09.12.11
Review of the Breslin, Monday September 2010
16 West 29th St. & Broadway/5th Avenue, 212-679-1939
Great for: basically everything on the food and cocktail menus
After hearing so much about April Bloomfield I was delighted to finally try her food for myself. It certainly lived up to the hyperbole!
The sausage roll is a very large pig in a wonderfully soft blanket. They make the sausage in-house with actual meat. It was so good I wanted to cuddle with it. (I know, that doesn’t really make sense.) I would wake up a hell of a lot earlier if I had one of these waiting for me every morning! The seafood sausage with beurre blanc and chives is a large, perfectly-spiced sculpture composed of nice big chunks of shellfish arranged in a vaguely sausage-y shape. It’s a “sausage” the way a Ferrari is a car.
The thrice-cooked chips (fries) with mustard might be the best ever. They were an impeccable balance of crispy outside with soft insides. Even their accompanying pickle wedges were delightful. The almonds are spicy and terrific too. If I liked marrow vegetables I would like the baby squash with parmesan. I think it could have used more spices but I didn’t eat that much of it.
The service was nice, though I haven’t eaten in the dining room yet. On the other hand, having drunk the entire cocktail menu (in two visits, it’s short), I can say with certainty that all the drinks are strong and tasty. This is a great place for meeting friends, making new ones, and generally having a grand old time in an otherwise semi-desolate area. The lobby bar is fun when you get tired of sitting, too.
Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $75
Noise level: very noisy
Chance of walking in: you can’t reserve, just go and have drinks until you don’t care how long you’ve been waiting.
