I YUM New York

It’s not often that a friend from college (all the way up in Burlington, Vermont) decides to make a home in New York City.  That’s exactly what Wes did.  He recently moved to Williamsburg and it was about time that him and I had a little reunion.  We started off our day, enjoying the sights and shopping that the ‘Burg had to offer along the fine strip of Bedford Avenue…

But then, we got hungry.  It’s hard on a Saturday, around noon, to find something along the main road that isn’t bombarded with hipsters or filled the to brim with students making their way across the East River.  We decided to venture south.  As we came upon Grand Street, we saw this little place offering brunch along with some live music and not many people called Cadaqués Tapas Bar.  Perfect.  Trying to figure out where to sit, the owner suggested the wide-open window seat, claiming it as “the best view in the house”.  Our waitress came over and told us that there was a Bloody Mary special happening, $25 for 2 hours umlimited drinking.  As we both love our Bloody Marys, we agreed to the deal, hoping that theirs was better than the terrible concoction we tried making back in freshman year at UVM in our dorm room (terrible, terrible).  We also ordered the same sandwich.  I don’t remember what it was called, but it was on this great crusty bread, with an aioli and serrano ham, egg and potato frittata and cheese.  Really good. Actually, just look at the menu picture for the full description.

The owner came over to us while we were eating and said we were the second people ever to eat brunch here.  They only opened up about two weeks ago and started serving brunch today.  He also mixed up the Bloody Mary mix, which Wes and I both agreed was interesting.  It was very smokey, like a chipotle type smoke and didn’t taste very alcoholic.  Boy, were we wrong.  Lets just say, it was hard walking in a straight line after.

On our way back to Wes’s apartment, we saw a bakery.  On closer inspection, we saw these really bizarrely decorated cakes.

Of course, we went in.  Got three pieces of this pound cake with a raspberry or strawberry topping and a donut with cream inside.  We later regretted this decision because after eating some of the cake with Wes’s delicious homemade lemon curd, we proceeded to not feel very well and the pound cake was very, very dry.  But, you never know until you try and it looked like a cute little local place.

After watching about 4 hours of the Syfy channel’s Dune, Wes’s friend Eli from Vermont came down to visit.  We decided to go food shopping for dinner and try out this place in downtown Brooklyn called Brooklyn Fare.  It was filled with yummy, organic goodness.

It was tinier inside than expected, but they had a ton of good looking prepared foods and produce.  We decided to make braised lamb chop provencal, courtesy of Gourmet.  Though it took over two hours to complete and we didn’t eat until after 10pm, the end result was delicious.

The lamb was so tender, that it fell off the bone.  I was a little worried that we wouldn’t have enough liquid for it to braise in (the recipe calls for some reduced white wine to be poured in), but the lamb gave off so much of its juices that it was fine.  I’m making this recipe again this week, that’s how good it was.

It’s always nice going around parts of the city that I’m not familiar with, especially when it becomes an adventure with good friends, and of course, good food. 🙂

~ by Iyumnewyork on August 30, 2010.

Posted in Around NYC, home cooking, Markets
Tags: Bloody Marys, Brooklyn Fare, brunch, Cadaqués Tapas Bar, Lamb Provencal, williamsburg