The Dutch (brunch)

I'm a morning person, an early morning person.  I love NYC before dawn, when the streets are dark and empty and you feel like the whole city is yours and yours alone.  The other thing I love about morning is breakfast food.  There is nothing more comforting than a table filled with your favorite childhood eats, like donuts, eggs and muffins.  So on a cold winter morning, I decided to warm up at the Dutch for brunch.  While the service was a bit chilly, the comfort food did the trick.

The Dutch isn't a new kid on the block anymore but the staff sure act like they are too cool for school (or to serve you, the irony).  But the Dutch's cute bistro feel makes up for the "you are lucky to have me as your server" attitude.

While the Dutch is well known for it's dinner, it only offers its fried chicken at lunch or brunch so the brunch time menu is worth a separate visit.  Try to get there before noon and you'll enjoy a less crowded experience and a leisurely pace.  The front room is a scene while the backroom is a bit quieter.

What to Eat:

Start with the Pastry Basket (which you can see is served on a wood cutting board).  All three freshly baked items are served warm.  The banana muffin was my favorite but the glazed donut was a close second.  The banana muffin brings back childhood memories of eating banana bread hot out of the oven.  And the crumble on top was perfection.  The glazed donut is dangerously delicious (and I'm sure cholesterol free ;)).  It's good they only put one in the "basket".  The cheesy scone was not my person taste (I prefer sweet pastries) but it was moist and well executed.

You'd be missing out if you went to the Dutch for brunch or lunch and didn't order their Fried Chicken.  The intensely seasoned fried chicken skin is crispy (but not greasy) while the chicken meat is moist and piping hot.  The dish comes with a side of freshly baked, lightly glazed honey butter biscuits.

For an egg dish, the Soft Scrambled Eggs with smoked salmon and trout roe make you want to rethink how you make eggs at home.  The eggs are slow cooked  to give them a creamy texture. I plan on making them this weekend at home ;).

Need a last minute brunch spot?  Just go before noon,

Your foodie friend

El Toro Blanco

Let's start off with the good at El Toro Blanco.  Almost everything we ordered.  Now to the bad.  Surly/barely competent wait staff and sour margaritas.  You can tell from the Guacamole that this place serves legit Mexican food.  Which says a lot coming from Southern California girl.  El Toro's guaca reviles my guac and is probably the best in town.  It definitely had a kick to it so if you need something milder, speak up when you order (it is freshly prepared but not prepared table side).

Back to the service.  Margaritas that were supposed to have no salt arrived salted.  Traditional margaritas on the rocks, probably the least complicated thing we ordered, were awful and tasted like sour mix.  When I informed our waiter that the margaritas tasted like sour mix, he proceeded to lecture us that the restaurant puts 2 (whole) ounces of tequila in the margarita and then told us he was concerned that we would be too drunk (mind you this was our first drink of the night) if the restaurant fixed them as per our request (so they would essentially taste correct).  Apparently, he didn't want to stick to bad service and preferred to move on to down right insulting.

Luckily, the great company at the table and the impressive food helped us laugh about the horrendous wait staff and enjoy our night.  Sadly, I think bad service is endemic to the West Village.   

What to Eat:

Go with a small group and order family style.  With all of the impressive appetizers, I would recommend ordering more apps and less entrees at El Toro Blanco.  I wouldn't recommend going with a group larger than 4-6 because it's very loud so there's no chance you will hear the person sitting more than two seats away from you.  We started off with the Short Rib Empanadas, which consisted of three empanadas, stuffed with tender, braised pulled short ribs and a hint of oaxaca cheese.  The empanadas come with an ancho bbq sauce but you probably won't need it because the small empanadas are moist and packed with flavor.

Another big hit was the Octopus Tacos.  The two soft corn tortillas were filled with marinated octopus slices, avocado, and a citrus slaw.  I would recommend ordering enough for everyone to have their own taco because the octopus tacos are too good to have anything less than one taco to yourself.  Octopus appears on menus all over NYC now but I would have never thought to pair tacos and octopus.  The pairing totally worked and if I ever end up at El Toro again, this will be the first thing I order.

 I also enjoyed the Shrimp Tacos, although after devouring the octopus tacos, the shrimp tacos felt a little less exciting.  Every bit as tasty, just something you've seen before.  El Toro Blanco does a great job presenting the tray of tacos, putting lime slices on each side of the taco to help keep them propped up.  

Eventually we made it to the entrees.  The standout for the night was the Carne Tampiquena, a slow cooked, juicy skirt steak.  Ignore the lame cheese enchilada El Toro Blanco tosses on the plate, it's just as lackluster as Toloache's.  

The Elote de Calle was the best side of the night.  The corn, sliced off the cob, is seasoned with red chile powder and crumbled cheese.  Every time I pass a NYC street fair corn vendor, it will remind me of the infinitely better tasting (and easier to consume) version at El Toro.  Thankfully, El Toro serves a large bowl of the delectable corn.

For dessert, we opted for an order of Churros for the table.  While the churros were tasty, the ducle de leche dipping sauce stole the show.  If El Torro would bottle it up and sell it, I'd buy a case.

Looking for a hot spot to escape this never ending NYC winter? I know it's technically spring, it just doesn't feel like it,

Your foodie friend

Insider tip: Do not order the shrimp empanada.  It was fishy and in retrospect I should have sent it back.  It was the only bad dish we had all night.

Sarabeth's

While Sarabeth's has become synonymous with brunch, perhaps the best thing about Sarabeth's is dinner.  Don't get me wrong, I love their brunch (stay tuned for my brunch post), but their dinner menu is the true show stopper.  Also, because most people don't know Sarabeth's serves dinner, dinner time is a much more tranquil experience than the chaotic, overcrowded brunch scene.

Sarabeth's dinner menu is huge so there is definitely something for everyone.  I have to go back to try two of the dishes that initially attracted me to the menu (the Halibut and Scallops).

Sarabeth's kicked off the night with a bread basket featuring some of my favorites, like focaccia and walnut raisin rolls.  Good luck not ruining your meal on the freshly baked bread.

And the wine menu is one of the best in the city.  Sarabeth's offers more top quality, reasonably priced wines than any restaurant I've seen lately.  There were excellent choices by the glass (we served the Heller Cabernet Sauvignon at our wedding), half bottle and full bottle.  With the huge, open bar area in the front and a tasty bar menu, Sarabeth's is actually a pretty good happy hour option.

What to Eat:


Get an order of Pretzel Bread for the table (even if there is only two of you :)).  This is actually listed as a bar snack but is available on the regular menu.  Regardless of where you are sitting, the pretzel bread is worth ordering.  The three long, doughy pretzel baguettes arrive warm at your table with a side of grain mustard.  Turns out the pretzel bread is great for dipping in the guacamole as well.

Another great appetizer that is meant to be shared is the Jumbo Lump Crab Guacamole.  The guacamole was solid but the fresh, large chunks of jumbo lump crab, piled a few inches high, makes this appetizer a stand out.  I would have never thought to add jumbo lump crab to guacamole but I'm glad Sarabeth's did.  Sarabeth's prides itself on serving the guacamole with homemade potato chips.  I'm not much of a chips person so I asked my server for a substitute.  The birthday girl keenly noticed steak tartar on the menu so we asked for toast slices and our server kindly obliged.

A MUST: The Adult Grilled Cheese with Creamy Tomato Soup (I took this from a bad angle, sorry readers). Sarbeth's melts a mixture of gruyere and cheddar cheeses on its delicious pretzel bread.  Don't be shy about dipping your sandwich in the soup.  You are missing out if you eat them separately because the creamy tomato soup is the most decadent condiment I've ever had.

Thought Sarabeth's was only a brunch spot?  Think again, the dinner was even better,

Your foodie friend





Insider tip:  Skip dessert, we tried several and they ranged from bad (the vanilla raspberry bread pudding is served somewhere between cold and luke warm) to average (some of the cookies on the cookie plate were tasty).  For a restaurant known for their baked goods, it was disappointing to end the night on lackluster desserts.  The good news is that you will probably be too full from all of the delicious apps and entrees to even consider dessert.

Periyali

Somehow Periyali has flown under the radar for me.  Even though it predates my move to the neighborhood (Gramercy/Flatiron), it's Greek!  I should have found it long ago.  Recently I was looking for a new fish restaurant and Periyali appeared on my computer screen.  After devouring our meal last week, I will have to return soon to make up for lost time.

Periyali's charming host greeted us with compliments and allowed us to be seated well before our reservation time (luckily for us, the restaurant was only 2/3 full at the time).  The menu was huge and featured all of the requisite Greek staples.  The food delivery time to our table was impressively fast, which was much appreciated because we arrived ravenous.   The only minor snags for the night: (1) after we ordered the Branzino, we found out that the kitchen ran out of it so we had to go with the Striped Bass, a distant second choice and (2) the server forgot our Sauteed Green Beans (but once we reminded him, the beans arrived shortly thereafter).

Periyali's wine menu (thankfully) offered wines from outside of Greece.  I love Greek restaurants, Greek people, and Greek beaches but Greek wine, not so much.  I'm a bit frustrated when a Greek restaurant only offers Greek wine.  I know this is a bit of a double standard because I would not have the same complaint at an Italian restaurant that only offers Italian wine but Italian wine is more often than not palatable.  Greek wine, not so much.

Periyali is a great place to go with parents or friends because it is nice but not fancy.  And somehow, the festive Greek atmosphere manages to remain at a quieter decibel, which is perfect for catching up with your dining companion.  The dining room feels homey, perhaps partly because it is underground.  Despite the few snags, I will be back.  The friendly service and delicious food more than made up for the few missteps.

What to Eat:


Start with the Oktapodi Sharas, which consists of long, thick octopus tendrils marinated in red wine.  The three large tendrils were so fresh and tender, they disappeared in our stomachs instantaneously.  I was impressed throughout the night with the high quality ingredients in each dish.










For an entree, the Arni Youvetsi is a MUST.  Even though I came to Periyali with fish in mind, when I saw this entree on other diners tables, I lost focus.  The meat of the braised lamb shank literally falls off the bone and is only rivaled in taste by the generous portion of decadent tomato orzo with a hint of cinnamon.  This entree is one of my new favorite dishes in NYC.

Looking for a Greek take on winter comfort food?  I'd be happy to hide out during the impending snow storm at Periyali,

Your foodie friend