Italian & Cajun combo-- brunch at Two Boots

Two Boots Brooklyn
514 2nd St (between 7th & 8th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 499-3253

Lazy Sunday...hazy heat....zzzzzz! Oh yeah, wake up, it's blog time! What's with this heat anyway? Ok, yes I may be orig from Miami, but that does NOT make me immune to this sleepy heat-- where I come from, air conditioning follows you around like a personal-sized bubble-- a/c house (24 hours a day, always central), a/c car, a/c office, a/c stores & restaurants, none of this walking in the heat for miles to do anything with your day, no sir.

So this lazy Sunday we wandered to Two Boots on 2nd street. They obviously have pizza chains around Manhattan, and the once or twice I tried the pizza I wasn't in love, I admit. Something about the extra "cajun" spices in the sauce, wasn't for me.

But this location in Brooklyn is a full restaurant with many enticing-sounding cajun foods, plus the pizza selection. We've walked by when it's packed to the seams sometimes, and seems to be popular with the kids-- with alligators painted on the walls and a ride-the-alligator rocking-horse style attraction outside, you can see why. Very mardi-gras decor inside, we preferred the cute outside courtyard. It was slow this hot sunday afternoon.

We drank the "arnold palmer" iced-tea/lemonade combo which was sweet and refreshing. I had 2 eggs scrambled, which were average, though tasty with the hot sauce on the table, served with grits and homemade biscuits. The biscuits in particular were de-lish. Hubby had the Bananas Foster French Toast (ok so I also voted for him to get that one!), which was decadent and tasted like dessert! I do make a mean french-toast-with-bananas myself (if I do say so myself!), but this was heaven- the bananas are sauteed in Cointreau, orange juice, butter & brown sugar--yum! We are excited to come back and try the cobb salad, sandwiches, and dinner treats like jumbalaya. They also have happy hour 4-6 weekdays.
Stay cool!

Grey Dog Cafe

Grey Dog Cafe
33 Carmine Street
West Village, New York City
(212) 462-0041

So we found ourselves in the West Village this sunny Sunday morning, and decided it was the perfect time to check out the Grey Dog Cafe, which the hubby informed me was "the place to brunch in Manhattan." Despite the fact that he used to live in this neighborhood, he'd never been there before, and it seemed the perfect suggestion to fight off the Sunday hangover headaches...

Most of the other places in the area weren't opened yet at 10:30am, so we were happy to see the Grey Dog already bustling. From the front it looked like a place that would fit in perfectly on Key West's Duval Street; open-air with painted carribean-style sign posts in the entryway and fence posts and ocean buoys lining the front entrance. Everyone waits in line, whether you are taking out or eating in, and hopefully tables open up as you wait. You put in your order and pay, and then orders are brought out by name. When you finish you just get up and leave, since you're all paid up; reminded me of an English pub or caf in that respect. Guess they get faster turnover that way. The interior was pretty cute, had a lot of character. The sandwich menu looked amazing, but we had breakfast in our sites. I do want to go back and try the hot pressed sandwiches though, with chicken, mozzarella, pesto, roasted tomatoes... and another with turkey, brie, and raspberry-mustard sauce!

The iced cappucinos we got were divine, I would definitely recommend their coffee. I noticed you can buy bags of it for home as well. I had a simple breakfast plate with scrambled eggs and "hash-mash" and toast. The eggs were fine, standard; the hash-mash was tasty crispy hash browns. Hubby got an omelette; each was about $7.50 (with a few dollars more for the omelette toppings). Helped ourselves to silverware and condiments, and scarfed in our low blood-sugar hunger, as it got more and more crowded.

Overall, glad we got to check it out; on Sundays if you're awake before 11, I suggest go then before it gets crazy, and love the coffees. Perhaps a hot pressed sandwich next time...

Blog Soop reviews of Grey Dog Cafe

Second flavor: Suzie's sweet caramelized garlic chicken

Aunt Suzie restaurant
Park Slope, Brooklyn
247 5th Ave
(718) 788-2868

So recently for St Patrick's Day, my husband and I wandered up 5th Ave in Brooklyn to a few fun bars we hadn't been to before, one of which was the Lighthouse. When I looked it up online, it said something about "all you Park Slopers will know Aunt Suzie's; we're right next door..." which made me say, hmmm, take mental note to check out Aunt Suzie's! I looked it up online later, and sure enough it got rave reviews as an Italian home-cooking, affordable Brooklyn establishment.

As it is still restaurant week (see my previous post), actually, last night was the FINAL night of restaurant week, we wanted to be sure and take part one more time. 3 courses for less than $22, at tons of Brooklyn restaurants, you can't go wrong! So we again wandered up 5th avenue. We passed Blue Ribbon, which had people pouring out onto the streets waiting, and went up to Aunt Suzie to check it out. We walked in and right away I said "ooh, this is very cute. Why haven't we come here yet?". It's not a huge place, not that many Brooklyn OR NY restaurants are, but it felt very comfortable. There were tables in a variety of different shapes, some square, some round, some rectangular, with different types of chairs and antique-looking benches. There actually were a lot of bigger tables, so I'd say it's a good place to bring 4 or more. Unique chandeliers, and walls covered with old black and white pictures of things such as "Coney Island in the 30's".

We waited only about 5 minutes or so and then were seated at a round table that would seat 4, even though there were just 2 of us. As we sat down, I had a flashback of staying at a cute B&B in Warwick, NY, where there are antiques and cozy grandmother-style elements all around. There were paper doilies under each place-setting and crystal-style glasses that looked like they were from an older time period, plus different cloth napkins that looked like they were from someone's home instead of a 5th Ave restaurant.

We checked out the menu, and were excited by the different Italian options with many flavors included, and at the very reasonable prices. I proclaimed that this was "my new favorite restaurant", despite the fact that we hadn't eaten anything yet! We definitely planned to come back again sometime to sample different things. The menu includes appetizers such as mussels, pasta fagioli, seafood salad, and egglplant caponata. The salads sound fabulous, such as one with "honey roasted pear, goat cheese, & walnuts over mixed greens." There is a HUGE pasta list, and all the pasta dishes are 10.90. Like literally over 20 different options. The entree list is where the sweet-spot is, with things like Chicken Vagabond (with mozzarella, onions, mushrooms, & prosciutto in a marsala sauce) and shrimp fortunata (with fresh tomatoes, prosciutto, and mozzarella in a white wine sauce). They have pork, veal, duck and steak options, plus shrimp, mussels, salmon and tuna. They over a few pizzas, as well as a "really cheap menu" with things like chicken parm if you like.

Well last night was the restaurant week as I said, so for $22 each, we got a decent sized salad to share, a pasta dish each, a main dish each, and a dessert and coffee each. Pretty great value. The salad was amazing, topped with roasted red peppers, a mixture of beans and chickpeas, some carrots and salami, it was a virtual antipasti platter atop a salad, with a great olive oil dressing.

OH-- almost forgot, before the salad, they bring everyone a bread basket AND a plate of red pepper pesto and bruschetta toppings....divine! The pesto was amazing, we definitely wanted to lick the plate. Aunt Suzie, you should sell that stuff in bottles!

Back to the meal. The pasta was well-prepared, and the feature of the evening was my main course--- Chicken Garlissimo. I've never had anything like it--- caramelized garlic atop butterflied boneless chicken breast. The caramelized garlic was prepared in a rich, sweet sauce, and there literally must have been a whole HEAD of garlic on my plate. Each clove of garlic was dark, sweet, soft, and succulent. It literally melted in your mouth. I had basically one clove with every bite of my chicken. I've never eaten whole cloves of garlic like that before, definitely never had caramalized garlic, and never eaten so MUCH at one sitting! I believe I am still reeking of garlic today. ;) Apparently garlic is great for you cholesterol and blood pressure, not to mention immune system, though, so hey rock on. The dish was excellent, I highly recommend it.

My husband had the grilled tuna, which was fresh and well-cooked, with a nice subtle flavor, if a bit plain. For dessert with the set menu I had a hot fudge sundae with EXCELLENT fudge (mmmm), and the husband got the chocolate mousse which was good if you like mousse (I'm more of an ice cream chick myself!). We had a bottle of Montepulciano de Abruzzo wine which was excellent and only $15 a bottle, as well as coffee.

We will be back at Aunt Suzie's I'm sure! AND they deliver in Park Slope, come on!
My parents are coming to town this weekend coming up, for Easter, and I think they'd really enjoy the character of it and the food, so we'll try and take them. They're actually staying on our floor (!) for 5 (yes 5) nights, it will be an adventure! But it is also an excuse to go on a culinary tour of NYC (not like I wasn't already doing that), so I'll keep you posted on our food delights.

June, 2007 addendum-- we have since gone to Aunt Suzie's for brunch, and it was great-- about $16 each, includes champagne mimosas and breakfast buffet-- they had 3 different kinds of sausages, bacon, eggs, omelettes made-to-order, crepes, waffles & pancakes, several kinds of pasta and salads, chicken piccata, and a whole dessert spread including rice puddings, chocolate mousse, peach cobbler & brownies. All felt very home-made and delicious, and the group we were with enjoyed the atmosphere.