the breslin {brunch + nyc}

If you follow me around social media, then you’ll already know that we spent the holidays in New York. Like always, we spent Christmas out at my sister’s in Westchester, but then spent the rest of the time in the city. And like always, we swapped our house in Todi for a great flat in town. Rather than rely on word of mouth, as I’ve done in the past, this time I went the HomeExchange.com route, and we lucked out big time. A huge duplex right in the heart of the West Village.

So the next few weeks will be catch up on all the great things we saw, ate, and did in NYC.

First off, of course, is brunch. Because as I’ve so often pointed out, while we may have great food here in Rome, we are seriously brunch deprived. So our first stop, the morning after we arrived, was for some serious brunch.

And The Breslin, located in the Ace Hotel and run by super star chef April Bloomfield was our choice. We’d wanted to go for ever, but since I am no fan of waiting in line for a table (The Breslin and her other places, John Dory and Spotted Pig don’t accept reservations) brunch seemed a likely time to find a table. And since I had a kindly influential friend call ahead of time, our arrival before noon meant not only did we find a table, but got one of the coveted booths!

Since we were all severely jet lagged, with our internal clocks yelling dinner time, we all welcomed the hearty, pub type fare on the menu.

Domenico, of course, went straight for the Full English Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, pork sausage, blood pudding and bacon. All the meats house cured, and lightened up slightly by the addition of a few tomatoes and mushrooms.

I’m not sure how Emma bypassed the pancakes, which is her go to brunch choice, but I guess her jet lagged stomach was craving something less breakfast and more lunch. She gobbled up her oven baked three cheese sandwich pretty quickly.

Sophie, as always, was starved. And so went straight for the skirt steak topped with fried eggs and tomatillo salsa. Me? I was so befuddled by choice that I followed the waitress’s suggestion of poached eggs with curried lentils, yogurt and cilantro. The oozing, perfectly poached egg merged with the thick yogurt and may be my new favorite way to eat lentils.

The big plate of home fries – crispy, luscious potatoes coated with a slick of caramelized onions, pretty much went well with everything.

We could have lingered for hours in the cozy, wood paneled room. But we kind of felt badly for others waiting in line and, well, it was the first day of our trip and we had a lot planned.

The Breslin
16 West 29th Street ( Between 5th and Broadway)
New York
212-679-1939

{monday through friday}
breakfast 7:00am to 11:45am
lunch 12:00pm to 4:00pm
dinner 5:30pm to 12:00am
{saturday & sunday}
brunch 7:00am to 4:00pm
dinner 5:30pm to 12:00am

No reservations. But if you get there before noon, you’re likely to find a table for brunch pretty easily. Even if your friend doesn’t call ahead.