On the most recent Sunday, Maia and I reunited after three intolerably brunchless weeks.
It was a sunny morning and we were back in the East Village, home to our now legendary brunch at the Sunburnt Cow, where a bunch of angelic Australians allowed us to drink mimosas for - I am pretty sure - three days straight. We had not seen each other for so long and we had so much to tell each other! I had been to England, a world full of queens and grandparents, and she had been to Philadelphia, an enchanting city full of Liberty Bells and boyfriends. We sat down at our new brunch home, Hop Devil Grill, with the excitement of two friends returning to their favorite past time at long last: drinking unyielding mimosas.
The first thing we noticed walking in was that the place was quiet, with nearly all the tables empty. If you are looking for a raucous Sunday brunch party in this neighborhood, The Sunburnt Cow is definitely the place to go. That being said, if you are looking for a more relaxing boozy brunch, Hop Devil may be ideal. The waitress was very nice...she even offered Maia a sangria WHILE she was drinking her mimosa! Two drinks at once, incredible!! Maia did not accept that offer, which, looking back, is unspeakably tragic, but the fact that the waitress offered at all is notable. Refills were pretty good, but perhaps could have been a little quicker.
Hop Devil does stand out for its excellent variety of drinking options. I personally had been waiting for a place with sangria, and Hop Devil had red AND white sangria. Yet even more impressive was the pretty damn good selection of beers you could order with the brunch. Yo ALSO this place has one-dollar PBR's, so you could get hammered just going the PBR route. Now that I'm thinking about it, 20 PBR's with no food at all is probably the most bad ass Sunday brunch ever conceived, and if any of you decide to do that, please write a guest post about your experience immediately after. But probably eat some food or that would be dangerous.
Anyway, it must be said that the drinks are not the strongest here, and that could partly explain why everyone seems to be going to The Sunburnt Cow instead. Moreover, there was no option, unlike the Sunburnt Cow, to sit at the bar after our 90 minutes were up and continue to receive unending mimosas. This place will certainly get you tipsy, but perhaps not drunk. Although Maia got drunk! Or so she said, I have seen Maia realllly drunk and she was definitely not that drunk.
Maia's note: Although I do agree with Joe's assessment of Hop Devil (obviously; always) I am willing to put out there that I had had a stomach virus two days before, and so perhaps my drinking was not as speedy as it should have been? (Joe's right, I think I didn't feel drunk, I just felt sick.) Either way, though, it was ridiculously easy to get drunk at MexiBBQ and The Sunburnt Cow, but you kind of had to work to get drunk here. The mimosas came in tiny, tiny flutes!!!! Like, champagne flutes!!!!! It is awesome that they offer unlimited craft beer as one of their AYCD options, but honestly, you do have to work really, really hard to get drunk off of that, too -- it's dark and heavy and maybe not what you want for brunch.
It was a sunny morning and we were back in the East Village, home to our now legendary brunch at the Sunburnt Cow, where a bunch of angelic Australians allowed us to drink mimosas for - I am pretty sure - three days straight. We had not seen each other for so long and we had so much to tell each other! I had been to England, a world full of queens and grandparents, and she had been to Philadelphia, an enchanting city full of Liberty Bells and boyfriends. We sat down at our new brunch home, Hop Devil Grill, with the excitement of two friends returning to their favorite past time at long last: drinking unyielding mimosas.
The first thing we noticed walking in was that the place was quiet, with nearly all the tables empty. If you are looking for a raucous Sunday brunch party in this neighborhood, The Sunburnt Cow is definitely the place to go. That being said, if you are looking for a more relaxing boozy brunch, Hop Devil may be ideal. The waitress was very nice...she even offered Maia a sangria WHILE she was drinking her mimosa! Two drinks at once, incredible!! Maia did not accept that offer, which, looking back, is unspeakably tragic, but the fact that the waitress offered at all is notable. Refills were pretty good, but perhaps could have been a little quicker.
Hop Devil does stand out for its excellent variety of drinking options. I personally had been waiting for a place with sangria, and Hop Devil had red AND white sangria. Yet even more impressive was the pretty damn good selection of beers you could order with the brunch. Yo ALSO this place has one-dollar PBR's, so you could get hammered just going the PBR route. Now that I'm thinking about it, 20 PBR's with no food at all is probably the most bad ass Sunday brunch ever conceived, and if any of you decide to do that, please write a guest post about your experience immediately after. But probably eat some food or that would be dangerous.
Anyway, it must be said that the drinks are not the strongest here, and that could partly explain why everyone seems to be going to The Sunburnt Cow instead. Moreover, there was no option, unlike the Sunburnt Cow, to sit at the bar after our 90 minutes were up and continue to receive unending mimosas. This place will certainly get you tipsy, but perhaps not drunk. Although Maia got drunk! Or so she said, I have seen Maia realllly drunk and she was definitely not that drunk.
Maia's note: Although I do agree with Joe's assessment of Hop Devil (obviously; always) I am willing to put out there that I had had a stomach virus two days before, and so perhaps my drinking was not as speedy as it should have been? (Joe's right, I think I didn't feel drunk, I just felt sick.) Either way, though, it was ridiculously easy to get drunk at MexiBBQ and The Sunburnt Cow, but you kind of had to work to get drunk here. The mimosas came in tiny, tiny flutes!!!! Like, champagne flutes!!!!! It is awesome that they offer unlimited craft beer as one of their AYCD options, but honestly, you do have to work really, really hard to get drunk off of that, too -- it's dark and heavy and maybe not what you want for brunch.
joe: why didn't you drink 20 PBRs?
ReplyDeletemaia: why didn't you drink the sangria?
you can't let The Lord's Day slow you down.
I'm thinking we need an app.. call it "Drill Sergeant" THAT WILL FUCKING SCREAM AT YOU IF YOU DON'T DRINK MORE.
lady: "you want sangria"
maia: "no"
maia's phone: "SHE'LL HAVE TWO. LOOK AT HER, DON'T FUCKING DEIGN TO ASK HER IF SHE WANTS MORE ALCOHOL. BRING EXTRA FRUIT."
ALL DAYYYYYYYYY
but for real, classy execution of portion control. can't get blackout every sunday. people depend on you.
nick "the panopticon"
I respectfully disagree with you nick (the panopticon?). I depend on Maia and Joe specifically TO get blackout every sunday. Also, I'm not sure you can get classier than 20 PBRs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this blog is my favorite. MORE DRINKING MORE FUN MORE DRINKING MORE FUN
yours,
Tori