Porgy's Birthday Brunch and Dinner

I took last Wednesday off to celebrate Porgy's Golden birthday. It was nice to have a day off in the middle of the week and it's even better to spend it relaxing and eating good food.

We started the day by having brunch at Brenda's French Soul Food near the City Hall. We went there a month ago and we decided to go back again this time because their food is so tasty. Of course, we started our brunch with an order of Beignets to share and Sweet Watermelon Ice Tea for each of us. Porgy had the Buttermilk Pancakes while I ordered the Grillades and Grits (Beef cutlets braised in spicy Creole gravy served over grits with two eggs any style and a biscuit). The Grillades and Grits was so Creole-y good and tasty!


After going all over the city and taking a nap at home, we met up with Mo-Fo for a wine tasting at Press Club before heading to Delfina for dinner. I've been wanting to try out Delfina in years but I was always to lazy to make the reservation. We started with Beef Carpacio and Tripa alla Fiorentina to share, followed by Gnocchi with Rabbit Ragu for Porgy and Shortribs Stracotto for me. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera so we had to use our iPhone.


We capped off the night by crossing the street to Bi-Rite Creamery to get a pint of each Balsamic Strawberry and Coffee Toffee to enjoy at home. What a wonderful day and evening with Porgy.

Brunch at Zazie

Yesterday, I had brunch at Zazie with Mo-Fo Duo and Porgy before going to de Young Museum to see the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibit. Our original plan was to go to Brenda's French Soul Food but there were a LOT of people waiting outside which meant that the wait would definitely be more than an hour long.

I ordered Eggs Saint Trop (Poached Eggs) with Smoked Salmon, Red Onion and Capers while Porgy had Challah French Toast with fresh fruit.


Although the food at Zazie was good, we all agreed that we must get up super early one of these weekends in order to go to Brenda's early enough to avoid the long wait.

Brenda's French Soul Food

Last Monday, Porgy and I had lunch at Brenda's French Soul Food. I had been wanting to try it out in the past couple of years so I was excited to finally able to check it out. We got there after 1 pm hoping to avoid the lunch crowd but we still had to wait for 15 minutes. It was not a big deal since the menu and their specials looked so good.

We started with Plain Beignets (delicious! They're one of the best ones that I've ever had) and ordered Sweet Watermelon Tea (refreshing). Porgy had the Croque Monsieur (extremely rich according to him but he liked it) and I had one of their daily specials, Crawfish and Andouille Sausage Pot Pie (yummy, although I had to scrap off the cheese on top of it since I can't eat too much cheese).

Brooklyn and Chelsea, NYC

Some places that I checked out in New York ...

Cafe Grumpy, Chelsea - Love this place! Good quality coffee without the attitude.


Pequena, Fort Greene - Great cheap Mexican restaurant with strong margarita. Porgy thinks it has the best margarita.


Clover Club, Carroll Gardens - 1920's inspired bar with great drinks.


Egg, Williamsburg - Somewhat decent but the wait was way too long so it's just 'ehh' for me.


Roebling Tea Room, Williamsburg - Good food, decent (not too expensive) price.


Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck - Artisan, local and organic ice cream truck.

Just For You Cafe

I had brunch with my lovelies over the weekend at Just For You Cafe in the Potrero Hill area of San Francisco. The last time we tried to go there, the wait was over 1 hour and 45 minutes long so we went to Serpentine instead. Good thing that we did not have to wait too long this time because we were craving for some huge beignets. I ordered the Crabby Bennie with a Creole crab cake on toast with hollandaise sauce.

Brunch at Serpentine

I had a nice brunch with Craig, Mo-Fo duo and ShunBun. We were planning to go to Just For You Cafe but the wait time was over 1.5 hour so we decided to cross the street and checked out Serpentine.


Strawberry Buckwheat Pancake with toasted walnuts, whipped cream and maple syrup (to share...)


Savory bread pudding with Zoe's smoked ham, swiss cheese, sage, roasted onion and green salad


Fritata with fontina cheese, asparagus, roasted red pepper & caper relish, arugula and crispy potatoes


Fried oyster and egg benedict with bernaise sauce, corn bread and crispy potatoes


Baked eggs with black eyed peas, spring onion, green garlic, baby spinach, herb & grana padano cream and corn bread


Flannel hash of prather ranch beef brisket with chiogga beets, crispy potatoes, horseradish crème fraiche, poached eggs and grilled ny rye

Ham, Asparagus and Brussel Sprouts Quiche

It's that time of the year again... daylights saving time – which means that winter is almost over and spring is starting soon. This weekend I noticed that the Ferry Building farmers market had my favorite vegetables in season so I decided to make Ham, Asparagus and Brussel Sprouts Quiche.

I came across a wonderful recipe at Simply Recipes and decided to try it and improvised a bit. Since I didn't have a big enough food processor to make my own pastry dough, I used a readily made dough from the store.


Ingredients:
1 frozen puff pastry sheet
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 bunch of asparagus spears, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
1 lb of brussel sprouts, small to medium size, cut into halves
1/2 lb ham, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 large eggs
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh ground nutmeg
8 oz Gruyère cheese, grated

Directions:

• Roll the puff pastry dough (sheet) to fit a pie pan and bake according to the instruction in the box (I baked mine for 15 minutes at 400°F). After it's done, lower the oven temperature to 375°F and place the pie pan on a wire rack to cool.
  
• Saute the onion with the butter over a medium heat until the onion is soft and starting to caramelize. Add the brussel sprouts, cooked for five minutes over a medium high heat. Flip the brussel sprouts, add the asparagus and cooked for another three minutes or so until the asparagus are just cooked. I only used half of the vegetables for the quiche and the rest of them became a side dish for my dinner.
  
• Add half of the cheese on the bottom of crust until it's all covered. Place the brussel sprouts on half of the crust (I overlapped the brussel sprouts halves to make it neat) and spread the asparagus on the other half. Sprinkle the ham on top of the vegetable and then cover with the remaining cheese.
  
• Mix together the eggs with the half-and-half and season with freshly ground pepper and nutmeg. Pour over the ham, asparagus, brussel sprouts and cheese.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before slicing so the custard can set and firm up first.
  

Brunch

Had a relaxing brunch at Canteen: Egg Benedict and house coffee.