Tuesday morning started out like most of my Tuesday mornings, drinking some of the best coffee in the world and not being at home. But, this was one of those work trips that I was really looking forward to. We began our day meeting up at Blue Bottle Coffee on Berry St in Brooklyn - this is an incredibly simple space where folks true to their craft share their joy of coffee. They buy the bean, roast the bean, sometimes blend the beans, grind the beans and thank god they deliver the beans. They use the art of pour over to deliver an amazing cup of Joe in the Williamsburg neighborhood that is truly world class. I really like to drink single-origin coffee mainly because I love to learn how different folks roast the same beans to different levels and then guessing what I'm drinking (currently I suck at this but I'm on the verge of breaking down the wall that keeps me from seeing the wizard) No matter your skill level or knowledge the folks at Blue Bottle will help you select the right morning adult beverage and even teach you a thing or two about coffee if you are willing to ask a few questions. Blue Bottle is not about teaching you new words (real or fake) for your SIZE of coffee or a feeble attempt to create a new coffee culture. Nope, it just an honestly great cup of coffee done in an environment that quietly reminds you that the simple things in life are the most important.
We also ate some tasty little baked goods that included a several savory shortbread's. One had toasted fennel seeds, cracked salt and some kind of really flavorful cheese crumbles on top. And the next one was made, my guess here - with a rosemary infused fat in this case butter and baked to perfection.
Before breakfast I wanted to hit Mast Brothers Chocolate since we were only a few blocks from their little shop. Unfortunately they were closed but they had propped the door open to let the cool air in which is all the invite I needed . I opened the door a little more peeked in to see 7-8 young people working and seemly having the time of their lives. One young man said "sorry we are closed" and he must have seen the devaluation on my faced because he then asked if I wanted to step in and watch them work. Little did he know that I had five other people with me. We jumped in watched a few minutes and bought lots of chocolate bars to keep our energy up between stops. I don't think I can do justice to what these Brothers do to chocolate. But for starters they don't just do chocolate, they are artisans in every meaning of the word. And, to really understand what I'm trying to say click on this video below. I love these guys not because they seriously make the best chocolate I have EVER eaten, but because they are changing us back to the way that we made food a long time ago... http://vimeo.com/13664547
Later in the morning we walked to Egg for more sustainable grub. The theme so far for Brooklyn is simple environment meets truly honest food because spot #2 was incredibly simple in design, menu, ingredients and a simple mission statement: to expand the availability of good food to people that don't have access to it. I'll get to the food in a minute but I want to share the most important piece, THESE GUYS AND GALS GET IT!
They connect to their community, their local school and they even have a small 6 acre farm close by in the Catskill Mountains. They have sold pies to help with the local soup kitchen, helped Jenny Kessler sustain her Organic Gardening program at Automotive High School just to name a few. OK now back to the food piece. I ordered the Country Ham Biscuit with Col. Bill Newsom's country ham, house made fig jam, Vermont Grafton Cheddar and served with cheese grits. Not just any cheese grits but Anson Mills Grits. The whole reason I ordered my selection was for the Col. Bill ham and the Grits. Good thing cause the biscuit less than great, but hey, we all have bad baking days and pretty damn sure that given all of the incredible food on that table for 6 that morning that this was not the normal gold standard biscuit that Egg strives for.
My side choice was a Caramelized Grapefruit with mint and let me tell ya out of everything great on that table this was by far the coolest. Don't think I've ever had a caramelized grapefruit?
Not sure exactly how they did it but here is my guess: remove the top portion of the grapefruit, soak it in mint simple syrup and low roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes and eat it. This will be attempted all weekend until I have perfection.
Now for Pie. Yep, pie after breakfast. Doesn't everyone eat pie at noon just after breakfast? So to get our Pie fix we headed to Four & Twenty Blackbirds and they do have some of my favorite coffee from Irving Farm in upstate NY. Like the coffee, the ingredients they use for their pies are local & fresh including Battenkill Creamery (less than an hour from my house) and it's some of the best cream and milk I have ever had.
Simple great pie using a simple space so it was all about the pie. For example the welcoming sign, the only sign, was a small white board with the words "fresh pies" hand painted on it, that's it. I guess a lot of these new hip places watched Field of Dreams when they were little kids because these folks are just building the dream and if you show up they would love to share with you their passion and if not then they will eat the pie without you. Over the cash register there was a small black board and hand written on that board was the following: Salty Honey ~Buttermilk Chess ~Salted Carmel Apple and not to worry cause we ordered all three. My favorite was the Salty Honey. It was this soft melt in your month kind of pie that was truly a new flavor for me and one that I will not soon to forget. Now lucky for me I'm a professionally trained eater and I know just when to have one bite or just two for good measure and I know when it's time for a walk.
Now it's time for a walk to the next spot that's just a 25 minutes away, Frankies 457 on Court St. Frankies' is not just another story of: two friends, both named Frank (stop me here if you have heard this one a thousand times before) from childhood that decided to open a restaurant. Yeah, they grew up together, and yeah, they have a restaurant, actually they have four but who's counting? They live and eat and play and drink in the same neighborhood. Their restaurant Prime Meats is a Farm to Table restaurant (.01 blocks from Frankies) that goes so far to even be a CSA pickup for members Lancaster Farm CO-OP. Yeah I say they get it, and they work with a lot of other folks that get it as well, like Jim & Andy -third generation vegetable cart peddlers from the streets of South Brooklyn, Saxelby Cheesemongers, & Six Point Craft Ales just to name a few locals.
We damn near ordered everything on the lunch menu but the braised octopus salad & the BLT on the crispiest flat ciabatta was the stars of the table. But if you asked everyone at the table I think the options would vary because everything was really amazing. The pastas were hand made, the sauces made to perfection & the salads (all 4 of them) had this lightness full flavor that we all reach for when making salads. You know the food is incredible when at the beginning of the meal everyone was saying "Oh my God I can't eat anything else" & things like "Please don't order everything" and one by one as we began to read the menu we were all adding menu items that read so well we all started adding things that just could be passed on.
Here's what I'm seeing and feeling all across this incredible country - Keep it simple, lead with your heart, what ever you do keep it honest and be your true self!
TO BE CONTINUED....
