When Brunching Becomes A Habit
As a Yelp and brunch addict, I spend lots of time on looking at restaurant reviews and photos. The purpose of me doing a research before eating there is that I can eliminate the restaurants with mediocre food and/or service, but mostly food.
Imagine, you have flour, blender, butter, salt, syrup and a pan, why would you eat at a restaurant that cooks bland pancakes? Besides, hundreds of restaurants work their a** off to win customers, there's really no way to bear with restaurants that don't make every effort. Therefore, I set a bottom line for myself -- never eat at a restaurant has a review score below four stars (with some exceptions). And to be honest, this won't guarantee the quality of food either.
Among all popular restaurants in NYC that serve sweet courses, Clinton Street Baking Co. and Restaurant is one of the few that won't disappoint its customers. I'm not credible enough to speak from a professional prospective, but after eating panckes at many restaurants, I'd say Clinton Street is good at making pancakes, in fact, great at it. Pancakes don't need fancy ingredients, so there's no significant difference between restaurant A and B, and my grading system is simple based on two criteria: texture and sweetness.
Blueberry Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter from Clinton Street Baking Co.
Clinton Street: compared to many other pancakes, their pancakes are a bit more chewy and firm, which I like better, paired with warm maple butter, all I have to say is "O-M-G, this finishing touch is smart!" There's only one thing negative about this restaurant, the line is way too long.
Orange Blossom Ricotta Pancakes from Foragers Table
My second favorite pancakes are from Foragers Table because I love their concept of farm-to-table freshness, and also the texture. It's quite opposite to Clinton Street since their pancakes are so soft and delicate and can literally melt in my mouth, which remind me of Japanese steamed egg. I wonder their flour to water to cheese ratio, but I know this must be a secret.
Blueberry Pancakes from Friedman's
Unfortunately, I recently found my least favorite pancakes from a restaurant I've eaten a few times and liked, Friedman's. Friedman's has four locations throughout Manhattan and it's been really popular during brunch hours, I needed to wait for more than an hour oftentimes. I usually ordered their chicken and cheddar waffle but wanted to try pancakes one time so I ordered them. Not sure what they did to the batter, it was so bitter, that even the blueberry jam couldn't save the flavor. I gave it a second chance and ordered eggs benedict, the two eggs they served were like hard boiled eggs -- the yolks were completely solid. Guess I won't go back.
I know there are so many more restaurants need to be covered, but Brunch Episode 1 will end here today, Episode 2 is coming soon, definitely more than pancakes. See ya!
