Brunching with veggies in NYC
So, I am just going to skip all around the world in these entries now and not do them chronologically…plenty more entries to come on food in Southeast Asia, but I must take a temporary break to discuss eating in one of my favorite cities in the world: NYC. One of my favorite couples in the world recently got married and her bachelorette party was in NYC, which was an excellent excuse for me to hop across the Pacific and have a jam-packed crazy and fun weekend with my closest friends. I reunited with one of my most fabulous foodie friends for brunch, which has become a tradition for us. Since she is in the food world, I can always relax and let her pick the place, knowing she will never fail to deliver an amazing food experience.
Sure enough, her recommendation for us even exceeded my expectations – the tiny Westville in the West Village packs an incredibly flavorful and droolworthy menu into its minuscule square footage. In case you haven’t noticed, I have been having hardcore vegetable cravings ever since my temporary move to Manila, and the gorgeous array of market vegetable side dishes (seriously, literally 10+ choices) almost brought a tear of joy to my eyes. Of course, we had to get multiple sides of vegetables in addition to our brunch dishes.
Zucchini with mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. So. Good. And such beautiful colors!
On the left, peas with bacon and shallots. Ok so that’s not really a vegetable and I’m typically not a fan of peas, but these were super fresh and delicious (I will admit that adding little pieces of bacon to anything pretty much always makes it better). And on the right, sauteed KALE. I have literally not eaten kale in 2012 because it is impossible to find in Australia and in SE Asia it is typically cooked in massive amounts of oil if you can find it at all. This was a delight – just lightly sauteed with lemon and deliciously salty.
Poached eggs with asparagus, toast, and their specialty hash, which was some potato type mash with delicious bits of tomatoes and other goodness in it.
I obviously needed more vegetables (with my healthy side of carbs – the baguette was of course chewy/crispy perfection), so got some eggs with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Yum.
I love living on this side of the world, but part of my heart will always be in New York City, and in the food world, few things make me happier than a hearty NYC brunch!
merrifood 