Who could resist the stacks of giant cookies in the window at Birdbath Bakery?? The chocolate chip cookie was a bit on the sweet side for me, but would surely please any fan of a classic chocolate chip cookie.
Category Archives: Wanders
Preserve 24
What’s a Saturday in New York without brunch? Preserve 24 was too adorable to pass up. The food was good, nothing spectacular, but the decor and service were notable.
Front – L.E.S Egg Sandwich, Back – Chorizo Hash
Murray’s Cheese Bar
A little nosh at Murray’s…
Funkmaster flight & D’Artagnan Tasso Ham- not as funky as I hoped, ham was good
Kale Salad – great!
Orlando for Thanksgiving
If you are thinking, “good places to eat in Orlando, impossible!”, this post will change your mind. I was skeptical, but we found some surprisingly good eats and they even have an Edible Orlando.
Coffee – good
Cinnamon Roll – passable
Ambiance – lovely, coffee by day and liquor by night. Quirky rustic decor.
Service – awful, picture a woman behind the counter chatting with a regular who has already been served while others are waiting. Then, when she has finally finished her conversation, the phone rings. Does she ask if they can hold (you know, since she has customers), no she does not. I am unapologetically bitter…
A departure from the service at Stardust, the folks at Blue Bird are chipper and sweet (aptly named). Ample amounts of tempting goodies are there to greet you in this cute little bake shop!
Love the name and am happy to report that the food is up to par as well!
Rock Shrimp Tacos
Gatherer Salad
Other great spots that I was unable to capture in photo form were The Wine Room and Luma.
Weekend in the Berkshires
It’s Saturday morning and we’re in the mood for donuts. Home Sweet Home Doughnut Shoppe in Great Barrington – a mom and pop type place (they make their soup in a crock pot, no frills) and I am charmed by the woman behind the counter wearing donut earrings. The verdict, just okay. I am spoiled by living near one of the best donut shops ever (Union Square Donuts).
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cider (left) & Sea Salt Caramel (right)
After breakfast we’re able to make it to the final thirty minutes of the farmer’s market. We scored two great items, Bug Hill Farm’s Rhubarb Rush syrup and R&G Cheese Makers’ Pumpkin Chevre (on a bagel, on a cupcake, just eat it!). Baba Louie’s for lunch, the sourdough crust is tasty and worth trying for those that like thinner, crispier pizza.
Turkey Sausage and Pineapple – Baba Louie’s
Later, we pop into the Lion’s Den Pub for a pint and then try our luck getting a table at Nudel in Lenox. The wait is over an hour, we cross the street to have a drinks and popcorn at Rumpy’s Tavern and see how long our stomachs can hold out.
Rumpy’s Tavern – all decked out for Halloween
We’ll have to come back for Nudel, about an hour and a half later and we’re still waiting. Luckily, the bar at Brava has cleared. The food is decent and the bartenders are friendly and attentive. Some scallops and a cheese and charcuterie plate and I’m off to bed!
Seared Scallops
Cheese and Charcuterie Plate
Dough – Brooklyn
Coffee Cream, Dulce de Leche with Toasted Almonds
Top row: chocolate earl grey, toasted coconut, hibiscus Bottom Row: Cafe Au Lait, Cinnamon Sugar
It’s Sunday morning and the line outside Dough isn’t too long. They are already sold out of one of the specials, Apple Jam. We go with Coffee Cream, Dulce de Leche with Toasted Almonds, Hibiscus, Toasted Coconut, Cafe Au Lait, Chocolate Earl Grey, and Cinnamon Sugar. All good, but my favorite is Cafe Au Lait! Aside from doughnuts, they serve Brooklyn Roasting coffee and also sell their beans.
All the doughnuts here are yeast based (sorry, cake doughnut lovers). According to this post from The New Yorker in June 2013, however, Gerson (owner) is experimenting with cake doughnut recipes. I look forward to my next visit and hope to see some!
Dutch Boy Burger and Franklin Park – Brooklyn
Beer garden at Franklin Park
Burgers, beer garden, skee ball, photo booth – it’s a crowd pleaser! Dutch Boy Burger and Franklin Park are connected, allowing guests the options of eating at Dutch Boy (diner decor and seating) or at the bar or beer garden at Franklin Park. With winter just around the corner, we decide to park ourselves at a picnic table in the beer garden.
We order a turkey burger, lamb burger, and sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries with maple mayo are the highlight of the meal. Addictive and not overly sweet, the maple mayo wins me over! The beer list is decent, with plenty of options to please everyone at your table.
Brunch at Tink’s – NYC
A row of chicken and waffles!
Saturday afternoon brunch at Tink’s, they were kind enough to accommodate our party of 9 even though the restaurant is super tiny. On Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30am to 4pm there’s a prix fixe brunch; choice of entree, coffee or tea, and a mimosa for $16. Coffee, food, service, and ambiance were excellent! The quirky decor is adorable and they bring checks out in children’s books (Amelia Bedelia, Goosebumps, cute!).
Food:
Chicken & Waffles – multi-grain waffles, pretzel crusted fried chicken, chipotle honey butter
The chicken was great, pretzel crunch was delicious. The waffles were good, a bit on the heavy side due to the multi-grain batter. Combined with the heaviness of the pretzel coating, perhaps a regular buttermilk waffle would have been more appropriate. The chipotle honey butter was like a spicy version of sweet and sour sauce and paired well with the chicken.
Biscuits & Gravy – homemade smothered biscuits, sausage gravy, herbs and sunny side up organic eggs
I enjoyed the slight spicy heat in the gravy. Since I started with the chicken, the dish seemed to lack texture. Overall, it was great, but the chicken was my favorite.
Portland Day 5 & 6
Breakfast at Heart. Croissant, maple scone, and an almond milk latte. The décor is really cute and the roaster behind the bar area certainly adds a bit of charm. The coffee was good, but the baked goods were just alright. I did enjoy that they offered pretzels for breakfast, but did not indulge.
Lunch at Olympic Provisions, stellar! We ordered 3 cheeses (BLEU D’AUVERGNE, France; COWGIRL CREAMERY MT TAM, California; CYPRESS GROVE MIDNIGHT MOON, California), the Spanish charcuterie board (two Spanish salamis, lomo, jamon york, fresh chorizo, Caña de Cabra), a pickled egg, and pork rillettes. We sat at the bar and watched them artfully prepare our meal, ate everything, and wished would could rewind and do it again.
No photos for the rest of the trip, but in the evening we headed out for drinks at New Old Lampoc. Then more drinks and a nosh (smoked cheddar and tasso grit sticks) at Southland Whiskey Kitchen. Having had zero Mexican food during my whole trip, I have a craving that cannot be ignored. We find our way to Santeria, a little Mexican place which also goes by “titty taco” since they share a bathroom with the strip club downstairs. The food is solid and I am happy to be eating guacamole again!
DAY 6
Heading home super early with a stopover in Chicago, I just mention this because Rick Bayless is a saint for creating edible airport food. Thanks to Frontera, my layover was actually pleasant.
Portland Day 4
Sunday is our culinary tour with Eat Adventures and we’ve all been looking forward to this day! We jump in the van promptly at 10:30 am. I’m starving, but told there is tea and a pastry waiting for me in the car.
Our first stop is The Rendezvous Grill in Welches and they stuff us. I was not expecting three courses at 11:30am, but what the heck, I’m on a food tour. To start, locally foraged chanterelles with a garlic and marsala wine sauce over toasted bread. The mushrooms taste amazing! Next course, a Crucolo fondue with bread, apples, and chicken sausage. Normally, I’m not a fan of chicken sausage (texture is usually off), but this one was great. Then, for dessert (it’s barely 12pm), a huckleberry parfait. It was fantastic, but I left feeling stuffed and hoping that our next stop was very far away.
Off to Mount Hood’s Timberline Lodge, and it’s snowing. October is a bit early for snow in my book, but it definitely adds to the ambiance of the lodge. Inside, it’s warm and inviting, the fireplaces are crackling, and I’d love to plop down on a couch and take a nap, but no, we must eat.
Ram’s Head Bar – First, they bring out this wonderful bread (almost like potato bread, but lighter and fluffier). Then, the pièce de résistance, see below. Totally incredible!! I was stuffed and now I’m uncomfortably stuffed.
TumaloTomme, honey, Apres Ski Fondue (a blend of Melted Raclette, Swiss, Fontina & White Cheddar Cheeses with Roasted Garlic & Ice Axe IPA), Olympic Provisions Charcuterie (Saucisson d’Alsace, Mortadella, Pork Rillette, Liver Mousse with Ice Axe Mustard Seeds & Caraway Pickled Onions), and a slice of Huckleberry cheesecake.
Nora’s Table is our final bite and it’s fantastic. We start with the house-cured and smoked Oregon salmon tostados on house-made masa tortillas with lime tequila slaw and avocado peach pico de gallo. This changed my mind completely about salmon, they tasted out of control good. The two other dishes we had were specials, one was scallops and the other pork belly. Again, delicious, you could taste the love and care the kitchen put into all the dishes.