Brunch: La Condesa

Breakfast is not one of the more beautiful meals. But it is my favorite one. We recently enjoyed a brunch at La Condesa with our friend Amanda, who was visiting from London. Amanda introduced me and Eliza. There’s hardly a lovelier way to begin the day.

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Eating Our Way Through the Ace Hotel, Pt. III: The Breslin

Part three of our April Bloomfield obsession takes us to the Breslin. Confusingly, you cannot order the Breslin burger in the Breslin restaurant (the burger is only available through room service and at the hotel bar). Nonetheless, we made do.

I had the Full English breakfast, which featured both sausage and bacon.

Eliza had the grilled three cheese sandwich with house smoked ham.

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Out of Ham Box Experience

Working at a design firm, I often hear the phrase “out of box experience.” This expression refers to what the rest of us call “unpacking,” usually in reference to technology as Wikipedia points out. Design firms love to use fancy words to elevate what they do. They also like to use the word “experience” as much as possible.

But why should the “out of box experience” be limited to technology? What about the experience of unpacking a few pounds of smoked meat? In this post, I’ll answer that question with a few photos. I finally got around to ordering some of Allan Benton’s famous country ham and bacon. I decided to document the “experience.”

Of course, the real experience is putting a few slices in the skillet and making breakfast. This morning was my lucky day. (I usually cut my bacon in half because my skillet is only ten inches wide.)

I overcooked the bacon a little bit, so it was a tad brittle. But luckily I’ve got four pounds of this stuff. Practice makes perfect.

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Diner, New York NY

I’m realizing that nearly every post from our New York trip begins with some variation on “We were freezing cold…” But seriously folks, this day took the cake. I was having visions of some future civilization excavating our frozen bodies from some Brooklyn side street. But against all odds, we survived and made our way to Diner, located in the World Hipster Headquarters otherwise known as Williamsburg.

The restaurant is in a 1920s Kullman Diner car. Very cozy.

Our waitress sat down next to us and wrote the daily specials on the table. Nice touch.

Add this to my list of New York food surprises: finding one of the best biscuits I’ve ever had. This one ranks up there with this one and this one.

Eliza had the ham sandwich, which was served on a scone.

I loved not only how our meals at Diner tasted, but also how they looked: elegant, but effortless. Whenever people talk about “presentation” in the context of food, it always seems overly fussy to me. On the other hand, I suppose it’s not actually the idea of presentation that bugs me, just fussy presentation. It’s not about an oddly shaped plate or a random squirt 0f some mystery sauce, but just about letting the ingredients shine. And that’s exactly what’s so great about Diner. It’s simple, fresh and satisfying. All in all, a great way to avoid death by hypothermia while visiting New York.

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Zampa, New York NY

Weary from battling the New Year’s crowds in Midtown, Ben and I braved the cold and rode the subway down to the West Village. I lived on Jane Street for a couple of years after college and this is one of my favorite parts of the city. We arrived cold and hungry, in search of some hot coffee and breakfast. We had a long list of recommended places to visit, but a place that wasn’t on the list, Zampa, called out to us. I think I’d be drawn to any place with a pig diagram and hanging pork products as window decorations.

Inside, it was warm and empty. This was one of the few meals we had on this trip with no wait, so the empty chairs were a nice change.

I had the Eggs Valdostana – brioche with eggs and asparagus and a nice little salad. Delicious.

Ben had an omelette with goat cheese and maybe onions. (Looks like that anyway. Maybe mushrooms, too. I knew we should have written this stuff down.)

Leah and Chris joined us at the end of our meal for a cup of coffee.

Then we bundled up and marched off to attempt the impossible – lunch for 11 at The Spotted Pig.

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