Mike and I were watching The Next Iron Chef on Food Network and decided to look up Marc Forgione’s (a contestant on the show) restaurant since it’s in NYC.  We found it was in TriBeCa… and served brunch.  So we, of course, decided to schedule brunch for the next day (Sunday) since we’re such Food Network sluts.

There were many awesome sounding things on the menu, and I was especially excited to try the Eggs Benny that came with butternut squash “homefries” and crispy prosciutto.  Unfortunately, however, there were peppers in the hollandaise… so I was SOL.

The interior was very rustic.  I loved the candle lamps above the big table in the middle.

And they even had a mini spiral staircase.

The most tips on Four Square were about the “Suck You Sliders” made with suckling pig.  They warned us they had peppers in the rub, however, I decided to risk it and Mike and I split them.

The meat inside was perfectly tender and delicious with a bit of crackling still on it.  It was definitely spicy (especially, surprisingly, in the pickles and on the potatoes!) but it was worth the pain.  Hurts so good.

Mike went with “The Sandwich,” which was buckwheat pancakes as bread with crispy bacon and a sunny side up egg in the middle.

The pancakes looked very weird. (Were they cut out with those weird rough edges?) They were a bit dry and bland as well.  Disappointing.

But the bacon was fantastic.  Thick cut and crispy.

I went with the bacon, egg, and cheese (which came with a parmesan popover)… even though I had to trade out the bacon for the sausage since the bacon had peppers.  But I’m glad I did because this was probably the best sausage I have ever had.  It was sweet and savory all at the same time.  Tasted incredibly fresh.

The eggs were soft scrambled and mixed with sun dried tomatoes.  Well cooked but lacking in flavor.

And the popover just threw me for a loop.  I LOVE popovers.  And I mean LOVE them. Really really love them.  Did I mention I love popovers?  (And yes, while I really do love them, that was mostly an excuse to link to 4 other blog postings where I talk about how much I love popovers.)

These popovers, however, were too eggy and COLD.  COLD!  The flavors of everything were so good but there is no excuse for a cold popover.  Shame.

Oddly, when we asked for a dessert menu, we were told they don’t have one!  Seemed like a huge missed opportunity to sell more to current customers… but what can you do? I was disappointed, however, because I read good things about their pumpkin pie and it WAS Halloween and all.  Oh well.

Overall, I think this place was fantastic for flavor, and average for execution.  I was surprised that the popover was cold and dull, the buckwheat pancakes were dry and dull, and the eggs themselves were kind of… dull.  But for the bacon, sausage, and sliders, I would definitely go back and try this place for dinner.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

Tags: bacon, buckwheat pancakes, eggs, food network, marc forgione, next iron chef, parmesan popover, popover, popovers, pork sliders, restaurant review, restaurants, sausage, sliders, suck you sliders, suckling pig, the sandwich