last post about this nyc trip and we're back to the photo i shared as soon as i came back. our spread at the little giant in the lower east side. i wasn't kidding when i said this might have been the best brunch i ever had.
first of all, the little giant is a beautiful, cozy place with arched brick ceilings, a concrete bar and banquets lining two walls. the sun streamed in that sunday morning and this little spot was busy but not noisy or totally packed. perhaps it's new? not well known? this is the kind of place that should have had a typical brunch lineup, but lucky for us, it didn't. it didn't have a super-typical menu either. i ordered a simple but perfectly done scrambled egg, softly cooked with herbs and cheese, served on a soft bun. so rich and so silky. my companions ordered the trucker's breakfast which included an andouille sausage and molasses baked beans, and another ordered the poached eggs with biscuits and gravy. even the bloody mary was tweaked to include beet juice--delicious and very spicy! this wasn't the fanciest brunch i'd had or even the most creative, yet it may go down as my favourite, scoring high marks with me for it's interesting menu, hearty, very tasty food and drinks, great atmosphere and decor.
we stayed in the lower east side on this trip so we wandered around very different LES streets a lot. some were clearly unchanged for decades, with owners of small businesses living right above their chinese grocery or laundromat. others were newly gentrified with boutiques, coffee shops and this cute old-style barber shop lining either side.
i went to schiller's liquor bar a few years ago when it was a hotspot and on this last visit, it was much more subdued. but the drinks and vibe were great, if different, both times. unlike the stanton social where i enjoyed the food much more than the feel this time (they made char-grilled edamame in miso sauce very memorable), schiller's french brasserie-style decor, local patrons and tasty cocktails will probably draw me back every time i'm in manhattan. i picked a cocktail off the list, named for the main LES drag, and luckily the recipe was on their site tonight:
the delancey (schiller's liquor bar recipe)
2 oz. absolut kurant, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, 3/4 oz. simple syrup, splash sprite, dash grenadine, mint
1. pour absolut kurant, lemon juice, simple syrup and mint into a mixing glass
2. add ice
3. shake well up to 10 seconds
4. add sprite
5. strain into a chilled cocktail (martini) glass
just a block away from schiller's on rivington is tiny's giant sandwich shop. the shop is tiny, the menu is giant, with over 20 sandwiches and dozens of ingredients--including fake meat! i had a buffalo "chicken" sandwich and wish i had time to try the veggie "meatball" sub. my sandwich-snacking partner (yep, we snacked here between meals) enjoyed her very real roast beef sammy as well.
some goooood eating in the lower east side, but so much i didn't get to try too. we had no time to check out the noodle bar, dumpling house or any of the juices from organic avenue. makes me even more excited about my next visit. new favourites to return to and still so many other things to taste for the first time.
