Shopsin’s, located in the Essex Street market, is well known with the New York crowd. The owner, Kenny Shopsin, is a grumpy old man that runs the small restaurant with his family (two daughters and a son). They relocated from the west village to Essex Street market a while ago, but their fans followed them and continue to put up with the service because supposedly the food is fantastic. Calvin Trillin even wrote an article about him that was published in The New Yorker. I’ve read about the place a lot and we finally made our way down to the market a while back.

We only waited 10 minutes for a table (which is not too bad for a Saturday afternoon), but we didn’t know what we wanted to order since their menu is SO incredibly large. A lot of the menu items don’t have explanations, either, so I started asking one of the daughter’s a couple questions (which was a huge mistake). I was limited to three questions (but the menu is so f-ing large!) and we settled on the banana walnut chocolate chip pancakes:

The pancakes were a little gummy but not bad - they tasted like something you would make in your own kitchen (if you wanted to put in the effort). Part of the charm of Shopsin’s is that it’s a very small operation and the cook (Kenny), makes comfort foods that are easy enough to make yourself but at a premium that hipsters will appreciate.

Chris ordered Cubano 1:

The cubano had great chunks of sausage and melted cheese paired with a great hunk of bread. (Maybe my second favorite cubano, trailing The Spotted Pig’s work of art).

Shopsins:

Shopsin’s is in a small corner of the Essex Street Market, but all of Kenny Shopsin’s cooking ingredients are kept in the restaurant (how does Kenny do it?!). If I ever go back, I’m studying the entire menu beforehand so I know can use my three questions wisely.

How to get to Shopsin’s:

Shopsin’s
120 Essex Street, Stall 16
New York, NY 10002
212-924-5160

Justin and I took a lunch break in Union Square one afternoon because we read online that the Wafels and Dinges truck was set up by Trader Joe’s for the day (they change locations on a weekly basis). I’m really into food that comes out of a truck (DessertTruck, Chicken and Rice, bulgogi, smoothies, etc), and I’ve been meaning to check out the Wafels and Dinges truck for a while. It’s owned by Belgians that claim to have REAL wafels. [sic] I’m usually out of town on the weekdays for work, but luckily, I was in town and the Wafels and Dinges truck was close enough for me to stop by. Justin and I went down to 14th and 3rd and ordered from the truck:

I decided to order the Cinnamon liege:

Everything is pre-made (I didn’t see much batter lying around) and they take the liege or the waffle and heat it up using the wafflemaker. The cinnamon liege was chewy and …slightly soggy. Neither of us were fans.

Justin was contemplating what to order (there’s actually not that much on the menu) but we couldn’t decide what toppings to order. You can get the waffle with one topping, three toppings, or a combination of ALL of the toppings (I think the combination of all of the toppings costs around $7.50). We had to order the waffle with ALL OF THE TOPPINGS KNOWN TO MAN (duh!):

Okay, I exaggerated…just every topping known to the Wafels and Dinges truck. Dinges, if you were wondering, are the toppings you can add to your waffle/liege. Our waffle had strawberries, dulce de leche, chocolate fudge, butterscotch, whipped cream, AND powdered sugar. The chocolate fudge was my favorite - it reminded me of the cold fudge Jarlings Custard Cup serves (something I’d have EVERY summer). Other than the cold fudge, the waffle wasn’t very crispy and it was kind of stale.

After we ordered, a older Russian woman came by and asked the owner how much the waffles were. She decided to order a liege because it’s $1 cheaper, but after the owner told her it was still $4, she walked away and the owner said he’d sell it to her for $1!! WTF we just paid $4 for ours!! I didn’t know it was negotiable!!

How to get to Wafels and Dinges:

Wafels and Dinges - changes on a weekly basis, so check their website!

Moda, located in the Flatotel in the theater district, is a restaurant we visited based on a friend’s recommendation. The restaurant feels very lounge-like; dimly lit, large comfortable couches, and a well-stocked bar. The brunch at Moda is very reasonable - every entree is under $15 and everything comes with a free mimosa, bloody mary, or orange juice!

I went with the French toast:

If you’ve been following the site for a while, you know that I’m picky when it comes to French toast; the bread needs to be stale enough to hold the egg/milk combination but has to be moist (and not soggy). I mean, it can’t be that difficult to make good French toast (considering I can do it at home), but I feel like a lot of restaurants just don’t know how to make it. Moda’s French toast was prepared exceptionally well - just enough egg and milk combined with bread dusted with powdered sugar. Yum!

Chris ordered the standard cheeseburger:

Surprisingly, the cheeseburger from Moda was AWESOME! It had a nice grill flavor and there was a huge chunk of cheese melted on the big peace of meat - what else can you ask for? It’s not my favorite burger (that honor belongs to Goodburger), but it was definitely better than a lot of brunch burgers I’ve had.

Our friends both ordered egg white omelettes with hash browns:

They both enjoyed their egg white omelettes and the waiter even threw in an extra side of toast (I think the kitchen accidentally prepared it and didn’t want it to go to waste. Seriously, no one else was in the restaurant). I can’t see myself going back to Moda (it’s in a weird location for me), but I think their brunch is pretty decent (and you can make reservations on opentable!)

How to get to Moda:

Moda Restaurant and Lounge
135 W 52nd St
New York, NY, 10019
212-887-9880

After catching the majority of Top Chef Season three, I’ve slowly become a fan of the crazy reality show (they’re currently taping season 4 in Chicago). I watched a couple episodes from season one and season two, but it’s one of those shows you watch when they have marathons, you know? Anyway, Harold Dieterle won season one and used his prize money to open Perilla in May 2007, a stylish restaurant in the west village. I’ve walked by Perilla a bunch of times (on my way to John’s Pizzeria or Pearl Oyster Bar), but I didn’t notice the small restaurant lining Jones Street until recently.

Large booths, a couple of four-top tables, and a small bar make Perilla for a small get together or a first date. The interior decor is minimal and welcoming and is a great addition to the west village. The hostess seated us immediately (not many people go to Perilla for lunch, apparently, because the restaurant was almost empty). The menu has a couple of options of unpretentious items, but there were only three things that interested us: the duck burger, the cubano, and the french toast. We ended up choosing the first two:

The duck burger has a layer of perfectly melted cheese (don’t you hate it when there’s a layer of grease on top of the cheese?), pickles, tomato, and Boston lettuce that all sits perfectly on top of a big bits of spicy duck. YUM. I’m used to Peking duck and have been disappointed with other ways people prepare duck, but Harold’s burger definitely makes me rethink the way I eat duck.

I ordered Harold’s Cubano:

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t impressed with the pressed sandwich AT ALL. It tasted like something I could ordered at Zabar’s a while back. Also, once you try the Spotted Pig’s cubano, there’s no way to eat another sandwich without getting the feeling that it’s inadequate. I didn’t really enjoy the sandwich but the side salad that came with my order was nicely dressed. I can never get my greens to stay so fluffy after I dress them - they always end up wilty looking (it looks like I cooked them or something). How do restaurants do it?

Overall, the experience at Perilla was very nice and I’d go back for dinner in the future, but probably not again for brunch. It’s convenient to make a reservation through opentable.com, but you can always call to make a reservations as well (I like opentable because I’ve thisclose to getting something for free!!)

How to get to Perilla:

Perilla
9 Jones St between 4th Street and Bleecker
New York, NY 10014
212-929-6868

Diagonal from Chris’ house in the west village is a small Scandinavian restaurant, Smorgas Chef. Whenever I walk by the place, I always think it’s a really run-down restaurant because the outside looks unkempt. During the summer, I see couples eating late meals outside (so it can’t be that bad) and we decided to check it out for brunch. Since it was too cold to eat outside, we opted for a nice seat indoors (next to the wall of glass bottles). The exterior of Smorgas Chef:

Well, I think it looks rundown…maybe that’s the look they’re going for.

Smorgas Chef has a prix-fix option for brunch (for $17.95, you can order one main entree, an alcoholic drink, and a coffee) or you can just order the entree by itself (they run from $11 - $20).

Chris ordered the standard eggs benedict:

The standard egg yolk oozing out onto the ham and English muffin make eggs benedict a great artery-clogging breakfast food. Smorgas Chef makes a pretty good hollandaise sauce (although I still prefer Balthazar’s) and the salad on the side was also pretty good.

I ordered cooked eggs with Jarlsberg cheese, spinach, ham, and tomato:

Underneath the cheese, veggies, and ham was a single piece of wheat toast, soaking up the yolk:

The bread was really solid and didn’t fall apart when the yolk flooded the dish. It was a really good; the Jarlsberg cheese was perfectly melted (not too mushy and not too firm), the spinach added a great flavor, and the ham bits were a nice salty compliment to the dish.

My dish and Chris’ dish came with a side of Jansson’s special potatoes:

They’re potatoes au gratin, but they just tasted like plain potatoes to me. Good thing they were free!

Smorgas Chef was a surprisingly good meal for a quick Sunday afternoon brunch. The food was good and the service was friendly….they also take reservations! I’ll definitely be back.

How to get to Smorgas Chef:

Smorgas Chef
283 W. 12th Street
New York, NY, 10014
212-243-7073