Brunching at Hundred Acres

Poached Eggs with Goat Cheese Thyme Bread Pudding

So after professing my aversion to all things brunch, Hundred Acres COMPLETELY altered these  staunch feelings. This alteration primarily due to the fact that my boyfriend and I were happily strolling through west Soho one Sunday afternoon and passed by Hundred Acres. The poached eggs and thin cut french fries glistened through the wooden windows with such a Wintry appeal that I was suddenly drawn. That week, all I could think about was how I needed to have brunch the following Sunday. I needed those eggs! And french fries! How is it that one beautifully presented plate of poached eggs served in a rustic and Wintry atmosphere could SUCK out all my negative feelings and send me through anxiety driven loops of brunch needs that needed immediate satisfaction?!

And so, I officially caved. And now, am an avid brunch goer, brunch lover, brunch dreamer. You name it, I'm there.

The Food at Hundred Acres

It's like a Bubby's type but A LOT better and with more options. There are peanut butter tartines, poached eggs with brioche bread pudding toasts, huevos rancheros, french fries seasoned with herbs, waffles and bloody mary's. All of the brunch options are sophisticated and quite tasteful. Listen, this isn't the best brunch in the world, but I'd go back any day. There are loads of options that can satisfy the vegetarians, meat lovers, kids and parents. It's a large restaurant and can accomodate large parties which is tough to find downtown.

Huevos Rancheros

Bloody Mary

Peanut Butter, Banana & Raisin Tartines 

Peanut Butter & Banana Tartines, Kale Salad with Warm Goat Cheese 

Corn Bread (which was just like a corn muffin with an added crunch) & Poached Eggs

The Atmosphere

It's a tad noisy and overcrowded with customers waiting to be seated even though it is quite a large space.

The Bar

Back Area of Hundred Acres

The Wait & Resos

Funnily enough, no one makes reservations on Open Table, they just show up and then wait 45 minutes to be seated. We arrived, put our names down at 1pm for a 45 min - 1 hour wait and then logged into Open Table on my phone only to discover that there were available reservations for 1:15pm. How interesting, no? Now you know the secret to beating the system! MAKE A RESERVATION and you won't have to wait behind an hour's worth of walk-ins!

Good For: Large parties, small parties, brunch with friends or family

Hundred Acres

38 MacDougal St. 

http://hundredacresnyc.com/

212-475-7500

Menu changes a bit each Sunday

Downtown at Louro

Before I begin my review of Louro, some food for thought about restaurant and food quality. If you aren't really interested, just skip on to The Food.
It must be noted that eating out, and one's opinion of the food quality is so relative and partial. Quite obviously. There are always going to be some palettes that are more inclined to certain flavors while others are not. After dinning out with another couple last night this very simple notion hit me. While I found certain dishes to be nothing special, others quite enjoyed them. What got me thinking was the following. There is, most certainly, a basic intuition that is able to distinguish the sub par and ok quality of food, to the good, and then the excellent. But, once that threshold is crossed, from the sub par to the quality, it becomes a fine line. There are loads of great restaurants out there. But who doe we trust to recommend the right place?
 Do New Yorkers actually enjoy the atmosphere more than the actual food? If the food is pretty good, and tastes like the other "pretty good" places, than, the notion goes that its worthwhile to recommend and return.

I also find that too often than not many simply concur with the opinions of those in powerful and influential positions like food critics and major bloggers. Why? Because, these powerful individuals have accumulated massive influence with years of experience. On that point I agree, yes they are experienced and have therefore naturally acquired a refined palette. But there are too often times where I wonder if many diners simply agree with the reviewers because they are meant to. Sam Sifton says its good, then it must be good! Meaning, if everyone in revered positions enjoys it than of course I should as well. And yet, I've found that many times Adam Platt, who is quite spot on in my very subjective opinion, is just so off sometimes and I am in complete disagreement with him. Why does he so strongly believe that Il Buco Alimentari's chef should be named one of the top ten new chefs of New York for 2013 when I found the food to be good but totally over rated? 

This is why I've begun to trust less and try more. And this is how I've come to realize how subjective food reviewing and recommending can become. I expose myself to reviews and opinions of others and then can only have myself to judge. Yes, I can be snobby at times about the quality, but it's rightly so. I travel to other cities and am so much more impressed with their basic food establishments than I sometimes am in New York. 

Like with anything, the more one educates himself on the subject, and for the purposes of this article it would be in the food and restaurant industry, the more he is able to seriously determine these fine lines. Anyhow, it is all a matter of opinion and this post is heading on a steeply philisophical path with no concluding points that divert (only a tiny bit ;) from the very purpose of this blog. 

Overall, there was a definite agreement within our intimate party of four that the food at Louro, the atmosphere and the service were, overall, simple, enjoyable and perfect.

But, then again these very opinions are subjective in themselves as well.
Try it and see for yourself!

The Food
I had a read a number of good things about David Santos opening up his new spot called Louro. For a while he was hosting private dinners in a place on Governor's Island and most famously he worked as a chef at Bouley and Per Se before deciding to open up his own spot last month.

Compliments to the chef.
 Every single vegetarian friendly option on the menu was ordered and every option was tasteful, extremely fresh and not too heavy. Please note that although I will mention what we tasted, I believe the menu changes daily as Yelp featured photos of options that were not on our menu and two days ago the Dourade was on the menu while last night it was not.

The best dishes were the Red Snapper which was cooked with a simple broth of mushrooms and leek.

The mini cubes of beets mixed with warmed goat cheese and walnuts was so light and the cheese was so runny and complimentary to the beets. Skip the pickled veggies appetizer, it arrives in a round glass cylinder and isn't anything one hasn't tasted before. The Roasted Pumpkin was a delightful and an unexpected surprise. It arrived as thin roasted slivers with light olive oil, arugula and huckleberries.

This is the perfect example of a dish that is deceiving in its simple look.
It's a must order.

The Arugula salad was a simple salad with a light quality olive oil and very thin shavings of pecorino cheese that complimented the salad so perfectly. I think it was one of my favorite dishes on the table!

Lack of stinginess on the Pecorino shavings allowed for the perfect cheese compliment to a light salad.
The marinated peppers addition to the salad weren't my favorite though.

For the entree's I already mentioned the Red Snapper (I couldn't wait to mention it first, it was too good)! The trout was NOTHING SPECIAL but, to be honest, either I've never tasted trout prepared properly or I actually believe it just isn't the tastiest fish. Either way, I wouldn't bother.

The two pastas both the Gnocchi Romana and house made Cavatelli were fabulous. The gnocchi was pretty good but the cavatelli was cooked in a lovely cream sauce that warmed my insides and had the perfect addition of parmesan cheese.

On the left is the Cavatelli, right is the Gnocchi 

The one thing I'd skip and actually disliked the flavor completely was the Fry Bread which sounded a lot better in theory.

I may have differed from our group in that they enjoyed the Fry Bread as well as the Trout while I enjoyed the cavatelli more. The Red Snapper, the Arugula Salad and the Roasted Pumpkin were the biggest crowd pleasers.

With some reluctance, and some perseverance by our waiter, we tried the Pineapple Upside Down Cake for dessert which turned out to be the furthest thing from pineapple. Other than the simple pineapple glaze and fruit cubes surrounding the corn cake with caramelized edges, there was no other hint of fruit in this dish and it was my favorite dessert.

The crowd pleaser was the Peanut Butter Pain Perdu with roasted marshmallow ice cream and grape jelly.

The Ambiance

The atmosphere was vibrant and the crowd wasn't too young or too old but perfectly mixed. There is no pumping music but the loud and excited voices of the diners is enough to replace a sound system. The lighting was dimmed with lots of mini votives on the tables and unlike many of the wooden and rustic-turned-modern restaurants overpopulating this city, Louro had a uniquely modern feel that still maintains a touch of class. It's designed with lots of white simplicity, white ribbed hard wood booths and walls with thin white appetizer plates and square cutlery to compliment the decor. 

Wait Time & Resos

Reservations are necessary, especially for a busy night like Thurs, Fri or Sat. We arrived at 9pm with a reso, of course, and when we left at 11:30pm Louro was still quite full with few open tables. Keep in mind, Louro opened on December 4th, only one month ago and is keeping busy!

Good For: It's the perfect place for a social night out with friends, girlfriends or other couples.

Louro

142 West 10th St.

(Between Greenwich & 7th Ave)

http://louronyc.com/

Nothing More English or More American, Mildreds

While meeting up with a friend in London's Soho, we stopped at Mildred's for a light lunch. 

The Food

It's funny how certain types of restaurants can be found just about anywhere. Mildred's may have the most English name out there, but its food and atmosphere were quite like certain types of very American clean-eating, hipster hubs in New York/LA. (Think Urth Cafe, Candle Caf, Bliss etc.). Mildred's is a vegetarian restaurant with food choices that may remind you of the whole foods salad bar while the warm entrees are more like a cross between New York's Candle Cafe and Westville. I know I know, I must post on these two spots and will do so soon!

Mildred's offers a number of entree specials and salad specials. All of the salad specials can be ordered together as one entree which was one of the things we ordered. The variety included snap peas, goat cheese, tomatoes, pomegranates and some sort of dandelion looking leaf, although I'm unsure of what it's called. The mix of salads all pretty much had the same dressing of olive oil, salt and pepper and could have used a bit more flavor. 

Market Salads

We all shared a hummus/babaganoush appetizer, which as you may, or may not, have come to realize, are two things I feel the need to order EVERYWHERE because I love them so much. 

The hummus and baba were both ok. For some reason, hummus never seems to excel in vegetarian restaurants but always manages to be on the menu. Not sure what that's about. I fall for it every time.

Hummus & Babaganoush

I was quite disappointed by the fact that they were sold out of a lot of their specials. We ended up sharing the baby aubergine (eggplant) and olive tagine. The tagine was savory with a hint of sweetness to it that had a great kick of big fat juicy green olives. I'd recommend the tagine and am upset that we weren't more hungry to try more stuff on the menu. 

Aubergine & Olive Tagine

Overall, the food was light, extremely fresh and, like I said, very Whole Foods-esque. It was not amazing but good quality and light. 

I'd definitely go back to try more of the entrees as the tagine dish was my favorite and some of the specials looked really great. 

Ambiance

Its located in the heart of Soho on a narrow street. It has a young and hipster vibe and the scene somewhat reminds me of Cafe Gitane, although not entirely. Gitane is probably trendier. I was there at an off hour and therefore could not totally grasp what types of crowds stroll in and out. 

Resos & Wait Time

Again, I was there at an off time and so we were seated immediately. It seems like it could get busy as the restaurant was more than halfway full at 4pm on a Wednesday. 

Good For: Lunch & Brunch with Friends, Possibly Dinner as Well,

Vegetarian/ Vegan

Mildred's 

45 Lexington Street 

London

http://www.mildreds.co.uk/