New York City: Brunch, Lunch and More

Two weekends after memorial day weekend, I decided it was time to revisit NYC and really dig into some good food with the ultimate restaurant conoisseurs themselves. The occasion was P's b-day, and A had planned out a fun-filled friday night with a birthday brunch on Saturday! I was initially having tremendous difficulty finding a ride to the city and back, but the food gods finally answered my prayer, and inundated me with rideshare requests two days before I was supposed to leave. I ended up riding with three desi (indian) grad students (i know, i know) and a twenty-two year old musician who secretly worked as a window cleaner.

We got off to a late start and got stuck in traffic so many times I lost count. We even got pulled over by the cops in New Jersey (damn those jersey cops). By the time I got to A's apartment, I had missed P's b-day dinner at Wild Ginger but was still in time for clubbing, which was fun anyways...I met up with Nka, her friend JW and some of P's folks from BW. I had some really good cocktails though, so I didn't feel too bad about missing out on the food.

Saturday brunch, however, made up for my lack of a meal on friday night. B met us in Alphabet city at 11am, and was originally going to take us to the Clinton Street Bakery, but judging on how many people I had brought with me, we decided to stick to a local favorite, and settled on Cafe Orlin. Cafe Orlin, situated on St Marks Place between 1st and 2nd Avenue can only be described as a wonderfully casual brunch/lunch place with an outdoor patio. The waiters were friendly and patient, and seated our six person group without going to much trouble. I ordered a Sweet Cocoa to begin which was generously topped off with double whipped cream. It tasted delicious and gently soothed my tastebuds before my brunch special arrived.

Sweet Cocoa with double whipped cream

My main plate consisted of the Salmon Omelette mixed with dill and cream cheese served with the Orlin salad of mixed greens and hashed potatoes. It tasted terrific, with the plain cream cheese mixing in well with the smooth taste of the salmon and omelette. I refused to taint the omelette with ketchup, and broke off sizeable portions and layed them on top of crusted toast spread with light cornflower oil. Although, feeling a bit heavy after having all that egg, I still relished the dill flavor in my mouth, and couldn't help reflecting on how perfect salmon and dill always complemented each other. The rest of my friends had also finished enjoying their late breakfasts and we split off in different directions after the meal was over.


Salmon omelette with dill, cucumber and cream cheese served with the orlin salad and potatoes

Several hours later, once I had gotten back to A's apartment with Kj (who had come back with me) A and P decided that it was time for them to finally wake up and get sometime to eat. We decided to visit one of their favorite ethnic haunts: an ethiopian place that went by the name Meskerem. For an appetizer, we ordered the "Avocado" - a mini platter of chopped avocado mixed with tomatoes, green peppers and onions, that was served on top of injera. The injera, much to my surprise, was untraditionally thin, yet soft, and so the meal in general was quite light. For our main platters we ordered a Meskerem meat combo and a Vegetarian combo. The meat platter included the "Tibs Wat" - prime beef cooked sauteed with berbere, "Gomen Besaega" - a special cut of prime beef seasoned with garlic, onions, ginger and boiled collard greens, "Yebeg Alecha" - tender pieces of lamb marinated with butter and sauteed with a ginger-garlic curry, and "Doro Wat" - which was chicken pieces seasoned with ginger and garlic and sauteed with butter, berbere and red wine. The vegetarian platter contained the equivalent of the meat platter in vegetables, spicy lentils in a garlic curry sauce, ground chickpea paste in berbere sauce, sauteed fresh string beans with carrots and onions in tomato sauce, and fresh cabbage and potato in tomato sauce. This was probably one of the more lighter ethiopian meals I had had, the injera had mostly to do with it, which was why we were able to enjoy more of the meat and vegetables part of the entree.


The "Avocado" appetizer with Injera

As my last meal for the weekend, we went to an amazingly authentic chinese dimsum place in chinatown, Oriental Garden. I had been craving dimsum for the last two months, not having found ANY place to go to get quality chinese dimsum in Pittsburgh or DC, but my time had finally come, as P took us to the restaurant that was quite highly valued as one of the best chinatown eats. The entire meal was composed of starters (dimsum) and we ordered so many different varieties, that I lost track of all the names. However some of my favorites included the Chicken Shrimp dumpling with thick soy sauce, Shark Fin sui-mai, shrimp and pork dimsum and the pork ribs with garlic oil.


The Dimsum brunch

We ordered a noodle dish at the end just to try something different. We realized no matter how much dimsum came out, we needed something a little more filling, and when our Asparagus and chicken lo mein arrived, we appreciated the variety of flavor. It was unbelievable how much food we got compared to the price we paid. I would rank Oriental Garden a good value-for-money eating place, with a comfortable and airconditioned atomosphere!


Asparagus and Chicken Lo Mein