More than a month ago, as the last New York summer of my youth was drawing to a close, I wanted to have one more bottomless brunch -- and who better to go with than my best friend in high school, S.H.? Times have changed -- we went to different colleges, and see each other not nearly as often as we would like -- but this was what I wanted for my Last Brunch.
We were originally trying to go to some French place, but we got started late, and it closed early, so we found ourselves at Cafe Cortadito. Again, this was more than a month ago, so this entry will be disappointingly short and unfunny, but the key points that I remember are:
1) CLUB MUSIC. Club music was BLASTING the entire time, setting a mood entirely at odds with a peaceful Sunday morning and the entire institution at brunch. Like, the kind of music whose intros make you want to do jump up and do shots. It was funny and then it was annoying and then it was funny again.
2) The mimosas were potent, but came in very slender glasses. This place can get you drunk, but you have to work quickly. I think the food was good? Again, this was a while ago, so I don't quite remember.
3) When we left, S.H. left by jumping out of the window onto the sidewalk.
Goodbye, New York!
Showing posts with label AYCD Brunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AYCD Brunch. Show all posts
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Tre - $21.95
YOU GUYS, JOE IS GONE.
HE'S GONE! The Fulbright Program and the Republic of Colombia have joined forces to pull him away from our magical summer of endless mimosas, and have, as of exactly one week ago, received him in their warm and character-building embrace. It's been hard, for me. I don't know whom to text when I can't sleep, or when someone says something ridiculous on Facebook, or when I want to get absolutely wasted for as little money as possible.
It's been hard.
But New York marches on.
This weekend, my childhood friend L. came to visit! I decided that brunch was in order, as we hadn't seen each other since the previous summer (!), and many life events had occurred to both of us, and really, nothing breaks the long-time-no-see barrier like a few liters of champagne. Right?
We decided to go for Tre, which Yelp describes as "Romantic, Trendy, Casual, Intimate."(Seriously, click on the link. You can get the vibe of the place from looking at that website for .2 seconds.) Their bottomless brunch is Saturdays and Sundays, and has a 90-minute limit; however, you can do those 90 minutes any time between 12 pm and 4 pm, which was good for us, since it was already 2:30. We walked in, and the waitress greeted us, seated us, and gave us our menus.
The first thing I noticed was that the menus were prix fixe, brunch drinks included. That is, there was no "bottomless brunch" option. They assumed that you were going to do it. That was part of the brunch. I had a good feeling about this place.
(The second thing I noticed was that there were only two vegetarian options, which is kind of unusual for New York. Nevertheless, when I requested that they replace the meat in my meal with vegetables, they were very accommodating!)
The mimosas were...fancy? What makes mimosas such a delightful morning drink, I think, is the sunniness they get from the two-sweet, too-bright orange juice that our country (myself included) has grown up loving; but these were good, too: more of a dull orange, much less sweet, and tasting strongly of champagne. Very strongly of champagne. We had about two mimosas each before the food got there. We had not yet eaten anything that day.
"I'm super-drunk, oh my god," L. said. "I'm so sorry." She took another drink from her mimosa. "No," she declared, after thinking about it. "I'm not sorry."
We ate our meals (which were super-yummy!) and talked and talked and talked. The waitress was generous but not always attentive with the refills, which I normally would have been anxious about (90-minute limit!), but after I got into an animated conversation with a stranger while waiting in line for the bathroom, I realized that the refills were just right. I did ask for one last refill after she brought us the check; she obliged, but seemed a bit grumpy about it.
L. and I left the restaurant, and ended up sitting in a park for a little while. She called her boyfriend (who's in the navy!); I spoke to him for a bit, but I don't really remember what we talked about. He had a very nice voice! Then we heard "Call Me Maybe" blasting from a nearby bar, and so of course I insisted that we go in. L., kindly, agreed.
The bar happened to be Epstein's bar, which itself is pretty cheap (!) and EVEN OFFERS THEIR OWN AYCD BRUNCH -- FOR ONLY $13.50! I had received a tip-off about Epstein's before, but I was thrilled to have stumbled upon it by accident! We sat at the bar. L. got a beer. I didn't have any cash left. I kept trying to buy something with my two dollars, but the bartender kept scoffing at me. Finally, the other bartender, making his busy way down the bar, looked at me, shook his head, pulled out a Corona and slammed it down in front of me. A free beer! I used one of my dollars to tip him. He laughed.
Eventually, L. said, "Do you wanna go?" and so we left. Her sandals were hurting her, and she had a blister on her left foot, so we switched sandals, and walked west, similarly-mismatched.
"You're, like, my sister," I said. "You know?"
"Totally," L. said.
When we hit Houston, we went into Crate & Barrel. Why did we go into Crate & Barrel? I have no idea. I don't remember. We lay down on some of the beds and then we sat on a couch for a long time. "Can I help you, ladies?" various salespeople would say to us, and we, grinning, shook our heads. I had no idea what was happening. I didn't care. I was having a great time.
We left at some point (?) and bought some french fries and ate them and went home.
HE'S GONE! The Fulbright Program and the Republic of Colombia have joined forces to pull him away from our magical summer of endless mimosas, and have, as of exactly one week ago, received him in their warm and character-building embrace. It's been hard, for me. I don't know whom to text when I can't sleep, or when someone says something ridiculous on Facebook, or when I want to get absolutely wasted for as little money as possible.
It's been hard.
But New York marches on.
This weekend, my childhood friend L. came to visit! I decided that brunch was in order, as we hadn't seen each other since the previous summer (!), and many life events had occurred to both of us, and really, nothing breaks the long-time-no-see barrier like a few liters of champagne. Right?
We decided to go for Tre, which Yelp describes as "Romantic, Trendy, Casual, Intimate."(Seriously, click on the link. You can get the vibe of the place from looking at that website for .2 seconds.) Their bottomless brunch is Saturdays and Sundays, and has a 90-minute limit; however, you can do those 90 minutes any time between 12 pm and 4 pm, which was good for us, since it was already 2:30. We walked in, and the waitress greeted us, seated us, and gave us our menus.
The first thing I noticed was that the menus were prix fixe, brunch drinks included. That is, there was no "bottomless brunch" option. They assumed that you were going to do it. That was part of the brunch. I had a good feeling about this place.
(The second thing I noticed was that there were only two vegetarian options, which is kind of unusual for New York. Nevertheless, when I requested that they replace the meat in my meal with vegetables, they were very accommodating!)
The mimosas were...fancy? What makes mimosas such a delightful morning drink, I think, is the sunniness they get from the two-sweet, too-bright orange juice that our country (myself included) has grown up loving; but these were good, too: more of a dull orange, much less sweet, and tasting strongly of champagne. Very strongly of champagne. We had about two mimosas each before the food got there. We had not yet eaten anything that day.
"I'm super-drunk, oh my god," L. said. "I'm so sorry." She took another drink from her mimosa. "No," she declared, after thinking about it. "I'm not sorry."
We ate our meals (which were super-yummy!) and talked and talked and talked. The waitress was generous but not always attentive with the refills, which I normally would have been anxious about (90-minute limit!), but after I got into an animated conversation with a stranger while waiting in line for the bathroom, I realized that the refills were just right. I did ask for one last refill after she brought us the check; she obliged, but seemed a bit grumpy about it.
L. and I left the restaurant, and ended up sitting in a park for a little while. She called her boyfriend (who's in the navy!); I spoke to him for a bit, but I don't really remember what we talked about. He had a very nice voice! Then we heard "Call Me Maybe" blasting from a nearby bar, and so of course I insisted that we go in. L., kindly, agreed.
The bar happened to be Epstein's bar, which itself is pretty cheap (!) and EVEN OFFERS THEIR OWN AYCD BRUNCH -- FOR ONLY $13.50! I had received a tip-off about Epstein's before, but I was thrilled to have stumbled upon it by accident! We sat at the bar. L. got a beer. I didn't have any cash left. I kept trying to buy something with my two dollars, but the bartender kept scoffing at me. Finally, the other bartender, making his busy way down the bar, looked at me, shook his head, pulled out a Corona and slammed it down in front of me. A free beer! I used one of my dollars to tip him. He laughed.
Eventually, L. said, "Do you wanna go?" and so we left. Her sandals were hurting her, and she had a blister on her left foot, so we switched sandals, and walked west, similarly-mismatched.
"You're, like, my sister," I said. "You know?"
"Totally," L. said.
When we hit Houston, we went into Crate & Barrel. Why did we go into Crate & Barrel? I have no idea. I don't remember. We lay down on some of the beds and then we sat on a couch for a long time. "Can I help you, ladies?" various salespeople would say to us, and we, grinning, shook our heads. I had no idea what was happening. I didn't care. I was having a great time.
We left at some point (?) and bought some french fries and ate them and went home.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Hop Devil Grill - $20
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.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
La Flaca - $18
I DID IT. I FUCKING DID IT. I FOUND AN AYCD WEEKDAY BRUNCH. YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. I AM THE CHAMPION. I AM THE CHAMPION OF HAPPINESS.
Okay, sorry, let me backtrack --
Last Friday, tragedy struck: Joe left for England for two weeks! Confused, upset, and decidedly sober, I had no choice but to ask my boyfriend C. to come up from Philly for a few days and comfort my sad, Joe-less existence.
I had (of course) been telling C. all about our AYCD brunches, and he had been (of course) appropriately envious. Now, determined to show him the best New York had to offer, I decided that I needed to take him to a brunch -- but he was visiting from Monday to Thursday! Would I find an AYCD weekday brunch?!
New York is a big city, and I figured there had to be at least one place, even if we needed to take two subways and a bus to get there. I went through pages and pages of Google ("nyc bottomless brunch weekday"), rephrased my search terms over and over again ("nyc aycd brunch weekday," "nyc weekday unlimited mimosas," etc.), and link-hopped from one list to the next. All in all, I spent about half-an-hour crawling through the internet -- and then, and then, I found it. On a list of AYCD NYC brunches, which I had found through clicking through blog after blog, I found one entry that said, next to the name of the place, "weekday."
My pulse quickened with the thrill of the moment of capture.
La Flaca.
Their weekday AYCD brunch is from 12 pm - 4 pm, which is I think is pretty late for this sort of thing. However, I only took it as a good sign -- chill, relaxed, down to help you have a good time -- and so C. and I arrived at about 12:30, very hungry and very ready to drink.
Unlike the other two brunch places, which had been bustling, La Flaca was sleepy, with only a few tables occupied. This was perhaps because, like, what kind of losers want an AYCD brunch on a weekday? The ambiance was nice, though: the place was really cute, and the music was actually great! (They played a really strange-but-good mix of well-known favorites from across lots of different time periods and genres.)
Here's my main takeaway from La Flaca: enormous time limit, and the food is good! The portions were huge (way larger than they needed to be, in fact: it's 11 pm and I'm still full), and the breakfast sandwich that I got was yummy. Also, good fries! Gotta love a place with good fries.
Our waitress was good with the refills. She wasn't amazing, as the waiters and waitresses had been at the other two places -- but, you know, very decent. (She quickly figured out what our deal was, and would smirk a little every time she offered us another round. We liked her.) The glasses were a little on the small side, and I think the mimosas were a little bit weak due to how much ice was in them. C.'s native-Texan magnetic attraction to Mexican fare, though, saved his very first AYCD brunch experience: the frozen margaritas were very, very strong, which resulted in his getting much drunker than I did! LIFE IS REALLY UNFAIR. Verdict: this place may get you drunk, if you order the right drink! Although it breaks my heart to say it, maybe don't go with the mimosas.
Towards the end of our meal, our friend V. showed up. He ate some of C.'s leftovers, and we all chatted for a bit. When eventually C. and I had to leave and catch our buses (C. back to Philly, I up to Vermont to visit a friend), V., who was meeting up with another friend, and was waiting for her to get downtown, said, "Maybe I'll just get some food and wait for her here." He ordered huevos rancheros and started off his AYCD brunch with some sangria.
Twenty minutes later, at the bus stop, C. got a text from him: "I'm tipsy and full this is great!"
Summary:
+ good food
- not all their drinks get you drunk
+ huge time limit
Okay, sorry, let me backtrack --
Last Friday, tragedy struck: Joe left for England for two weeks! Confused, upset, and decidedly sober, I had no choice but to ask my boyfriend C. to come up from Philly for a few days and comfort my sad, Joe-less existence.
I had (of course) been telling C. all about our AYCD brunches, and he had been (of course) appropriately envious. Now, determined to show him the best New York had to offer, I decided that I needed to take him to a brunch -- but he was visiting from Monday to Thursday! Would I find an AYCD weekday brunch?!
New York is a big city, and I figured there had to be at least one place, even if we needed to take two subways and a bus to get there. I went through pages and pages of Google ("nyc bottomless brunch weekday"), rephrased my search terms over and over again ("nyc aycd brunch weekday," "nyc weekday unlimited mimosas," etc.), and link-hopped from one list to the next. All in all, I spent about half-an-hour crawling through the internet -- and then, and then, I found it. On a list of AYCD NYC brunches, which I had found through clicking through blog after blog, I found one entry that said, next to the name of the place, "weekday."
My pulse quickened with the thrill of the moment of capture.
La Flaca.
Their weekday AYCD brunch is from 12 pm - 4 pm, which is I think is pretty late for this sort of thing. However, I only took it as a good sign -- chill, relaxed, down to help you have a good time -- and so C. and I arrived at about 12:30, very hungry and very ready to drink.
Unlike the other two brunch places, which had been bustling, La Flaca was sleepy, with only a few tables occupied. This was perhaps because, like, what kind of losers want an AYCD brunch on a weekday? The ambiance was nice, though: the place was really cute, and the music was actually great! (They played a really strange-but-good mix of well-known favorites from across lots of different time periods and genres.)
Here's my main takeaway from La Flaca: enormous time limit, and the food is good! The portions were huge (way larger than they needed to be, in fact: it's 11 pm and I'm still full), and the breakfast sandwich that I got was yummy. Also, good fries! Gotta love a place with good fries.
Our waitress was good with the refills. She wasn't amazing, as the waiters and waitresses had been at the other two places -- but, you know, very decent. (She quickly figured out what our deal was, and would smirk a little every time she offered us another round. We liked her.) The glasses were a little on the small side, and I think the mimosas were a little bit weak due to how much ice was in them. C.'s native-Texan magnetic attraction to Mexican fare, though, saved his very first AYCD brunch experience: the frozen margaritas were very, very strong, which resulted in his getting much drunker than I did! LIFE IS REALLY UNFAIR. Verdict: this place may get you drunk, if you order the right drink! Although it breaks my heart to say it, maybe don't go with the mimosas.
Towards the end of our meal, our friend V. showed up. He ate some of C.'s leftovers, and we all chatted for a bit. When eventually C. and I had to leave and catch our buses (C. back to Philly, I up to Vermont to visit a friend), V., who was meeting up with another friend, and was waiting for her to get downtown, said, "Maybe I'll just get some food and wait for her here." He ordered huevos rancheros and started off his AYCD brunch with some sangria.
Twenty minutes later, at the bus stop, C. got a text from him: "I'm tipsy and full this is great!"
Summary:
+ good food
- not all their drinks get you drunk
+ huge time limit
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Sunburnt Cow - $20
Our first Manhattan brunch taught us a very important lesson: brunch can be crowded. When Joe and I walked into The Sunburnt Cow on Avenue C, we were asked if we minded having brunch at the bar, at least until a table opened up. We, of course, didn't. "Chris will take good care of you," our waiter said, nodding at the bartender, who was busy flipping cups right-side-up, pouring mimosa-filled pitchers into them, and sliding them to their lucky destinations. Chris nodded in affirmation, without looking up from his busy work.
Joe, for some reason, ordered a Bloody Mary; I, of course, went with my favorite OJ delight. "This is awful," he said, neutrally, after a sip or two. I tried it. It was. Why does anyone drink tomato juice ever?! However, little can stand in the way of Joe and drinking: he calmly worked his way through the sour, pulpy liquid, like a champ. Our waiter came back to tell us a table had opened up. We went over, sat down, and ordered our food. Joe asked for a mimosa.
The Sunburnt Cow's bottomless brunch is either $20 or $25, depending on what food item you choose. The mimosas here are less strong than they were at MexiBBQ, and the glasses were a little smaller, and they were a little less consistently good with the refills (mostly because they were so busy; when there was some downtime, the waiters were very good with refills indeed) but we still got very drunk.
The food here was of good-sized portions, with nice little perks (salad, toast, etc.)!
As soon as we had finished our food, a waiter came over to clear our plates. We asked him if we could have one last refill, and he said sure, of course, he just needed the table free. So we went back to the bar, and presented our empty glasses, and Chris filled them up, and we drank them, and Chris filled them up again, and we (grinning) drank them again. "Is this going to go on indefinitely?" I asked.
"I don't think the mimosas are the problem," Joe said, with the careful diction of someone who doesn't want to jinx something. "I think it's just the table space. We might be able to stay here for as long as we want."
"Okay, I have to pee," I said. I slid off the bar stool, and grabbed Joe's arm. "Get us another drink!" I said. "Say we just graduated from college!"
"Okay," he said.
"Say we're, say we -- say we're siblings!" I insisted. (Yeah, that'll work!) "Say we're siblings from San Diego!"
"Okay," Joe said. He nodded, to reassure me of his seriousness.
When I came back from the bathroom, there was a mimosa waiting for me. "He loved the story," Joe said, laughing quietly. "He's so into it."
"What did you say?"
"I was like, My little sister just graduated from college, we're from San Diego, this is her first day in New York, like her very first impression... Basically like, he feels like it's up to him whether you love or hate New York, forever."
"Oh my god," I said.
"Yep," Joe said, proudly.
"I can't," I said. "I can't! I feel too bad!"
"Maia," Joe said. "Relax. It's your first day in New York!"
We got refill after refill after refill. At one point, Chris came over with three small shot glasses and filled them up, smoothly and quickly. "Welcome to New York!" he said to me, and we did a shot with him. He cleared away the shot glasses and kept working.
"I'm going to marry him," I said to Joe.
Joe nodded. "You'd be drunk all the time."
"Yes," I said. "He's very efficient."
Eventually, Joe and I decided that we'd had enough to drink. Joe left Chris a lavish tip ("Thank you, man," he responded, very seriously), and out we stumbled, into the bright outdoors. We walked for a few blocks, and somehow found our way into a small park, where we found a nice bench to sit on. We hung out there for a while, marveling at the flora surrounding us. I confessed that I was terrible at my times tables. Joe decided to see just how bad by asking me a couple of questions, and laughed and laughed when he saw that it was true. A man and a woman passed by, speaking French; I excitedly addressed them in French, and had a couple minutes' conversation. "Vous parlez très bien," they told me politely, trying to leave.
Joe had to go home, so I accompanied him to his subway stop. "I really want mac and cheese," I said. "I really want mac and cheese from that place on 12th Street. I really, really want it." As I walked, my flipflops flip-flopped heavily with the despair that comes with the knowledge that finding your drunken way from point A to point B is, for all practical purposes, entirely impossible. Joe and I hugged; he went down the stairs to the F train; I turned and walked away from the subway entrance and -- the mac-and-cheese place had a kiosk in the park, right there! It was a miracle. It was a miracle from the Cheese Gods. I paid way too much (five dollars) for a tiny tub of mac and cheese and sat down on a park table to eat it, completely and totally happy. It was salty. It was gooey. It was wonderful.
Next to me, a couple was drinking out of a coconut. "Are you drinking out of a coconut?" I said.
"Yeah!"
"Where -- where did you get that?"
"Over there," the woman said.
"Like two blocks that way," the man said.
"What's in it?" I said.
"They just like, puncture a hole in it, and give you straws," the man said.
"It's so fresh," the woman said.
After a beat, I said, realization dawning: "...So there's no liquor in it."
They laughed. "She thinks we're wasted," said the woman.
"No," I said. "I'm wasted."
When I was done with my mac and cheese, I threw out the plastic tub, bid goodbye to the coconut-drinkers, and began my journey home. It was a beautiful day, and I was happy.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
MexiBBQ Kitchen and Draught - $25
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.
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