The All You Can Drink Brunch. Those simple words ring of hope in a city with 14-dollar cocktails and 9-dollar beers. There are an impressive amount of AYCD brunches sprinkled around the city, meaning that if the best ones can be located - the ones that get you truly drunk, cheaply - then they could be an important piece of the drinking puzzle. Maia and I set off for our first AYCD brunch with the same combination of optimism and determination present on the Mayflower in 1620.
The location was MexiBBQ, a Mexican-Barbecue fusion restaurant located in Astoria, Queens. Astoria is nothing short of a devilish labyrinth that I'm pretty sure was designed by brilliant city planners to keep out yuppies and hipsters for as long as possible, preserving the vibrant Greek community. It had Maia and me literally taking some kind of spiraling route, which we reversed about three times, but we eventually found the place and it was pretty fucking awesome.
We called before going and they said to get there before 12 (when the restaurant opens) in order to get a table quickly, but we got there around 12:30 and didn't have to wait long for a table at all. But if you want a table outside, get there before 12. The place is spacious and open to a nice, quiet street, and busy but not too crowded. Definitely a good atmosphere.
There is a 1.5 hour time limit on the brunch, which is plenty of time if you get quick refills of whatever you are drinking, and we definitely did. Our waitress was there whenever our glass was even close to empty, allowing us to drink at whatever pace we desired. Which, of course, was quick. She did politely ask us to leave after our time was up, but we felt we received exactly what we paid for.
THE MIMOSAS ARE STRONG. Like they taste more like champagne than orange juice. Maia and I drank only mimosas because we love them so, so much, but they also offer bloody mary's and Mexican beers. Anyway, this place gets you drunk. I don't remember a lot of this day, and I think that I have MexiBBQ to thank for that. I also dropped my goddamn iPhone in the Hudson River, so I maybe should have had one less mimosa.
Slight downside: This meal ended up costing us each about 25 dollars. I think that by this blog's standards, 25 dollars is a little bit pricey, and we're going to try and keep things at or under the 20-dollar mark. There are definitely cheaper AYCD brunches in the city that we will explore in the near future. But still, getting really drunk at a restaurant (and getting brunch!) for 25 dollars is pretty damn good.
Maia's note: The one other downside (for me at least) was that the food portions were on the small side -- which could be a problem if you wake up famished! But if you don't, you should be fine.
The location was MexiBBQ, a Mexican-Barbecue fusion restaurant located in Astoria, Queens. Astoria is nothing short of a devilish labyrinth that I'm pretty sure was designed by brilliant city planners to keep out yuppies and hipsters for as long as possible, preserving the vibrant Greek community. It had Maia and me literally taking some kind of spiraling route, which we reversed about three times, but we eventually found the place and it was pretty fucking awesome.
We called before going and they said to get there before 12 (when the restaurant opens) in order to get a table quickly, but we got there around 12:30 and didn't have to wait long for a table at all. But if you want a table outside, get there before 12. The place is spacious and open to a nice, quiet street, and busy but not too crowded. Definitely a good atmosphere.
There is a 1.5 hour time limit on the brunch, which is plenty of time if you get quick refills of whatever you are drinking, and we definitely did. Our waitress was there whenever our glass was even close to empty, allowing us to drink at whatever pace we desired. Which, of course, was quick. She did politely ask us to leave after our time was up, but we felt we received exactly what we paid for.
THE MIMOSAS ARE STRONG. Like they taste more like champagne than orange juice. Maia and I drank only mimosas because we love them so, so much, but they also offer bloody mary's and Mexican beers. Anyway, this place gets you drunk. I don't remember a lot of this day, and I think that I have MexiBBQ to thank for that. I also dropped my goddamn iPhone in the Hudson River, so I maybe should have had one less mimosa.
Slight downside: This meal ended up costing us each about 25 dollars. I think that by this blog's standards, 25 dollars is a little bit pricey, and we're going to try and keep things at or under the 20-dollar mark. There are definitely cheaper AYCD brunches in the city that we will explore in the near future. But still, getting really drunk at a restaurant (and getting brunch!) for 25 dollars is pretty damn good.
Maia's note: The one other downside (for me at least) was that the food portions were on the small side -- which could be a problem if you wake up famished! But if you don't, you should be fine.
"Astoria is nothing short of a devilish labyrinth that I'm pretty sure was designed by brilliant city planners to keep out yuppies and hipsters for as long as possible, preserving the vibrant Greek community"
ReplyDeletebrilliant
^ yo agreed that excerpt is some woody allen shit
ReplyDelete