Breakfast at Naidre's

I've written about the breakfast sandwich at Naidre's (502 Henry St., on the corner of Sackett St., 718-596-3400, and there's one in Park Slope) before, but there are other great breakfast treats to get there, available until 3pm everyday. I do have to mention the breakfast sandwich since it is a Classic. Here it's made on a bagel, roll or croissant, with eggs, cheese and either bacon, sausage or tofu bacon. If you eat it in house, it comes with a side of hash brown potatoes. The sandwich is good, best on a croissant, but the potatoes have always left me disappointed. Not salty enough, too greasy, and kinda boring.



The coffee is strong at Naidre's, but since there's a never-ending rotating cast of characters behind the counter, nobody seems to ever master that art of barista-ing. This latte was supposed to have a heart on it, but it ended up looking more like a butt than anything else. Maybe a butterfly?



On this occasion there was an order of the Vegan Scramble with tofu bacon and potatoes. The report was that they were fine, NOT as good as the Vegan Scramble at WaterCourse Foods, in Denver, where, while my friend was last eating them lasy year on Election Day AND saw two members of the Beastie Boys, perhaps adding to the scramble's yumminess. Naidre's version was a bit dry & bland, but OK.



My favorite breakfast item is the Yogurt, Granola and Fruit. This one was presented in a smiley face and was as tasty as it was happy. Tart, plain yogurt, crunchy granola and fresh blueberries & strawberries with dried cranberries and walnuts. Such a good combo, and totally hearty & filling. Depending on the season there can also be melon, banana & grapes.



It's a good neighborhood place, and usually there's a place to sit in the morning, although it does get pretty crowded with people and their small children. The work-at-home crowd comes in later and stay throughout the day. Great mac-n-cheese is on hand for dinner.

Bagels by the Park

Like I mentioned last week, I'm really disappointed by the lack of a good bagel place in my neighborhood. I discovered in the process that whenever bagels are mentioned, people have strong opinions. I got so many comments (La Bagel Delight seems to be a favorite, but none are near me, and FIPS even did a thorough Bagel Comparison Experiment and declared The Bagel Hole as their Prospect Park winner, but again, it's too far for me). There's a place on my corner that I absolutely hate. I've never had a good experience there, even though the bagels are fine. The service is horrible, inept and ridiculous and I refuse to go back there. My only other option is Bagels by the Park (323 Smith St., at President St., 718-246-1321), which I went to last weekend to assess their bagels.

I got an Everything bagel with Lox spread. The spread was great. It wasn't dyed an unnatural color and tasted fresh and slightly salty. I would've liked more seeds, but was happy with the proportions, AND it had salt. I hate it when Everythings don't have salt.



I also got a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with Plain Cream Cheese. This was also good. Nice and glossy on the outside, and chewy on the inside, with a good amount of raisins and cinnamon swirled throughout.



I liked that these bagels were not drowning in cream cheese. That's just gross and unnecessary, so it's good that there's just enough spread for both sides and that you don't have to take off a bunch in order to eat it. It's a bit slow here though, and there are lots of opportunities for mixed up orders. It's also not just a bagel place so some of their attention is taken elsewhere into baked items and deli items. It's convenient though, being right by the Carroll St. F & G trains, so they get a lot of business in the mornings.

The Bagel Store

There seems to be a lack of good bagels in Brooklyn. I'm not happy with any in my neighborhood of Carroll Gardens, that's for sure (if you've found a good place, please, let me know!). However, there is an amazing place in Williamsburg called The Bagel Store (754 Metropolitan Avenue, between Graham Ave. & Humboldt Ave., 718- 782-5856). There's always a line and since they do such brisk business, the bagels are usually warm and fresh.

On this particular visit, we got two, very different bagels and spreads. One was a toasted Poppy Seed bagel with Lox Cream Cheese. The cream cheese was good; nice and salty, with big chunks of lox, but it was a little on the orange side, so it makes me think that there's dye in that spread, or the lox that they use. The bagel was perfectly crusty on the outside, loaded with poppy seeds, and nicely soft on the inside. They were also well proportioned - not too big or small, and not too over-loaded with spread.



We also got a French Toast Bagel with Raisin and Walnut Cream Cheese. This is not the kind of bagel I normally get, since I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to bagels, and anything sweet that's not Cinnamon Raisin just doesn't seem right. But it's a new world in terms of bagels, and I'm ready to try new things. This bagel is nicely sweet, with sprinkled sugar on the bottom, powdered sugar on top and swirls of cinnamon throughout. There was something off with this bagel though - I think the raisins had turned which lent the whole thing a slightly alcoholic flavor. Not necessarily bad, like sour, but off. I'm willing to chalk it up to a random bad luck day, so you shouldn't necessarily stay away from this combo in the future if you're wanting a dessert bagel.



You can also get Egg Sandwiches at the Bagel Store, and lots of different spreads depending on your mood. I highly recommend this place!