bobo Burger: Padgett Bros. beef, gruyere, leeks, fries ($17)

Some interesting facts.

The duck that grows in the shortest period of time takes 28 days to hatch after breeding.

Some of them can take five months to mature, without including the one month in the egg. This means, it takes six months to get one duck.

To celebrate the national Sabrina day, we commenced in the following activities

1. Grab a subpar brunch at Gemini Diner on 2nd ave at 9:30am.
2. See Harry Potter in IMAX 3D at the Loews theater in Kips Bay
3. Take a cab down to Lower East Side to il laboratorio del gelato. Do get the champagne sorbet; don’t get the olive oil gelato
4. Walk up to SoHo and window shop; check out Aritzia
5. Go to Bobo. Make friends with neighboring diner
6. Go to Cones for dessert. Bad idea. Too. much. food.

Let’s rewind back to #5.

Bobo is tucked on an awkward corner in Greenwich Village. If you weren’t looking for it, you most certainly would miss it. That’s because there’s a tiny purple sign with a menu and… yeah. Nothing else.

To get into Bobo, you descend concrete stairs into what seems like an underground tomb (actually, it’s called “The Den” and you can get drinks/light food there). Then, the hostesses will send you up your merry way through a flight of stairs into the dining room.

The bobo: Prosecco, aperol, solerno, orange ($13)

Our reservation was for 6pm and we arrived a few minutes early. I think they were still setting up the dining room, so we lingered around the bar. There, the barman pressured us into getting drinks. Fine, there was no pressure but if you were sitting on a bar stool and the bartender asks, “Ladies, have you decided what you’d like?” wouldn’t you feel compelled to get a drink? However, he was super nice and explained the different ingredients that went into the drinks.

Of course, I couldn’t resist THE BOBO. Surprisingly, it’s a bit bitter with laces of citrus and tons of bubbly (from the Prosecco). Sabrina settled for a margarita, which literally had two and a half shots of rum so don’t be fooled by the small size of the glass.  She needed help to consume it all.

Just to note- The Den itself is quite cozy and epitomizes the very scene in your head when you imagine walking through New York City and peering through a restaurant window and watching girls dine and laugh away.

Upstairs, the dining room is uncoordinatedly majestic. Chairs don’t match, frames are unleveled, but there is a sense of refinement and if I daresay, subtle baroqueness. I know, that’s an oxy moron.

Crispy Duck: Stone Church leg, swiss chard, chiles, radishes, cilantro ($16)

We contemplated getting the Dinner Party, which is a four course meal for $60. The only issue was, even the server didn’t know what the heck was being served that night. Seeing as how Sabrina is such a picky eater (fine, I confess I have some flaws too in this arena), we chose to order a-la-carte.

For the appetizer, we got the Crispy Duck. They should have labeled it as Crispy Duck SALAD because that’s just what it was. Duck dumped over a salad. The presentation really could have used some fine tuning. Someone seemed like they were in a rush plating.

Despite that, the dish was impeccable. The duck skin was so crisp and the meat was tender. The salad itself was wonderfully seasoned. We appreciated the touches of cherries in the salad. Man, that was deeelish.

Stone Church Duck Breast: date, hazelnuts, parsnips, chorizo ($32)

Sabrina carried her obsession with duck onto the entree.

This I tell you, was possibly the best choice Sabrina has ever made in her life, second to choosing to sign up for that fateful summer dorm that placed her in my grace and presence.

A whopping $32 you say? Completely worth it. This is a gastronomical masterpiece. Listen to this-

• Dates pureed= sweetness
• Chorizo bits = spiciness
• Perfectly cooked duck breast = saltiness

Together = amazingness.

It’s a very difficult dish to describe because the flavors all hit you from different sides within your mouth. I would never have thought dates would work so well, but whaddya know, it does. And then the parsnips? They’re like a very mellow form sour potatoes and both of us went back and forth figuring out what it was under I finally mustered the guts to ask the server.

Don’t tell me you’re surprised I ordered the burger.

For $17, it is only most fitting that I compare this to The Spotted Pig’s famous $17 burger. All I have to say is.

Bobo burger > Spotted Pig burger.

Several scientific discoveries have led me to this conclusion with the most important being taste. IT WAS PERFECT! The burger I had at Spotted Pig was ridiculously salty.

Now, to be fair, this burger had some gruyere cheese whereas the other did not. It also had some fried onions and leeks, but note that there’s no sauce. This makes it a somewhat comparable match in my view.

Both burgers sit on a brioche bun, but the Bobo burger’s bun is delicately soft and buttery. This does have its cons as the juice from the burger quickly seeps into the bottom bun making it somewhat soggy.

But overall, the Bobo burger wins, hands-down. The contrast in texture between the softness of the bun/meat and the fried onions/leek seals the deal.

Not to mention, the fries at Bobo win handily. I didn’t even have to use ketchup. That’s rare.

Our meal at Bobo was spectacular. However, some things to note- service was great but flawed. The runner accidentally gave our appetizer to the other table but luckily, one of the servers redeemed the restaurant by joking, “Sorry about your food. That runner has been fired.” The restaurant also seemed a bit uncoordinated as we had two servers to greet us (not that I’m complaining about the extra attention). And last but not least, just bring out a damn bread BASKET instead of serving it by the slice. For what we paid ($115 including tip), I’m sure you can afford a few extra slices and a handwoven basket.

You should also check out:

• Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
• Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
• Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill: Brunch
• Five Napkin Burger
• David Burke Townhouse: Brunch for $39

Special du jour, un: Pumpkin bread pudding with a layer of spinach, cheese and two poached eggs ($14)

I came here with just mediocre expectations despite this being a sister restaurant of Five Points (which Sabrina had raved about), but the food here was phenomenal. Brunch was set for 11:45am, but me being unable to properly read a map (understand that I’ve also lived in Manhattan for 2.5 years) and Sabrina being forever late, we arrived a bit behind schedule- although I was able to get our names down 10 minutes before Sabrina came along. The host proclaimed the wait to be 30 minutes but viola! Literally a minute after Sabrina stepped into the door, they were able to seat us.

So around 12:15pm, on a frosty and bitter Saturday morning, Hundred Acres was already jam-packed with hungry brunch-ers. Quite impressive for those lazy New Yorkers who like to sleep in!

Warm Cream Biscuits banana-walnut bread & honey butter ($7)

The original post-brunch plan was to promptly relocate uptown for some afternoon tea, but Sabrina just had to jump the gun. As usual, she was starving and so we ordered some warm biscuits. At $7 they’re a bit on the expensive side, but it was a bit of afternoon tea in itself.

Raspberry Bonne Maman! Aren’t these tiny jam jars so cute?

The buttery biscuits just seem to crumble at each touch and each bite just melts in your mouth . I mentioned to Sabrina how funny it is that they would serve the biscuits with a side of butter considering how much butter it takes to make a biscuit. Surprisingly, the butter was sweet! Too bad it was so cold and not spread-friendly, but it was just a notch below the awesomeness of clotted cream. With another layer of jam, however, it was almost- just almost- like English afternoon tea.

We should have eaten the banana-walnut honey bread first because it was also equally as delicious with its rich moistness, but… we didn’t. By the time we got to it, we couldn’t finish that last bite.

Part of the reason why I picked Hundred Acres for brunch was because of their French Toast. They serve it with this honey yogurt and caramelized pineapples which sounded really intriguing as I was checking out the menu last night. Very rarely do I ever order specials, but the waitress successfully sold her “specials” spiel to us (it’s quite hard actually- most people just don’t care).

And so I chose  the Pumpkin bread pudding with a layer of spinach, cheese and two poached eggs. It was everything I could have dreamed in a dish of sweet and savory plus more. It’s really hard to describe a dish like this. It’s actually hard to describe any dish with pumpkin. It was slightly sweet, which balanced out really well with the savory egg part. I loved the texture of the runny yolk, the crispness of the leaves, and the mushiness of the bread pudding combined into a forkful. It’s like having a dance party in your mouth.

Special du jour, deux: Duck Confit on a bed of potatoes with a fried egg ($14)

Sabrina went for the duck, although she seriously contemplated getting those apple pancakes. Had we stuck to our post-brunch plan, it would have been a good idea considering all of that sugar we would have consumed. But either way, she chose to go with the savory dish.

My initial reaction was a bit- “Really? This is the duck confit plate?! First off, you can’t really even see the duck because it’s hiding under that sneaky egg that’s trying to hog all the attention. I always thought that confit was a chunk of cut meat arranged in a beautiful pattern. But then as I’m blogging, I realize that I don’t even know what the heck “confit” is. So for all of you out there who are just as clueless as I am…

Duck confit (French: confit de canard) is a French dish made with the leg of the duck. While it is made across France, it is seen as a speciality of Gascony. The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salt curing a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then poaching it in its own fat.

Really now? Interesting. The dish should have been renamed to SHREDDED duck confit with EGGS SUNNY SIDE UP. But Sabrina seemed to enjoy it and I do have to admit that the duck was very flavorful. #poaching-in-fat-flavor-success.

After all this time- you could call it a long term relationship with my Canon Rebel XT- I have finally earned the pants in the relationship. I recently figured out how to utilize the custom white exposure option and hence, Sabrina benefits.

If my little paragraph on the Duck Confit confused you on my take of this place, let me reaffirm that my dish- the pumpkin one- blew everything out of the water. It can do no wrong. Plus, the biscuits were good, the service was great, and the decor is just lovely.

You should also check out:

• Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
• Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
• Bobo in the West Village
• Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill: Brunch
• Five Napkin Burger

Croissant French Toast w/ apples ($12)

This post marks the date that some skeezeball came into Think Coffee and stole my bag. Luckily, it was pouring and I went home and decided not to bring my beloved DSLR (THANK GOD!) or else this blog would have been done for until I could afford another camera. But as luck would also have it, that was the day I decided to bring a boxful of oatmeal and Trader Joe’s tea to a sick Jungyon. I can only imagine the thief’s surprise when he/she opened my bag…

The morning, however, was lovely, because I finally had time to catch up with Suzie, who had virtually been nonexistent the whole semester. Originally, we were going to Blue Ribbon Sushi, but waking up on a Sunday morning at 10am and thinking about sushi made both of our stomachs queasy, so we changed plans. I remembered Krystal mentioning something about a “Croissant French Toast” awhile ago, which sounded absolutely phenomenal.

HI SUZIE!

If you passed by Danal back in the day (as in, er 3 years ago?), you would have remembered that it was a Korean deli! Yes! Suki, if you’re reading this, this was the place that the nice Korean guy gave me that free slice of bread! After I came back from Sydney, the place transformed into this magnificent two story restaurant with a built in fireplace, a wooden bar, and heirlooms that could have been passed down from my grandmother. It was so homey.

Poached Eggs w/chicken apple sausage, english muffin & hollandaise ($13)

Suzie was so excited for her poached eggs. The bite that I had was indeed delicious, but I want to talk about that Croissant French Toast. I think that Nigella Lawson would have even considered that a “guilty pleasure.” First off, the croissant was pretty damn big. They slice it thinly into 3 layers. Second, as if a croissant didn’t have enough butter, I think they grilled it with more butter! Third, they spoiled me with a whole tiny jar of jam- all for myself! Life couldn’t get any better.

This is one of those must try dishes. It gave French Toast a whole new meaning. The only thing I wasn’t too keen about was the apples, but that’s such a minor detail.

Of course, the breadbasket was decent as most breadbaskets are.

We sat right next to the fireplace, and as we were leaving, who do we notice dining right next to us? Rachel Weisz from The Mummy/The Constant Gardener and Darren Aronofsky! She’s even more gorgeous in person!

MENU
59 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10003
Near 13th St.  See Map | Subway Directions
212-982-6930 Send to Phone

You should also check out:

• Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
• Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
• Bobo in the West Village
• Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill: Brunch
• Five Napkin Burger

Buffalo wings, $.25 on Monday nights. They come in sweet bbq too!

By now half of NYU must have heard about this because this past Monday, there was a mob in Rockwell’s and it was only 6:15pm, 15 minutes after the deal started. It felt like a reunion seeing as I saw people who I hadn’t seen in three and a half years.

But yes, 25 cent wings. When you think about it, it’s still not THAT cheap. For a New Yorker however, it’s pretty cheap. Wings can go as high as $10 for just 8 of them. So when you think about it like that… it’s not so bad. Nevertheless, that got me curious, so I ran a simple calculation (this is what all of my case-ing preparation with Sagar has amounted to!)

By my very, very conservative estimates, I arrived to $547 for profits. That’s taking into account:

• USDA wholesale wing prices are $1.55 for the month of November
• 1 pound = 10-12 medium wings (I used 10 wings in my calculations)
• Peak times at 6-7pm
• Girls will order less wings than guys
• Rockwell’s can serve a customer every 20-30 seconds, or 1 per minute because there are 3 stations (that was my serving time, roughly.)

That was a pretty low number, so I adjusted it…

At $684, I guess it’s not too bad, especially considering how it’s a Monday night and this deal really generates traffic. Also, we’re talking about a $.10 margin here. Additionally, as Sagar mentioned, people will buy sodas as they are complementary goods (and maybe even fries!). If you’re interested, for any reason in the sensitivity of this analysis, you can tinker with it here. Let me know if my estimates are on, off, or near the mark if you know anything about the profitability of wings!

If you ARE going to go on Monday nights for these wings, either get there early or brace yourself with the wait. They’re not the most efficient in getting orders out, as in they don’t really care about who ordered first. But to their credit, they do try and if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant during peak time, you’d feel sympathetic too. On the other hand, when I opened the box…

• There were only nine wings! Ah! I ordered 10!
• One wing wasn’t a wing. I’m not sure what it was exactly…

They automatically pack you a generous portion of ranch sauce, but don’t forget to check out some of their other awesome sauces like chipotle mayo and this other pale orange one, which I recall had the name ‘kickin’ in it. For $.25/wing, the wings are good enough. You can tell that they’re really rushed when making the wings, so I let them go on the calculation error.

On a regular night, people would order something like that- a cheeseburger. Despite the $.25 wings deal, Elspeth and Jungyon both ordered a cheeseburger. I’d rate it a 6 on a scale from 1-10. I mean, it’s a burger, but it’s no Shake Shack or Corner Bistro.

53 E 8th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-4400

You should also check out:

• Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
• Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
• Bobo in the West Village
• Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill: Brunch
• Five Napkin Burger

Today was very very rainy. I woke up to pouring rain and now I’m going to sleep to the sound of cars driving over puddles. And in this rain, I went to NYC for work, only to find that my boss had a busy day in CT. It would have been a true FML moment except for the fact that I got cupcakes. And from the last time, I remembered those cupcakes being very very yummy.

But oy! It was closed! Or at least the one on Macdougal was. Luckily, last time Sabrina and I found out that they had a second (but dingier) location only a street away on West 3rd. So I went and they were open.

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Cupcakes!!

On Yelp, there are raving reviews on their red velvet. A few months ago, I visited their Macdougal location with Steph and Clement and we were all really impressed. So today, I got 4 red velvets, 1 chocolate on chocolate, and 1 vanilla/chocolate frosting on chocolate to go. And even in the rain and all, I got it safely back to Jersey for our dinner at Cracker Barrel.

But what a disappointment. The cupcakes looked moist and were moist but were way too dense. The red velvet itself was delicious, but the food coloring was so strong that it smeared like lipstick on my napkin. The cream cheese frosting was also a bit runny, although it did sit out for about 6 hours before we ate it. And the chocolate, which I had also recalled being significantly better than most other chocolate cupcakes, failed to impress. It was dense, crumbly, and way too chocolaty. The chocolate itself didn’t taste like pure chocolate. I can’t even describe it. However, I will say that the chocolate frosting is still among the best I’ve had.

The cupcakes are $2.25 each, but if you’re an NYU student, you can get 4 for $6.25.

Still, I’m not willing to give up on you Tonnie’s. I’ll be back to give you another shot.

MENU
120 W 3rd St
New York 10012
(Btwn MacDougal St & 6th Ave)

You should also check out:

• Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
• Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
• Bobo in the West Village
• Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill: Brunch
• Five Napkin Burger