Brunch at The Brooklyn Public House

Brooklyn Public House (247 DeKalb Ave., between Vanderbilt & Clermont, 347-227-8976) is an Irish pub, complete with Van Morrison on the stereo, wallpaper in cream & burgundy and Irish flags scattered about. There's exposed brick, hanging flower pots, and red leather booths that add to the homey and cozy quality of the space. The Sunday papers are available for patrons to peruse while dining, and there's seating in the bar area or in a separate room in the rear. On this visit, my friend and I sat in the window and enjoyed the sunshine in what felt like our own private nook.

I was tempted by the Pumpkin Pancakes and found them to be quite good. They were fluffy and moist, with a subtle pumpkin flavor that did not overwhelm. I thought the few lettuce leaves on the side an afterthought, and wished instead I'd had some slices of apples or a few berries. The maple syrup seemed real though, but that minor change would improve the situation greatly.



I also got a side of bacon with my pancakes. The strips were meaty and nicely cooked, but I found them to be a bit bland. Something more smoky or spicy would have been tastier and would have provided a nice counterpoint to the sweet pancakes.



My friend chose to get the Crabcake Eggs Benedict with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. (Look at her awesome multi-colored sweater in the background!). This dish does not look appetizing to me. The red pepper sauce looks too neon and weird. The crabcakes were good though - dense, moist and flavorful, as were the potatoes - nice and crisp, although they needed some more seasoning. Again, the three limp leaves of lettuce was forgettable. Either don't give me any, or give me a handful and some balsamic and call it a side salad.



It was a decent Brunch, and I'm interested to see what they do for dinner, but I'm not about to rush back there. Anybody been and want to let me know how it was? It might just be a better bet for beers - they've got 20+ on tap and maybe twice that in bottles.

Brunch at Five Leaves

I've said it many times, Brunch may very well be my most favorite meal of the day/week. So many ways to have both savory & sweet flavors. Coffee is usually involved. Also eggs. And so, we made our way to Five Leaves (18 Bedford Ave., at the corner of Lorimer & Nassau, 718-383-5345) for their breakfast fare (having really enjoyed dinner there about a year ago). The amiable host greeted us warmly and seated us at the bar to wait for a table to become available.



We sat and sipped our delicious (and expertly made) lattes while listening to the first album by The Cure.



My boyfriend and I split two dishes, like we usually do, to maximize the taste experience, and to achieve a good balance of the savory and sweet flavors. I started with my half of the Fresh Sage Scrambled Organic Egg Sandwich served on a Panino Roll with Aged Cheddar Cheese. It was terrific. The sage was subtle yet strong, with flavorful eggs, a light & flaky panino roll and strong cheese.



We also split an order of the Ricotta Pancakes served with Honeycomb Butter, Blueberries, Strawberries, Sliced Banana and 100% real Maple Syrup. These were incredibly light, not very sweet, a bit tangy with a face made out of fruit and rich honeyed butter. They were perfectly browned and altogether wonderful.



I love this place. The food is wonderful, the details are attended to and the atmosphere is cozy and comfortable.

Brunch at Buttermilk Channel #4

After a late Saturday night, I wasn't about to fool around with a new brunch spot. I needed to know I was going to eat well and have a good experience. So I headed over to Buttermilk Channel (524 Court St. at Huntington St., 718-852-8490). It's just so good, I knew it would perk me up. After a short wait, two seats opened at the bar which we snagged fast. It didn't take long to figure out what I wanted either - the Eggs Huntington, a short stack of pancakes and a side of homemade breakfast sausages. We got some coffee, a latte for me and regular for him, and our complimentary mimosas and watched the hustle and bustle from our cozy perch.

The Eggs Huntington are named for the cross street at which Buttermilk Channel is located. Poached eggs (perfectly done, btw) on top of a flaky & moist buttermilk biscuit and country ham, topped with fine hollandaise sauce and served with a small side salad. It's absolutely wonderful.



The Buttermilk Pancakes are also perfect. They're light, fluffy and slightly moist and served with real maple syrup & fresh sweet cream butter. I find them divine, with just a hint of powdered sugar sprinkled on top.



The Breakfast Sausages are no joke, either. They keep changing slightly from visit to visit, these were made with dried pear and were spicier than I've had them. They're also juicy and tender and taste amazing when some of the maple syrup gets too close!



If you haven't been here, you need to. They're Brunch menu is one of the best around. The wait staff is also pleasant, friendly and helpful and the space is bright and cheery, just what you want on a Sunday morning (they don't serve Brunch on Saturdays).

Breakfast at Cafe Gialeti's

Oh breakfast, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I rarely use the word 'favorite', but I might just feel like breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out at a restaurant. And I love finding new places to do such eating. So it went that a friend and I happened to go to Gialeti's Cafe (1658 8th Avenue, at the corner of prospect Avenue, 718-768-0500) recently for breakfast, and to check the place out. It's mostly a breakfast & lunch spot, althought they are open until 8pm most nights. You place your order at the counter and your food is then brought to you at your table. It's very casual and laid-back, with a seemingly everyone-knows-each-other local Park Slope/Windsor Terrace vibe going on. I immediately liked it.

My friend got two eggs scrambled, Italian toast and a bowl of fruit. It wasn't exactly on the menu, but they made just what she wanted and she was very happy with her meal. Look at that fruit! Kiwis, strawberries, bananas, blueberries & raspberries, all fresh & sweet & perfect! I never see a side of fruit like that!



I felt like I was taking a chance when I ordered the Blueberry pancakes, but they were delicious. They were moist, fluffy and filled with blueberries. There was even a little sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top which I thought was a super nice touch.



I also got the side of fruit and thoroughly enjoyed it. The bananas were perfectly ripe, the berries burst with flavor, even the kiwis tasted good!



I really liked this place and if I'm ever in the area in need of some sustenance, I'll know where to go. Not necessarily a place to go out of your way for, but an awesome local spot serving quality food.

Brunch at Fioré

Fioré (284 Grand St., between Havemeyer and Roebling, 718-782-8222) had been recommended to me almost a year ago and while I still haven't tried it for dinner, I had the good fortune to go there for Brunch recently. Even though it was noon, there were only two or three other tables with people at them so we were seated right away - always a plus at Brunch. It's nicely decorated with wooden farm tables, seating two or four, throughout the dining room, a long wooden bar along the right side and a small backyard in the rear.

We ordered two items off of the specials menu - the regular menu had all the standard fare, poached eggs, pancakes, plus pizza and panini - but the specials menu was enticing. Of course, we got one savory, one sweet. There was an Omelette made stuffed with potatoes, leeks, sausage and Gruyere cheese and it was delicious. Just a bit of cheese to make it gooey, but not overpowering, just a bit of sausage to lend flavor and lots of leek, which were tenderly sauteed. This came with homefries that were not as crispy as I prefer but were good, and a side salad nicely dressed with a viaigrette.



Our sweet option were the Apple Almond Pancakes with crispy bacon. The outside of the pancakes were coated with slivers of almonds and inside were caramelized slices of apples. It was actually too sweet for me. There was no need to sweeten the apples prior to cooking, and the pancakes were a bit on the greasy side. They weren't awful, just disappointing as they sounded so good. I think I was expecting more of an almond flavor, and tangy apple, instead of the sweet, heavy cake on my plate. MORE than enough for two people.



I definitely liked it and will go back to try it for dinner, as that's what I've heard is so amazing at Fioré.

Brunch at Buttermilk Channel

Oh man, do I love Buttermilk Channel (and here). It's just such a nice place, with an owner and waitstaff who are warm and friendly without being cloyingly annoying, and always good, sometimes great food. We finally made it over for Brunch, after going once already accidentally before it was even being served (try getting over that quickly enough to switch gears for some other place), and were so happy with our meals.

My favorite way to eat Brunch is for one of us to get an egg dish and one of us to get a sweet dish and halfway through one switch so you get both sweet and savory. It's the best. So we ordered the Eggs Huntington, a local special, named for the cross street on which the restaurant sits. It consists of poached eggs on top of country ham, resting on a buttermilk biscuit (natch) with the most amazing and light and tangy hollandaise sauce I think I've ever had. Truly, it was amazing. The zesty flavor rang out, it didn't congeal into a gross mess, and it really added to the dish as a whole. The biscuit was dense, buttery and flaky and soaked up the yolk just right. With lightly dressed greens on the side. MMM-mmmmmm.



We also got an order of the Short Stack Buttermilk Pancakes, which come three to an order for only $5! Crazy, right? They were dusted with powdered sugar, which was a bit too much sweetness for me actually. The pancakes themselves were on the sweet side (they tasted a little like flat doughnuts), so the extra sugar was unnecessary. What would've been nice would be if there were some sliced strawberries and bananas with this, to cut the doughy factor. I mean, they were great pancakes, but a little something else would have been nice.



We also got an order of the Homemade Breakfast Sausage which come in patty form and are two to an order. These. Were. Fantastic. Juicy, fresh, herb-y - they are "the gold standard of breakfast sausage" as my boyfriend put it.



The ONLY thing is that they're a stickler for complying with Blue Laws and won't serve cocktails on Sunday before noon so you don't get to enjoy that free Mimosa or Bellini if you're an early bird, which you kind of have to be if you don't want to wait an hour for a table! Oh, and don't do like we did - Brunch is only available on Sundays!!!

I'm so into this place though and looking forward to going back enough times to try everything on the menu. And then...it'll be a different season and their whole menu will change and I'll just have to keep going to see what they're up to! Yay!

Brunch at Cafe Luluc

I love Brunch. Mixing savory and sweet, all the options for easy sharing - it's the best. So we headed to Cafe LuLuc on a recent Sunday (214 Smith St., between Butler St. & Baltic St., 718-625-3815) because they have a good brunch menu and the best pancakes in the neighborhood. It's a bustling, crowded spot on the weekends, so get there early (they're also one of few places that open at 10 instead of 11) or prepare to wait. There is a small bar you can sit at if there's room, to sip a cappuccino with perfect foam while you wait for a table. They usually have various pastries and baked goods you can order while you wait, although the croissant we got was huge and really chewy.

We didn't have to wait long until we were seated and once we ordered our food came out pretty quickly. I got those pancakes I was talking about, which are similar to the ones at the Greenpoint Coffee House; kinda crusty on the outside and wonderfully moist and fluffy inside, but these are within walking distance! They're amazing, and are topped with slices of strawberry and banana. YUM! I was in heaven!



My boyfriend got the Eggs Florentine, two poached eggs on top of English Muffins and spinach and topped with hollandaise sauce. They were perfectly poached, no runny bits at all, and the spinach was fresh and delicious, but the hollandaise sauce was disappointing. It had almost no taste and just ended up being a coagulated skin on top of the yummy eggs. No thanks. The fries are also some of the best around, thin sticks perfectly salted, and the salad is a nice accompaniment to the rich flavors but next time, I think it'll be an omelette, or something sans hollandaise sauce!



We also got a side of bacon. This was on the disappointing side too. It was a bit too greasy and very fatty, not thick cut or smoky like the bacon at many of the other brunch places in the neighborhood. I ate it though, cuz it wasn't awful, it was just less than it COULD be.



I do love it here, and think the brunch is a good deal, particularly if you're in the mood for pancakes. The spinach and goat cheese omelette is great too.

Pancakes & Eggs at the Greenpoint Coffee House

*2/19/10 - I'm so sad!!! I can't believe they really closed this place. It's tragic, really. And not just to me, other people are just as sad.*

Mmmm, pancakes. The Greenpoint Coffee House, (195 Franklin St. at Green St., 718-349-6635), has some of the best around. Somehow they get them to have a crispy-ish exterior and a lovely, smooth and buttery inside. It's like they're lightly fried before brought to your table. Whatever they do, they're amazing.

This here is the Hungry Individual. It's a perfect solution to the "sweet or savory?" dilemma of Brunch. With this, you get two eggs, any style, with two pancakes, potatoes and bacon or sausage. It's also great to split with a friend since there's so much food. This time it came with blueberry pancakes.



I forgot to ask for fried eggs, and ended up getting scrambled, which always seems like a lame thing to get at a restaurant since they're so easy to make. I also realized something - while I love blueberries on their own, I don't enjoy them in things. I know it's weird, but I don't like blueberry pie, scones, muffins, and therefore...pancakes. If you like that sort of thing, then you'd love these, because they were FULL of blueberries. I mean, I ate them, but I'd much rather have their plain pancakes. The bacon here is excellent though, meaty and salty, not greasy.

To offset all of that, my friend and I also shared a bowl of Granola, Fresh Fruit and Yoghurt. This is one of my favorite combinations, and GCH makes it great with plain yoghurt and a tasty granola that is not too sweet or not sticky, but well spiced with cinnamon. The fruit is also of high quality, and they give you a substantial amount.



The Greenpoint Coffee House also has delicious coffee. I'm not sure where they get it, but it's flavorful and strong. YUM!

Pancakes & Eggs at The Little Purity Diner

I love breakfast. The Little Purity Diner in Park Slope (390 7th Ave. at 12th St., formerly Katina's) offers the standard diner fare in terms of breakfast, but I was happily surprised with the dishes we had there. You can also get a bottomless cup of coffee and enjoy a leisurely, relaxed pace without being rushed out, especially during the weekdays.

I ordered the Eggs Over Easy, with a side of potatoes and turkey sausage. The eggs were PERFECTLY cooked – a runny yolk to soak up with the toasted wheat bread, and the whites were solid, with no gross raw bits. The potatoes were also great, with red and green bell pepper mixed in, and browned just so. The turkey sausage was interesting. A little….dry I guess, but they tasted OK. The toast comes out already buttered, which I love, because the best time to butter toast is when it’s right out of the toaster and hasn’t had a chance to cool off. Excellent.



The Pancakes. I’ve only recently started ordering pancakes again. Too often they’re just heavy and thick and too much of the same thing. I think people are making better pancakes nowadays, or maybe I’ve just located the best pancake joints around. New Purity Diner is definitely one of those spots; the pancakes are delish. These are the Banana pancakes, loaded with slices of Banana, and a side of Turkey Bacon, which was much better than the sausages.



They don't have real maple syrup at New Purity, but you don't really expect it, right? The breakfasts are better than decent, and are such a bargain. All of this food, plus coffee and juice, was $22, with tip! Yay breakfast!