This Little Piggy went on a Brunch Adventure

On a happier note (from the below Bloomberg post), I must have gone on one of the most amazing brunch excursions ever this past Saturday.  Initially, we were just grabbing brunch at some place I'd never heard of in the West Village, but the plans changed.  We started our adventure off at Choptank (on Bleeker @ Grove) for a Bloody Mary and oysters and decided it would be fun to track down the best BM in the West Village.  This turned into an all day drinking and eating affair, eventually ending at a friend's apartment in Tribeca.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  Enjoy!

The Choptank Oysters and Bloody Mary were awesome!  We surveyed four types of oysters, and though I can't remember what my favorite was called, the most clever name was the Naked Cowboy Oysters, which were from LI.  The BM was different than the standard Bloody Mary.  Besides using a secret spice they call "grains of paradise", they also drizzle the top with EVOO, which adds a surprisingly delicious touch.

At this point, we had decided to make this a Bloody Mary challenge, and headed over to Joseph Leonard (Waverly Pl @ Christopher).  We ordered the Bloody Mary No. 20, which came with a beer chaser, and the Lyla’s Mama’s Lemonade (maker’s mark, lemonade and cayenne).  This BM was smokier than the one at Choptank.  I thought both drinks were good, though I wouldn't write home about the BM.  We also ordered some french fries and the frisee and lardons (fried egg, brioche and red wine vinaigrette).  This was absolutely exquisite!

The fried egg clearly sparked conversation about the Truffled Egg Toast at 'Ino (Bedford @ Downing), so there we went!  This was fantastic as usual and went very nicely with the Chardonnay and Trebbiano we ordered.  Not much else to say about this, except that we had a table by the window and it was lovely.

Then we were off to Lure Fish Bar (Prince @ Mercer).  Obviously we ordered a Bloody Mary, as well as some sake, to accompany an array of sushi and sashimi.  Everything was great, especially the toro and kanpachi!

 

Between the oysters, egg toasts and sushi, clearly we had worked up a sweet tooth, so we stopped into Kee's (Thompson @ Spring) for some coconut and rosewater macarons and champagne and tiramisu truffles.  Then we paused briefly in Walker's (North Moore @ Varick) to share a beer, before heading to Turks & Frogs Tribeca (Greenwich St @ Desbrosses) for wine and a snack (Sigara Boregi - Phyllo scrolls stuffed with Turkish feta, cooked till golden brown).

All of this leading up to a girlfriend's Mexican-themed house warming party in Tribeca.  What an amazing Saturday!  Oink oink!

This Little Piggy went to 10 Downing

I had been wanting to try 10 Downing for about 8 months now.  I finally stumbled upon it last night, unknowingly, while trying to find a "Plan B" to Blue Ribbon Wine Bar.  Luckily, the wait was only about 20 minutes at 9:30 pm, and the atmosphere seemed to be just what we were looking for.  The triangular space focused its decor on one wall, including various paintings and creative pieces.  The place was lively, but not so much that you couldn't hear your conversation.  We made our way to the bar and ordered a bottle of Rioja from their small-medium sized wine list.

Upon being seated, we began to review the menu, which is broken up into small plates, appetizers, entrees and sides.  I decided I would create a meal of small plates in order to better experience the menu.  So much stood out, the bone marrow, yellowtail with uni, steak tartare, beets with burrata... the list went on.  I decided I would seek the advice of our waiter, I mean, he would know best, right?  Unfortunately, no.  When I told him what I was hoping to do and provided some of the dishes that jumped out at me, he sneered "Well, they're all different."  Clearly I knew that bone marrow and yellowtail were not remotely similar, I was merely hoping for some guidance.  This attitude persisted throughout the meal, although the rest of the staff was delightful.

Anyway, I selected the beets with burrata, wild mushroom polenta with manchego, and the steak tartare, and was pleasantly surprised with my choices.  The beets came first with a beautiful presentation.  An assortment of both purple and orange beets were placed throughout the plate, with delicious morsels of fresh, creamy burrata intermixed.  Then, the tartare and polenta arrived.  The steak tartare was one of the best I have had, however, I think next time I may forgo the polenta with manchego to try something new.  My friend ordered the roasted chicken, which comes in both a half and full order.  It was delicious, very moist, and the skin was nice and crispy, though it could have been a little crispier.  Additionally, we had ordered a side of the fries with truffled salt, which never came, though we were both full and definitely didn't need them.

The dessert menu also looked delicious, particularly the chocolate cake with olive oil gelato.  To my dismay, I could not eat a single thing more.  Good thing there is always next time.  While the food didn't blow me away, it was good, and I will definitely go back.