1/25/14 - Barley and Grain

So as a new found food blogger, sometimes I'm just going to have to fly solo. This was one of those days. Nothing wrong with it, just part of the life I'll be living as I work on this project. For this trip though I wanted to hit a place I've been meaning to try for months now. Barley & Grain on the Upper West Side. This was a place made just for me. Over 100 bottles of Whiskies. A friendly bartender. Chill, cozy atmosphere. It totally lived up to the hype. I believe it was "Alabama Song" that went "Oh show me the way to the next whisky bar..." and well, I found it.

The list of whiskies

Barley & Grain isn't too spacious, but it's definitely accommodating. As I was alone, I didn't want to be rude and take up a table so I decided to sit at the bar. My bartender, Jesse, was incredibly friendly and we spoke the entire hour and a half I was there about beer and whisky. He definitely knew his stuff. I started off with a rye manhattan, probably my favorite drink. He made it with Sazerac rye, which is excellent stuff if you've never had it. This was probably the best manhattan I'd ever had. It was balanced, you could taste the rye, but the other elements (vermouth, bitters, cherry) all came through as well.

Rye Manhattan

The brunch menu is a nice mix of breakfasty and lunchy foods. I was feeling lunchy, so I went with the Mac n Cheese, which Jesse recommended. The portion wasn't as big as I expected, but it was decadent and delicious. The mac and cheese was made with grueyere, maytag blue and NY cheddar. Each component comes through: the smokiness of the gruyere, the tanginess of the blue and the sharpness of the cheddar all compliment each other. Add in some salty bacon and a heft dose of cream and you've got a hell of a dish. I just wish I had more of it.

Mac n Cheese please

The house bloody mary was great too. Spicy and savory, but not overpowering in either way. Jesse said they make their mix daily and you can always tell when it's homemade vs. store bought mix. The bloodies are cheaper than the other cocktails as well, so if you plan on brunching it up for long, stock up on these.

Bloody Mary

My final cocktail was a drink called the Lion's Wheel. This was definitely interesting, made with bourbon, an all spice liqueur of some kind and lime. Jesse recommended I try it, and I definitely appreciated his suggestion. Again, just a tasty, well balanced drink.

I will say this though. For the most part I've been trying to target places with "All You Can Drink" spcieals for brunch, and B&G doesn't have one. So it is a bit pricier as a result. But the food, the cocktails, and the knowledgeable staff made this place excellent. I will definitely be back here in the future, for dinner or for brunch. Four bloody maries out of five.

1/18/14 - The Half Pint in Greenwich Village

We made it on a streak! Two weeks in a row, after two months of failure. I'd say this is a rousing success. I do have to ask you all the bare with me as I try out this food blog thing. I'm learning. As such, yet again, no food pictures. I do have a really bad picture of myself and my buddy Nick, so you'll get to see that soon. Whatever, to make an omelette you gotta break a few eggs (a little brunch joke for you).

Front of The Half Pint

Anyway, to make it to The Half Pint, we had to take a little trek into Manhattan. The beauty of this city though is how accessible it all is. That's what makes the quest to find all the drunk brunches possible. No need to worry about parking, no need to worry about how we're gonna get there. It's all at our feet.

The Half Pint is a nice little craft beer bar, right by Washington Square Park and a ton of NYU. I imagine it's frequented by NYU students, particularly those that like good beer as opposed to watered down American macros. We arrived and were being put at a small high table, but asked to sit in a cozier booth, and were moved to a small nook in the back. We were given our menus on paper, as we were informed that a new chef had just started and so the menu had changed a bit. This was a little disappointing since I had checked the menu out online as I was picking our next spot, and some of the items I was excited about (like a Bloody Mary featuring bacon) were not on it anymore.

Our server informed us that the popular item on the menu was the Breakfast Nachos. These did sound quite tasty, waffle fries with eggs, bacon, cheese, some salsa and sour cream. None of us were really feeling that though. I wound up getting the "Two Handed BALT," and my friends got French toast and a chicken sandwich. For an extra $16 we got unlimited bloodies, mimosas and what they called brunch punch. We also ordered a set of 4 banana nut muffin tops as an appetizer.

The muffin tops were decently sized, but as one of my friends commented the look like they came  out of an EZ-Bake oven. They tasted pretty good though, and came with a strawberry cream cheese that went well with them. The drinks were pretty good too. The Bloody Mary here came with lime and some olives. I could taste the bit of olive brine in the drink, which added a nice balance to the spiciness. The brunch punch was basically champagne with a little bit of simple syrup and some bits of fruit. It had a nice bit of dryness to it that was balanced by a touch of sweetness.

The previously mentioned terrible picture of Nick and myself (left to right)

My friend Max really liked his French toast. It came accompanied by two massive chicken sausages that probably could have been the centerpiece of a meal on it's own. He was quite glad he went with that instead of the chicken sandwich. Nick got his chicken sandwich (follow long enough and you may notice a trend with him), which came on a moderately soft bun with what looked like roasted peppers and cheese and accompanied by fries.

My BALT also came with fries. It was a little smaller than I expected, when something is described as "two-handed" I expect it to need two hands to hold. But it hit the spot, nice salty bacon, cool tomato and really creamy avocados. Not the best BALT but one of the nicer ones. The fries were the real highlight for me. I'm always a fan when a place handcuts their own potatoes for frying, it's a simple process but adds so much more than the frozen variety. These were salty, crunch yet still fluffy. Just what the BALT needed on the side.

The service at The Half Pint did start off a little slow. I'm not sure if our server was initially really busy or what but it did take a while to get our first set of drinks and the first few refills. This did eventually pick up though and by the end she was on top of us and attentive. She was nice overall though, service with a smile.

Overall the Half Pint was a nice place for brunch. We each spent about $34 before tip for the muffin tops, drinks and entrees. I'd give The Half Pint 3.75 out of 5 Bloody Maries.

1/11/14 - Piquant in Prospect Heights

I should preface this with the story behind our attempts at drunk brunching. My friend and I were planning on making a pilgrimage through the city, stopping by all of the spots that offer boozy brunches, to pursue their wears. This was back in early November. We were met with nothing but setbacks and delays. First my friend got really sick, and was unable to make it out on Saturdays. Then, a blizzard hit New York. My birthday came next, twice actually, as I prepared for fun parties. Finally, when it seemed like everything was going to fall into place, the oil boiler in my house broke down. So yeah, we began to imagine that drunk brunch would never happen.

But it did. Two of my friends and I chose Piquant based on the proximity to their apartment, and the fact that for $25 you get unlimited bloodies, mimosas and sangria plus an entree. The menu is pretty varied, with mostly a take on Southwestern inspired dishes. A nice selection of both breakfasty and lunchy foods that could cover any appetite.

View of the bar (taken from Piquant website)

Seeing as we got there around 1, we all went the more lunch route. I got a Signature Piquant Burger, which was spice rubbed and came topped with Chihauhua cheese, guac and slightly pan-fried pastrami (!!!). I think I may need to put pastrami on all my burgers now.  My friends both got the chicken sandwich. For drinks I stuck with bloodies, while they each got mimosas. I did try one mimosa, but generally I like a savory day drink.

The burger was really great. Cooked to order (some places go medium well no matter what), the cheese and guac provided a nice balance to the spice on the burger. But the best part was the pastrami. Lightly pan-fried, like bacon, it added a nice salty kick. The fries on the side were nice too, but the highlight here was the burger.

My friends liked their chicken sandwiches as well. One friend noted how he's not a fan of mayonnaise but the chipotle aoili that came on the sandwich was great on it. Nice flavor, good spice, going with the Southwestern theme.

Now having usually made my own Bloody Maries, I tend to go on the spicy side. Piquant's bloody didn't disappoint. A nice kick to it, without being overpowering and balanced with a squirt of citrus from the accompanying lime. It was no wonder I could knock back 4 or 5 of these. The mimosas weren't bad either, descent sparkling wine with a nice amount of dryness to balance the OJ.

What really made the experience great was our server. He was attentive, excited and fun. I don't think my friends mimosas were ever empty. He was friendly the whole time, and knew immediately why we were there: to take advantage of two hours of all you can drink awesomeness.

Overall, the service really knocked it out of the park. The food was good, but with the waiter he elevated the experience to great. I'd give Piquant four out of five Bloody Maries for our first Drunk Brunch experience.