The Breslin Bar: Restaurant Review/Soft Opening

Stepping into my favorite bar in the lobby of the Ace Hotel, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Breslin was having its soft opening. So of course I had to go. Same owners as The Spotted Pig, but no horrendously long wait in line with a slew of foodies? Hell yes.

The place is nice, its in an old unrestored room, great ceilings. Lots of animal heads and sculptures hanging out. Has that worn overstuffed leather feel but all the furniture is brand spankin new. It's like all the hipsters in Williamsburg grew up, made lots of their own money an opened a "rustic" hunting lodge. It's actually designed by Architectural firm Roman and Williams, who did the Lobby of the Ace Hotel. Vinyl records, horsehair and stuffed badgers, oh my...

Wait, so next I bring the food to the... ummm...

Service is slow, they are obviously working out the kinks. Since it was the soft opening, there was a limited dinner menu, and the kitchen was definitely going through a shakedown. I'm sure they'll get thinks going smoothly soon.

Charcuterie from Left: head cheese, rabbit with prune, rustic pork with pistachios, ginea hen with morels

The Charcuterie is ok. There are some mighty fancy ingredients going on, unfortunately none of them are allowed to sing. This is most evident in the Ginea Hen with morels, it tastes just like a cheap processed chicken loaf; watery with a bit too much salt and a disconcertingly homogeneous texture. The rabbit suffered the same consequences, just being kinda "meh", and was a little tough. The head cheese (really bad name for a food) tasted like it should, pulled pork with a ton of fat. The rustic pork was the only star here, the pistachios added a nice variation in texture and it tasted like a lovely unsalted fresh salami.

After our main dishes finally arrived, I regretted only coming with one companion, as we could only order two items. I must say the mains are where this place shines.

Rustic photo (grown-up hipster for "low light iphone shot") of the Poussin.

The Poussin had a superb "perfect roasted chicken" flavor, offset by a bitter pomegranate reduction and pops of the pomegranate seeds. The pumpkin seeds here and there were fine, but the best part was an unexpected hit of mint. The accompanying toasted pumpkin was sweet and delicious, with a hint of cumin. Really an inspired grouping of diverse and unexpected flavors.

The Beef shin was cooked nicely, perhaps erring on the firm/dry side, but not too much. There is a punch of citrus in it, and when eaten with the parsley's fresh herbal notes comes together marvelously. The polenta is firm and good, but the real star I thought was the black cabbage puree; it had wonderful amounts of butter and cream, so it was rich and delicious but did not step over the line into cloying.

The deserts need work. The quince crumble was almost there, the buttery sauce and quinces being done just about perfectly, but the crumble falls painfully short. Instead of a wonderful complex topping it seems like someone sprinkled store bought granola on it. They brought us a chocolate mousse with beer (the dessert chef is really nice btw) and the mousse had an inconsistent texture, at times thick, others runny, and the beer flavor added a little too much bitter that was not quite balanced.

Overall
Ok, here I buy the high end super expensive "salt of the earth pub fare" genre. Its great. Also the breakfast menu looks great, fry ups with pork of all kinds, mmmmm yes. Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield have once again managed to bring the Gastro-Pub rage to us from across the pond (with the help of Peter Cho, the current chef at the Breslin Bar).

The Breslin, 3 out of 5 bacon strips.

The Breslin Bar and Dining Room
20 W. 29th St. , New York, NY 10001
(Just east of Broadway)

This concludes Gastroliaison's mini review of the Breslin Bar.

Restaurant Review: The Shake Shack

The short of it:
If you've ever had a craving for the simpler times of the cheeseburger, before demand from the overpaid nimrods on wall street pushed it so far in complexity, size and cost, it somehow morphed into something Dr. Frankenstein would have been proud of, look no further than the Shake Shack. You need to eat this burger, and you need to experience one of the great quintessential NY dining experiences.

Eat: The Shackburger (single or double), excellent fries (maybe go all out and get the cheese sauce), 'shroom burger is decent too.

Drink: Frozen custard shakes, beer, and Arnold Palmers.

Note: Long waits (about an hour) are famous at the Madison Ave location, uptown spot is faster and you can call in, but its not nearly the same experience. Shake Shack's branding was done by Pentagram, whose NY office sits on the west side of the park; it just goes to show that any place that sweats the details in their appearance is usually gonna do the same with their food.

Sweet, 43rd already!

The long:
Expect a line, unless you arrive at 9:45 on a weeknight (after the late dinner crowd, but before the just got done drinking crew). Trust me though, an hours wait for this juicy tidbit, with the chance to eat it alfresco in our beautiful borough of Manhattan (with a beer if you desire) is well worth it. Standing in line is great people watching, send someone to the deli to brown bag a beer, you might even make a friend or two (we did).

You should know ahead of time this is a griddle cooked burger, it's a very different animal from a grilled burger. It's thinner and has a different kind of sear on it, and I'm not gonna deliberate here which one is better; its kinda like comparing an Aston Martin to a Ferrari.

One box of delicious with a side of tasty. Thank you Shake Shack, thank you.

The Shake Shack starts off right, blending some brisket (flavor), chuck (flavor), and some short rib (fat). They know the right way to prep their meat for the griddle (unlike LaCense), using a loose easy grind, and keeping the patting to a minimum. This allows the burger's proteins to stay loose and retain their juices (taste), as well as avoiding any unpleasant rubbery texture. It also creates those nice little nooks and crannies that hold the lovely melted cheesy goodness.

You just made 10,000 taste buds your BFFs.

The burger is cooked perfectly, has a great char, with crisp little edges here and there. It's juicy and flavorful throughout. The cheese is spot on, with enough American cheese flavor to stand up to the burger without overstepping its supporting role. The Shack Sauce (any snack bar burger worth its salt had better have special sauce) is good, but it's mayo based so if you don't like that skip it. The tomato and lettuce add just the right variation in taste and texture. The bun is moist and tasty, but not so soft as to fall apart on you.

The whole thing is nice and thin so your mouth isn't doing an impression of the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour, and the little wax paper sack it comes in keeps the grease off your lap. It is exactly what a griddle cooked burger should be; every person should eat this once.

A snackbar as only Manhattan could do it.

Sit under the lights at Madison Square Park, dig into a great burger with an ice cold beer, and watch the city go by as you chat with friends. Heaven.

The Shake Shack: 3/5 Bacon Strips

This concludes Gastroliaison's review of The Shake Shack.

Bar Review: Wilfie & Nell

The Short of it...
This is a great place to go with some friends for some bar food and beer. Early arrivals mean quiet space, as the night drags on it fills and gets too loud to have a conversation below a soft shout. The food is hit or miss, but when its a hit it's great. The decor is that contrived gastro-pub/urban farmhouse oasis that one can't seem to get away from, but it's a good little spot.

EAT: Amazing sliders, great grilled cheese, good fries, good salad.

DRINK: Great beers, good wine, whiskey tea, and they will make spiked Arnold Palmers (hooray!)

AVOID: Anything with sausage, I mean it.

Some interior decorator took 3 weeks planning the "haphazard" box pile.

And the Long...

The owner of this place is buddies with Joaquin Baca (the guy behind Momofuku and Rusty Knot), who put the menu together. So I was not surprised to see written on the menu "Wilfie & Nell prides itself on sourcing foods from the following local purveyors (ostentatious for nearby suppliers): Bread: Blue Ribbon Bakery. Cheese: Murray’s Cheese Shop Chutneys and preserves: Beth's Farm Kitchen. Meat: Piccinini Brothers. Pickles: Bob McClure".

Wood slats, mismatched tables, mason jars, you get the idea.

These are good places to be buying stuff from, so we can overlook the culinary equivalent of name dropping at a party and get down to brass tacks. The menu looks like the kiddies at top chef were told to make pub food. The roots are there, and there is special attention paid to the ingredients. Farmhouse cheddar, gruyere (these are my favorite cheeses) and tallegio (its good too). You can have your choice in their excellent grilled cheese. These are thick, buttery, crisp, gooey bombs of cheezy goodness. I recommend any, but I especially like the ham and cheddar. These guys do know how to get a crisp buttery surface on a slice of toast, that's for sure.

Great bread and cheese, skip the corned beef.

Oddly enough, the Corned Beef and Gruyere was a huge fail. The gruyere simply overpowered it (or the corned beef is underwhelming), so instead of any flavor from the meat all you get is salt. This makes the cheese even more robust, but too salty, and just doesn't quite do it. If you're gonna intake that much cheese, meat and butter it had better be worth every single calorie.


The salad is delicious, and the fries are great. The real super star(s) here though is (are) the Berkshire Pork sliders. The meat is perfect, the pickles a little spicy, and the cut surface of the brioche bun has been subjected to that same heavenly treatment as the grilled cheese; the insides of the bun have an amazingly satisfying buttery crisp bite that offsets the soft texture of the pork.

These are good, really, really good.

On a high from the pork sliders (or perhaps all that Smithwick's Ale...) I thought it prudent to sample the pigs in blankets. These little pork sausages are not wrapped in your run of the mill pastry dough my friends, they are wrapped in BACON.

Wait, do I smell bacon?!?!

Sadly, I did not plunge to uncharted depths of deliciousness, discovering a new, delectable, diet-damming dish. I am of the opinion that bacon is one of the most perfect foods ever, so these little things are a travesty. The sausage is like a stick of greasy chewy salt, wrapped in a piece of bacon so overly cooked that it tastes like charcoal; the cook should be scolded.

You may need to avert your eyes.

They look like cat poop, and they are so greasy they actually stained the granite bar through the wax paper and the basket they came in. The poor HP sauce they come with, that has been bravely masking horrible English pub food for centuries, tries in vain to overcome these little burnt salt licks from hell. Looking at my neighbors Scotch Egg and its charred beyond taste sausage shell, I abstained from ordering one. Anything with sausage is a no no at Wilfie and Nell's.

This bar is a good place to be.

The only drink worth mentioning is the whiskey tea. The others are Kool-Aid with booze (the bramble especially) or glorified gin and tonics. Great beers, good wines.

Wilfie and Nell: 2/5 bacon strips

This concludes Gastroliaison's review of Wilfie and Nell.