Laura, a friend I met through Sara, talked up The Redhead as her neighborhood joint for stellar cheeseburgers. Since I’m ALWAYS interested in a place that has good cheeseburgers, I organized a group of people to meet there after work for some food before going out for drinks. I didn’t realize our dinner party was going to get so large (8 people!) so we had to end up waiting for quite a while. While we were waiting, we ordered some bacon peanut brittle to snack on:
Everything is better with bacon, right? Well, these peanuts were definitely good – they were slightly sweet, crunchy, roasted, and the bacon bits attached to the peanuts added a salty contrast. A perfect bar snack to go with a beer while you’re waiting for your table (especially if you end up waiting for an hour and a half!)
Since there were so many people, I decided to strategically sit next to people that were ordering a burger (so I wouldn’t have to) and have David order something else. Audrey and Lou both ordered burgers and I shared half of Audrey’s burger:
Laura was right – the burger is definitely good, especially with the strips of bacon on top of the patty. The freshly cut potato chips were really crunchy and seasoned well (I think I ate most of Audrey’s AND Lou’s). However, the waiters didn’t take into account the way Audrey wanted the burger cooked (granted, she wanted it cooked medium well, but the center was still very pink when she got it) AND the patty was significantly smaller than the bun – they need to freaking either buy smaller buns or make bigger patties!!
David ordered another popular menu item, the buttermilk fried chicken:
The fried chicken was extremely tasty (much better than the cheeseburger!) – it was crispy on the outside, really tender and juicy on the inside. The cornbread, on the other hand, was really dry and crumbly.
David and I are huge fans of grits, so I ordered the grits with shrimp and sausage:
For some reason, there was a ton of tomato sauce on the grits – I wasn’t a fan of the dish, but David really liked it. I like grits to have more of a creamy/buttery sauce but the grits at The Redhead were really watery (BOO!)
If I ever head back to The Redhead, I’d definitely go with a smaller party; the waiters weren’t very attentive and we had to practically beg for water refills (even though waiter continuously walked by our table).
A big thanks to all of the people that came:
Lou, me, Audrey, David, Sara, Larry, Laura, and Karen. (Karen and Laura live across the street from the restaurant, Audrey and I have been friends for a long time, and Lou, David, Sara, Larry, and I work together.)
Recently, I’ve been snacking on a lot of fruit. I think it’s because I deprived myself of fruit for an entire month at one point in my life (shocking, I know) and I’ve been making up for it by pigging out with any fruit I can get my hands on. Also, one of my coworkers thoughtfully brings me at least one piece of fruit everyday, which definitely adds to my fruit consumption. One thing that’s inconvenient about fruit is how fragile it is – I hate bringing bananas anywhere because they’re so fragile and smushy. Also, cutting up fruit and putting it in a baggie beforehand isn’t always a good idea because the fruit ends up being brown and soft by the time you’re ready to eat it. If you have any of these problems as well but you love fruit, you’ll have to check out my new find – pineapple jerky from jerky.com. The owner sent me some samples to try:
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering if there’s a difference between dried fruit and fruit jerky – I’m guessing it’s the fact that fruit jerky hasn’t been completely dried so it has a more chewy texture compared to dried fruit (when I used to dehydrate my own fruit, it always ended up being really crunchy because it was completely dried through.) I received 5 samples of the pineapple jerky and managed to eat three of them before having the opportunity to take a picture – these things are amazingly tasty! The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the fact that they drizzle honey on the pineapple – it was a little sweet for my tastes, but I’m guessing most people won’t mind the added sugar. They’re really convenient to take anywhere because they come in single servings and if they were around when I was a kid, I would’ve begged my mom to add them to my lunchbag. You can find them at jerky.com.
The weather’s getting warmer, so print out this coupon, find a friend, and head to your local Pinkberry for the BOGO deal:
I actually haven’t been to a Pinkberry since the Fro-yolympics, but now I’m definitely going to head in there with this coupon!
On Sunday, Sara and I were sitting on a bench in Chinatown, minding our own business, and eating some baked goods from Fei-Da when we ran into…
HUNG, the winner from Top Chef season 3!!! I’ve actually seen him in Chinatown before but have never approached him because he’s usually with other people. Hung is really nice and it seems like he’s up to some really great projects in the future. Now I’ve run into Hung, I’ve sat in a car with Ilan (at the James Beard Awards), and I’ve eaten at Harold Dieterle’s (also, Sara and I ran into him once when we were walking around our office, but she didn’t notice him until he passed us) I didn’t watch season 4 closely so I don’t know who Stephanie Izard is, and I really hated Hosea so I hope I don’t run into him anytime soon! Hopefully my next Top Chef encounter will be Stefan because I LOVED him from season five. 馃檪
As you may know, I am a huge fan of brunch. I mean, there is nothing better than huevos rancheros at Cookshop, an order of blueberry pancakes from Clinton St. Baking Company, going to ANY of McNally’s restaurants for eggs benedict, or waking up and going to Norma’s for the Waz-Za. Seriously, I’m a huge brunch junkie. I’m a fan of sweets for breakfast (although I’m not averse to having an order of scrambled eggs and bacon), so a place I definitely wanted to check out was 57 at the Four Seasons. It was on my list for quite some time, but the brunch is a little on the pricey side, so I decided to wait until my mom came to town to take her there!
We started out with a bread basket – a mixture of whole wheat, pumpernickel, challah rolls, and some creamy butter:
The whole wheat rolls were definitely better than the challah; they were moister, chewier, and had a bite to them whereas the challah roll was a bit on the stale side.
For brunch, I went with the buttermilk waffles, berries, and vanilla cream:
My main problem with the waffles were that they weren’t dense enough. I didn’t want something as chewy as Le Petit Belge, but I definitely thought there would be more substance to the waffle; they were too airy. On the plus side, the vanilla cream and the berries were awesome!
My mom ordered the grilled salmon with vegetables (not something I’d order for brunch, but I suppose my mom likes ordering fish for brunch – see Mesa Grill):
The salmon was meaty and tender and the vegetables were cooked with bacon (it’s never a bad idea to cook vegetables with bacon, right?)
The third dish we ordered was the traditional eggs benedict with market greens and an herb vinegarette:
It’s pretty difficult to mess up eggs benedict (although I suppose hollandaise is quite difficult to get right). The hollandaise sauce rivaled something you’d get at Balthazar – the perfect consistency to go with the gooey egg yolk that drips into all of the nooks and crannies of the English muffin.
So, why did I only give the restaurant 3 grace faces? Well, I don’t think the dishes were anything special (as in, I probably would never go back), and I didn’t think any of the dishes warranted their prices (each dish was around $20, although the salmon was closer to $30). For brunch, that’s pretty steep, unless you’re going to Norma’s and getting a plate that could feed an army. 57 is beautifully decorated and is in a very open space, but I don’t think it’s worth visiting for brunch.
