Tuesday, July 8, 2008

August - Brunch Review

Intro
August - Recommended (for brunch)
30 W 26th St, New York 10010
Btwn 5th & 6th Ave
Phone: 212-255-4544

Met up Mr Risotto for brunch and wanted to find a nice outdoor joint. Did some research on the Internets and came across August which we've always wanted to do for lunch. Solid brunch, albeit worthless outdoor seating - it was almost 20 degrees hotter outside since their patio was encased in glass. Overall, I give the restaurant a 84/100

My Menu

1) Fritatta of the day (braised lamb) **
2) Swiss Potato *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way
* Good

** Great

*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) A great fritata - creamy eggs, a pinch of fresh jalapeno (very nice touch), and ridiculously flavorful braised lamb. It was so good, it totally makes me want to make a frittata at home.
2) Basically a rosti, which is grated onion, potato, and cheese. Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Onion added a nice depth of flavor and sweetness to it. The rosti's I've had in the past had a layer of gruyere on the top, but this didn't have one.

Overall Restaurant Experience (84/100)

  • Food 8.5/10 – Very solid brunch that gets cooked in a wood oven, which imparts nice flavors.
  • Service 8.5/10 – The host and waitresses were very friendly and easy on the eyes. Food came out promptly.
  • Atmosphere 8.8/10 – Definitely dig the feel of the place - kinda like Peasant with the brick walls and the wood burning oven for all to see. But like, most joints in the area the place is very tiny maybe seating like 30 people inside. Like I said, the outside maybe nice during the fall but during the crazy hot NYC summer it's ridiculously hot. Crowd consisted of young couples, and groups of female friends. Arrived at 12:30pm on a Sunday and we were seated as soon as Mr. Risotto showed up...caveat that everyone there had a reservation
  • Price 8.0/10 – About $12 a plate for the brunch. For the flavor and service, it was definitely worth it.
Closing Comments
Solid brunch location that I am 100% coming back to. Gotta try the dinner menu next time.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

" it was almost 20 degrees hotter outside since their patio was encased in glass"...

lol

Mr. Risotto said...

Yeah, maybe it's designed so that no matter what time of year it is you can replicate the pleasure of eating "outside" on a sweltering August day...

Aramis said...

It was hilarious since I saw 5 groups of customers requesting outdoor seating. After 5 minutes in the greenhouse they call a patio, everyone ran back inside dripping with sweat. Air conditioning is such a great invention!