WHERE I HAVE BEEN EATING LATELY

FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS
BROKEN ENGLISH
282 ATLANTIC
BUTTERMILK CHANNEL

I have been eating out a bit lately and am here to report on what I ate and what I liked.

First I will start off with EATALY the mega Italian Food Hall on 5th Avenue-very crowded, probably a tourist trap by now but fun and great food so who cares.

I have been twice and both times ate at Le Verdure the vegetarian restaurant for two reasons, one the wait was a good 30 minutes less than any of the other restaurants and two I had heard that they take a more adventurous approach to cooking. Well both times it was delicious.I was accompanied by great cooks first my best friend Andrea and the second time by my sister-in-law Anneli visiting from Sweden. I had the Farro salad with warm vegetables in nebbiolo vinaigtette.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebbiolo.

Anneli had the frito misto, both were excellent, the frito was so light and grease free and a great selection of vegetables and my warm veggies in the salad were perfect. I know the first visit I had a wild mushroom bruschetta that was amazing. The food was so good you don't even notice you are in the middle of a little bit of chaos.

Next up is BUTTERMILK CHANNEL here in Brooklyn-Lars and I went for a birthday brunch and it was so worth the small wait and the best brunch we have had in a very long time- it was a 10 and our new basis for all brunches to come.

Lars had the house cured salmon with fried capers, green onions, cream cheese, pumpernickel and organic green salad. I had Eggs Huntington which was poached eggs,,buttermilk biscuits country ham and hollandaise (which I always ask for on the side since I don't always trust the whole hollandaise thing). We had a side of cheddar waffles, homemade breakfast sausage and for desert we shared the warm sour cream donut. It all tasted even better than it sounds.

I can not wait to go back for dinner. The restaurant had a great atmosphere very laid back and everyone was friendly. There is a wait but they originally said 45 minutes so we went for a walk after giving them our cell phone numbers but a mere 20 minutes later they called.

282 Atlantic is a brand new burger restaurant two block from my house. We went last Saturday night and both ordered the 282 burger which came with poblano chillies and 282 sauce. It was a very good burger not at all too spicy (the peppers did not overpower the meat) their sweet potato fries were very crispy and not greasy at all. In fact it was a great meal, but they have to add something green on the menu(a vegetable other than potato and a salad of some sort) and desert would be good idea as well, but they literally opened last Wednesday so they are in a incubation period. I am looking forward to trying the turkey and veggie burgers.

We are getting two new burger places on Court Street one of them a Five Guys Burger, and I hear a Shake Shack is due to open in the Fulton Mall I hope all this burger frenzy doesn't ruin a good thing. Wait(I just saw this on the way to Fort Greene Park with the dogs) there seems that yet another burger place is popping up called Smash Burger in the DKLB building on DeKalb Avenue.

Next onto BROKEN ENGLISH on Bergen Street in Cobble Hill.The first thing that struck me is that it is large open space which is rare for the Smith Street area -it has a very garage feeling with many mismatched chairs etc. and a really long bar. They have a raw bar which made Lars happy he ordered oysters that came with a slice of lime and two different sauces a very nice cocktail sauce and a vinaigrette.

I had baked eggs with speck and wild mushrooms on a bed of polenta.Which in theory should have been fantastic but it was a tad dry-I am not an expert on baked eggs something I am going to start experimenting with at home but the yolks were not runny which after a bit of research they should be,not as runny as a fried egg but not hard boiled either. They may have just spent too much time in the oven. Lars ordered Bresaola and Pecorino Salad that was delicious so I have to say he made better choices but I was able to sample so that was fine.

On my morning doggie walks I often pass the IRIS CAFE it looks very cosy and also quite popular-so last week Lars and I decided to stop in for lunch we were down shooting at the Brooklyn Bridge Park so it was just a few blocks away on Columbia Place near State Street,this particular block is one of my most favorites in Brooklyn there are small houses with front porches that I simply covet. The cafe fits in perfectly with the street. We both had smoked salmon and hard boiled eggs sandwiches on baguette-Lars had his with ramps which are in season I went without because of my aversion to onions unless they are well cooked and not "oniony" tasting. Ramps are a early spring wild onion/leek like veggie that are in season from late march until May.
We both enjoyed the sandwich but think that the baguette was a bit too much bread but could not seem to come up with what bread would have gone better with the ingredients?

THE PLAZA HOTEL FOOD HALL BY TODD ENGLISH. It is downstairs from the lobby and is great to look at, We both had sushi which was very good but the Red Velvet Cake that we shared for desert was a stand out.-Andrea and I both have made red velvet cake so we know what goes into it but they have added a bit of something to the frosting Andrea thinks it may be white chocolate and she is probably right it was delicious.

One last mention is FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS in Gowanus on Third Avenue at 8th Street. Thank goodness this place is a long walk from my house because if it were any nearer I would probably live there. I had the salted caramel apple pie-it was everything a apple pie should be and most importantly it reminds me of my grandmothers apple pie one of the reasons her recipe was so good is she sliced the apples thinly no chunks-it just makes a large difference-now her recipe has been lost and never to be found-but this is close. The place is very casual it is just drinks and pies pies pies! (I think they have a breakfast)-My friend Debora had a savory farmer cheese slice it had thyme in it, I did not get to taste it I was too busy wolfing down my own slice. and Jannese had I think it was called Salted ???(I can not remember the name but it tasted amazing). Am I fooling myself into thinking the bike ride or walk there and back will make up for the calories, who cares they are worth it.