.]]>
We had a day off in the middle of the week not long ago and decided to go out for lunch in the neighborhood. Having heard many rave reviews of Egg, a newish restaurant on N. 5th and Bedford in Williamsburg, we popped in to see if it lived up to the hype.
Egg is a small, modest joint specializing in breakfast, though they now have lunch and dinner menus as well. Their gimmick, if it can be called that, is that they use only free-range eggs, pasture-raised meats, and artisanal everything else. The atmosphere is casual and airy, with wooden tables and chairs that feel like they were taken from a third-grade classroom circa 1965. A cup of crayons lets you doodle on the paper tablecloth as you wait for your meal. Jenn made a quick sketch of the tattoo on the back of a girl at the next table, a skull and crossbones with angel/devil wings and flames, perhaps a tribute to lost love or something. The crayon drawing looked better than the actual tattoo.
Jenn ordered the Eggs Rothko, an egg in a slice of brioche with broiled tomatoes and a side of Col. Bill Newsom's country ham. I had a steak sandwich made from ribeye (my favorite cut) on Italian bread with Roquefort cheese. Both dishes were lovely, delivering the satisfaction derived from diner food with the culinary touch of a real chef using high-end ingredients. The only complaint we had was that the good colonel's ham was ringed with a generous layer of fat which could have been trimmed a little better. No big whoop. My steak sandwich was a perfect medium rare, and the Roquefort was both tangy and complex.
The big surprise at Egg came with the bill. Based on all the fawning praise, I expected the prices to be closer to Balthazar's than the Kellogg Diner, but our check came in at under $30. Egg seems to have found a pleasant middle ground between humble diner and fancy restaurant. That it breaks new ground in the use of sustainable ingredients - they own their own farm in Upstate New York - makes it all the more worthy of accolades.
[Photo: Victor Ozols]
Related Stories:
· Egg [Official Site]
· Breakfast Coverage [Jaunted] ]]>