Jen enjoyed the brunch buffet at Little Town NJ in Hoboken. She even got a complimentary mimosa!
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Brunch Beat: 5/18/13
18 MayManhattan:
- New on the menu at 180 Neapolitan Eatery (180 Hester St.) is a hangover pizza for brunch!
- Mas (la grillade) (28 7th Ave. South) begins brunch Saturday. With a newly opened outdoor patio, the West Village restaurant sounds like the perfect spot to check out brunch this weekend.
- Millesime in the Carlton Hotel (92 Madison Ave.) launches a bottomless brunch punch this Sunday. For $25, you get an entrée and two of their unlimited brunch punches — like vodka lemonata and strawberry tequila.
Great Jones Cafe
16 May
Place: Great Jones Cafe
Neighborhood: NoHo/East Village, 54 Great Jones St. (between Lafayette and Bowery)
Mimosa Rating:
The scoop: While walking down Great Jones St., we couldn’t miss Great Jones Cafe if we tried. The outside of the restaurant is painted bright orange. The color stands out and gives it a little bayou feel.
Busy brunch at Great Jones
Great Jones is always packed, it never fails! We arrived around 2 p.m. or so and still waited about 25 minutes. When we walked into the tiny and cozy restaurant, we noticed right away the large wall with the menu painted on it and the large chalkboard with the daily specials, which are usually grubby and cheap. There are decorative Christmas lights everywhere. There actually isn’t much real lighting, only one front window which provides minimal light. The overall decor is plain and simple, and you really don’t need anything else here. There is not much seating, but you could come with a group if you called ahead. A decently-sized bar takes up one side of the small restaurant. You can sit at the bar for full service, but this area was packed, too.
The atmosphere is pretty loud and noisy, but nothing too crazy. They’ve got a jukebox pumping out unnoticeable tunes. There were only two servers working on this day, but they were attentive and quick. We were starving, lucky for us, the food came out in record time!
Coffee and juice
Bottoms up: Every brunch meal comes with your choice of coffee, tea or juice. I had the coffee, which was just black drip coffee with a little milk, and Johnny had some pineapple juice. I love getting free liquids! Although the coffee and juice were nothing to write home about, they were definitely needed to start the day. There is also a full bar and specialty brunch drinks available.
Chew on this: All brunch entrées are $12.95 and include your choice of cornbread or biscuit, AND home fries or grits. Plus you get a choice of the previously mentioned beverages. Such a steal!
Smothered Eggs
Crescent City Smothered Eggs / Scrambled eggs with ham over biscuits, smothered in sausage gravy
After becoming addicted to eggs with sausage gravy and biscuits from Nolita House (now closed), I always love trying to find a replacement. Great Jones’ version was pretty dang delicious and a close second to Nolita House. If you are ordering this dish, you need to be starving, as it’s extremely heavy and hearty, but believe me, you won’t be disappointed with the combination of two meats and the thick, flavorful gravy. Grits can be a hit or miss, and I would say the grits here were a total hit! They had just the right consistency and density, with cheese and hot sauce (optional, available at every table). I thoroughly enjoyed this dish and the homemade biscuits. Thankfully, I had my boyfriend with me to finish it up!
Andouille Omelette
Andouille Omelette / With Andouille sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, cheddar cheese
If you’re looking for NOLA flavor, then you will find it in this Andouille omelette. It is packed with an incredible amount of spicy sausage and a great combo of veggies. I am not an omelette person, but I am considering going back just to order this — it was that good.
Cornbread
Side of Cornbread
Jalapeno cornbread?! Yes, please! It wasn’t too spicy for those who can’t take the heat, but it sure adds extra flavor. And after carb-overloading with everything else, I still found room. It is actually a pretty large piece of cornbread, and it’s also drizzled with honey.
Bacon
Side of Bacon / $4
This side wasn’t completely necessary, but it sounded good and it was! Not only was it a great deal (bacon averages around $6-8 as a side during brunch), but there was also several pieces which could be shared among a group. It wasn’t too crispy or under-cooked.
The brightly-painted exterior
The final bite: I can’t remember the last time I got such an incredible brunch deal. Not only do you get a drink with your meal, but you also get two sides. The food was excellent, down-and-dirty comfort food that might make you think you’re in New Orleans. I would be more than willing to go back again!
Reviewed by: Erica
Happy Mother’s Day!
12 MayFrom our brunch table to yours, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!
We especially want to thank our mothers, Debbie, Cristina and Paula, for their constant love and support. We are lucky and thankful to have moms like you!
Brunch Beat: Mother’s Day edition
10 May- Not sure where to take your mom for brunch this Mother’s Day? Check out Thrillist’s “5 Perfect New York Mother’s Day Brunches,” sure to please any type of mom.
- Zagat also has a list of great brunch spots for celebrating that very special lady on her special day.
- Looking to wow Mom with a memorable brunch at home? View Daily Candy’s slideshow of brunch-themed party ideas for some tips and tricks.
- Brunching at home can be just as fun as brunching at a restaurant. Babysitting.net has got hosting brunch for Mother’s Day covered with “28 Blogs Filled with Ideas on How to Host a Mother’s Day Brunch.”
Manhattan:
- Petite Abeille (various locations) toasts all mothers during brunch on Sunday with a complimentary mimosa. Check out Victoria’s review before you go!
- Bring Mom for brunch at Southern Hospitality (645 Ninth Ave.) and her dessert is on them!
- Someone likes buttermilk! Ichabod’s (15 Irving Place) is launching a brunch menu with dishes like buttermilk pancakes with berries and fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits.
Brooklyn:
- Melt (440 Bergen St.) is getting in on the Mother’s Day action as well, with a free glass of Champagne and 1/2 off Mom’s meal at brunch.
Barrio 47
8 May
Place: Barrio 47
Neighborhood: West Village, 47 8th Ave. (between Jane St. and W. 4th St.)
Mimosa Rating:
The scoop: We were lucky enough to get invited to check out the brunch scene at Barrio 47 (Thank you, Alex!). We met for brunch at Barrio on a Saturday afternoon around 12.
Inside Barrio’s back dining room
At this time, the restaurant was on the empty side, and it was also pretty cold inside. Granted, it was cold outside, too, but we expected it to be warmer indoors. The inside of Barrio is very narrow (think railroad style). We were seated in an uncomfortable area in the middle of the restaurant, which was right near the oven and where the chefs prepare the food. We love seeing open kitchens because we like to know that a restaurant doesn’t have anything to hide, but we almost felt like we were too close for comfort. We did see the chef making each batch of truffle fries and seasoning them. That was pretty cool.
The service was decent at Barrio. Since the restaurant wasn’t very full yet, the servers were just standing around chatting. Ours recommended getting cocktails, but we just didn’t feel like drinking on this particular day. It’s too bad because they looked yummy.
Bottoms up: Barrio 47 offers a brunch special that includes one entrée and three champagne cocktails for $29. The champagne cocktails consist of a mimosa, kir royal, bellini, blood orange, the Passionate, which is made with fresh passion fruit purée, and the Eva, made from housemade hibiscus extract. Although the Gang didn’t have any cocktails, we heard from an outside source that the drinks are of quality.
Chew on this:
Merguez Sausage Hash $15 / Poached eggs, jalapenos, butternut squash
Merguez Sausage Hash
Out of all three dishes, luckily for me I had the best one. The merguez was extremely flavorful and there were a lot of chunks throughout the entire dish. My only complaint was that the eggs were not properly poached. It could be disappointing when you don’t get what you expect, however, the unpoached eggs didn’t ruin the dish because there was a lot going on and the dish was moist from all the fresh ingredients. Toast was served on the side, and I used it to scoop up the tasty butternut squash mixture.
Grilled Cheese Panini $12 / Manchego & gruyere cheese, baby spinach, roasted tomatoes
Grilled Cheese Panini
I chose the Grilled Cheese Panini because with manchego and gruyere it sounded more appealing than your average grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was gooey and melted well. The bread had a buttery top and a nice crunch. I think there were mushrooms in the panini, even though the menu didn’t state that in the dish description. The roasted tomatoes were more like the sun-dried tomatoes that were included in the side salad. I gave up fried foods for Lent, so instead of their truffle French fries, which sounded good, I asked for more salad (the dish was already supposed to come with greens). I thought I would get more salad than I did since I wasn’t getting fries. The salad had a peppery bite, which was likely from the light dressing tossed over the top. This sandwich wasn’t bad, but I felt like it was missing something. It could have used more mushrooms, or even meat.
Eggs Benedict $14 / Black truffle & sage hollandaise, English muffin, fries (choice of prosciutto, smoked salmon or baby spinach)
Eggs Benedict
They had me at truffle, but I was sadly disappointed. There were about 2–4 miniature truffles and they did not provide that truffle flavor I was looking for. Although the truffle flavor wasn’t what I thought it would be, the prosciutto was delicious and a good alternative to the usual ham on an eggs Benedict. I did not really taste any sage, and the side salad were just OK. After eating at Blue Ribbon, it’s going to be difficult to find an eggs Benedict that is as delicious.
Outside Barrio 47
The final bite: Brunch at Barrio 47 wasn’t bad. The food was OK, but we think we may have missed out without cocktails. If we go again, we’d order drinks.
Reviewed by: Brunch Gang
Brunch Beat: Cinco de Mayo edition
4 MayManhattan:
- Barrio 47 (47 8th Ave.) is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with $2 tacos all day. They also have their regular brunch special – $29 for an entrée and three cocktails.
- Vamos (348 1st Ave.) gets their party started at noon tomorrow with their Cinco de Mayo brunch. Brunch on with a dish and bottomless frozen margaritas.
- Woodrows (43 Murray St.) is also celebrating with a special holiday brunch. Victoria checked out brunch at the Tribeca spot last year.
- Cole’s Greenwich Village (118 Greenwich Ave.) now has brunch 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The 94-seat restaurant serves Eggs Benedict on a popover instead of the traditional English muffin.
