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| What I looked at for an hour and a half |
I keep a running list of restaurants in the city to try. I work on New York magazine, so I often see dishes that pique my interest or new "it" spots where the crowd is the attraction. I will never never never make it to all of these places, and the list is constantly changing.
Lately, I've been focusing a lot of attention on places that make serious business of biscuits. Growing up in the south, it was a real adjustment to accept bagels and english muffins as the carb of choice in the morning. I like both, just fine, but they certainly weren't the dominant breakfast items of my youth.
I had read about, and was dying to try Peels, but a 2+ hour wait time was too intense on the day we dropped in. Today, however, we sucked it up, did the brunch wait, and were handsomely rewarded. Today we went to Clinton Street Baking Company.
Naturally, I got the inspiration from my dear Ms. Paula Deen who had recommended one of their cakes the week prior. The place is somewhat "old news" for foodies, and I really didn't think the crowd would be so intense. It is very small, though and while people may have known about it for a few years, the food is still AMAZING and naturally attracts the masses. They are famous for their pancakes, which we all tried, but I must say I did not put one thing in my mouth that was not amazing. I'll definitely be back.
We followed brunch with a nice long walk over to the West Village. I had great intentions for my day, and winding up at Johnny's (our "Cheers", if you will) was not one of them. Unfortunately, we have become good friends with the bartender (henceforth to be called "Cakes") and my friend (who will now be called "DaddyO") is a terrible influence.
Before I knew it, hours had slipped away with BF, DaddyO, and myself playing the jukebox and meeting strangers. The cast of character's in Johnny's never ceases to amaze me, and it really is unusual to find a spot where such an instant bond is forged between customers. I think we came away with a boatload of new best friends and certainly some new stories.
The only thing that really bummed me out was that I pretty much missed the stupid SUPERMOON! I was plotting viewing points all day and was determined to use my fancy new camera to capture the event. Unfortunately, all I got were a few glimpses, coat-less and freezing on 7th Avenue.
Ahh, the price you pay for an amazing and spontaneous NYC day.
*date should be March 19, 2011
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