Getting Down in the Rabbithole

Last weekend, I met up with Chiara (my fabulous coworker) and a college friend of hers to enjoy some brunch in South Williamsburg.  We were initially going to hit up a restaurant on the North side, since we were going to check out Smorgasburg, which if you didn't already know is a giant food market. I've been collecting photos from this, so I'll write a longer post about it soon.

The L train was down for the weekend (which is nice for those of us who need a little quiet time away from the tourists and youngsters), but it made things difficult for Chiara to get into Brooklyn.  I met her near the Marcy JZ stop and we walked over to the Rabbithole, a place I never had the chance to try.

The Rabbithole is utterly adorable with an old-timey feel to it.  They have a nice garden area to eat in, but we didn't wait the extra 15 minutes to sit here since there were plenty of tables inside near the opened entrance.

Our server was attentive and food and drink came quickly. 



Chiara and I ordered the Eggs Benedict, which came with candied bacon instead of ham.  The eggs were cooked well and the hollandaise was delicious.  Everything about this meal was superb. 


Their potatoes were particularly tasty with a perfect crisp around and spiced to give it a little kick.

The little salad was a nice touch too with a tangy vinaigrette.

I would definitely come back here for this dish.  It was well cooked, perfectly seasoned and incredibly satisfying.

Chiara and I definitely cleaned our plates! 

Chiara's friend (sorry I forgot your name!) ordered the Stuffed French Toast, which sounded amazing.

I believe it was stuffed with a mascarpone, which is apparently an Italian triple-cream cheese made from crème fraîche, so its sweet.

I knew it was something I couldn't even think about touching, but it received rave reviews.  It looks damn good, almost like a dessert!

Needless to say that our table was part of the Clean Plate Club!

I loved the Rabbithole and will definitely be back, except I will wait the extra time to sit outside and enjoy some sunshine!

Rule #1 of Midtown Lunch

Like most people who work in Midtown Manhattan, I'm subjected to expensive and mostly crappy food when I don't pack my own lunch.  There are tons of websites out there that certainly help identify "inexpensive" options, but is $10 or less really inexpensive?  That's $50 per week, about $250 a month or worse, $2600 a year.  That's terrifying.  I don't want to spend $2,600 on crappy food a year, I could go on a lovely vacation for that price.

So after working in Midtown East for over 2 years, I've narrowed down the food that I'm willing to spend money on and there are a few loose rules that I apply when selecting lunch.

Rule#1 of Buying Lunch in Midtown:
If its large enough for two meals then its a win!

Let's be real here, Americans overeat which is why we have an obesity epidemic, but I tend to win in these situations since I portion my meals.  A number of lunches I purchase are more than enough for two, sometimes three!  This brings down the overall lunch cost a great deal.

A very clear example of this rule is from one of my favorite meals for lunch from an Indian take-out place I discovered week 1 at my job called Joy.

I used to eat here about once every two weeks for months on end. That is how much I love my Indian food.  Recently I noticed that they received a B from the Dept of Health but I don't really care.  They're awesome and I will keep eating here.  The reason I don't frequent here as much is due to my diet, but I treat myself every so often and its worth the extra calories.

They have a steam table, which is nice so you can see what you're getting.  They're always adding fresh items throughout the day, so everything is super hot and tasty!

I usually go with their #2 special which is a meat and a vegetarian dish with rice and naan.  It is a TON of food, as you can see from the photo below. 

This is Chicken Karahi, which is mildly spicy (although sometimes its a little hotter than other days since its made fresh and can vary depending on the cook).  I LOVE sauce, so I ask them to drench my rice.  It has fresh ginger and tomatoes with big chunks of white meat chicken.  It is oh so delicious.  I noticed they had Chicken Sag, so I asked that they give me just the sag (spinach) as the veggie side.  They're super nice and know me well by now so they usually cave in to my ridiculous request.  They always have unique and fresh veggie sides.

Indian is one of the few cuisines I could honestly go entirely vegetarian for.  They make everything so good that you really don't care that an animal is missing from your plate.

 

Chiara, my fabulous coworker and usual lunch buddy, ordered the same dish but with a side of mixed vegetables.  There is always so much food that neither of us can ever come close to finishing our lunch.  So we pack it up and save the rest for the next day.  What's wonderful about Indian food is that it usually tastes just as good the next day reheated.  Curry is magical?

I really don't know how people can sit and finish this much food, but I guess power to you if you can?

This meal costs a little under $10 (I think its $9.17) including tax and yes it comes with that giant fluffy amazing nan.  It's hard to find anything in Midtown that feeds a person this well for less than $5.  

This concludes Rule #1 of Midtown Lunch.  

Stayed tuned for Rule #2 Supporting the Food Trucks!

Sweet, sweet brunch

Now that the weather is nicer, I do my best to hit up at least one brunch spot every weekend.  It doesn't always work out that way, but I do try.  I have yet to do it alone, so lately I've been bugging Mel to go with me now that she has Saturday's off.  Horray!

Lately Cafe Colette has been my go-to brunch spot near my hood.  So far, its been fantastic and I look forward to going back over and over again.  I've been here a total of 4 times, once for dinner and three times for brunch.  I know I've already mentioned them before, but I just want to reiterate my love of this place based on the fact that its A.) adorable, B.) the food is fresh and tasty, C.) its really affordable, and D.) their staff is helpful, attentive and super cute!

Of course I usually get their poached egg dishes, but I can't help it.  My new found love of poached eggs is more than I can bare!

Anyhoo, they offer two versions, both of which are super tasty.  The last time I highlighted Cafe Colette, I had ordered the Chick Pea Puree with Kale on Toast variation.  This time I went for the Squash Croquette with Mustard Sauce version.


The croquettes were crispy on the outside and oh-so-good on the inside.  Squash is so versatile! 

The mustard sauce was light and worked well with the oozy goodness of the runny eggs.  The salad was light and fresh with a tart vinaigrette dressing.

This is not the most filling meal, but definitely satisfying.  I ordered the sage sausage on the side, which is truly delicious and turns this fairly healthy brunch option into something I need to walk off.



My fab out-of-town friend Teresa ordered the bread pudding french toast (I think that's what its called), which cooked in a lovely cast iron dish.

She said that although it was dessert-like, it wasn't overly sweet, which was a good thing in order to get through it.

It smelled delicious and she did manage to get most of the way through this hearty entree.






My awesome friends Tubby and Zac (Teresa's brother) ordered the egg sandwiches which come with a choice of cheese and breakfast meat on a roll.  Tubby went for American cheese with sausage while Zac went for the bacon and no cheese (he's a lactard like me!)

Tubby got a side of fries, which were delicious!  You can just eat these guys up without ketchup, they're that good and fresh.



Zac opted for a side of home fries which was a HUGE portion and they looked really good.  One of these days I'm going to have to try some myself.  I love me some good ol' home fries with eggs.  Is there anything more comforting?

I know this is a crappy pic, but I blame Zac who was all the way across the table and took the photo for me.

Zac - you need to steady your hands next time! :)

The next brunch place I tried out recently was Dumont, which I've enjoyed for dinner but never their brunch.  I took my mommie here for Mother's Day, which I know was a long time ago... so sue me if I take forever to write about it!

Honestly, the reason we picked Dumont was because they had a reservation for brunch at a good time through OpenTable.  I didn't want to risk waiting a year and day to take Mama Maria to brunch.  We ended up waiting about 30 minutes anyway due to a "communication" issue with staff since we wanted to sit outside.  Whatever, it was nice outside and we got a chance to look at the menu.

My mom is a particularly picky eater since she has an allergy to cheese and butter.  No dairy for her either, but she's far more allergic than I am and can end up in the hospital with just a sprinkle of cheese.  She really wanted to get the ham omelet but she couldn't due to the fact that they use cream.  I had NO idea that dairy was ever used for scrambled eggs or omelets.  That is truly unfortunate but makes sense as to why I've felt sick afterwards at certain restaurants.

The safest bet for her was the Eggs Benedict without the hollandaise sauce.

It wasn't the most exciting dish, but it was safe for her to eat and she seemed to enjoy it.  The ham was nicely done and the salad was fresh and tasty.  She was a little worried about the bread being buttered, but she took her chances and won!







I ordered the eggs benedict myself, naturally, and enjoyed it a great deal.  The dish came with these spicy home fries that really gave a kick to the mouth.  I like spicy, but I have a feeling a lot of people are overwhelmed by them. 

The eggs were cooked perfectly, the ham was tasty and the sauce was thick and luxurious.  Doesn't it look incredible here.  My only complaint would be the bread, which was REALLY difficult to cut through.  It proved messy to eat since you needed a hacksaw just to get through the bread. 

The backyard area of Dumont is really lovely, so I recommend waiting the extra time to sit outside.  The staff was also really helpful and accommodating to my mother's allergies.  Our server checked on us several times throughout our meal to ensure everything was okay.  I definitely like Dumont, but their selection for brunch can be a little limiting to those who can't have dairy.  I guess the worst case scenario would be to get the burger - which is AWESOME, so there is no downfall to coming here any time of day.