Tag Archives: popovers

The Popover Cafe

27 Dec

The Popover Cafe is on 86th Street and Amsterdam Ave.  My sister recommended  it to me since I am such a huge popover fan.

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The inside was quaint and a great setting.  The menu mentioned that the owner decided to cook her favorite foods and that people just kept coming back for more.  It definitely all had that “homemade” feel, from decor to food.

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 They had some hot winter drinks on the menu, which quickly made me think that more restaurants should do this.  I got the warm cider punch.

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And Mike got a hot chocolate. 

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 We started with the mini popovers.

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They were a perfect 4 bite portion. 

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 And we got them with apple butter (along with regular butter and strawberry butter).  The minis were okay, but part of what makes popovers so great is all the delicious fluffy center.

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 Mike got the eggs benedict that came on an open popover. 

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 I got the Kobe Beef Corned Beef Hash.  It was a delicious blend of beef and potatoes, topped with a scrambled egg.  It was delicious!

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 And the popover was just perfect.   AND HUGE!

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Flakey (but not overly eggy) on the inside.

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I absolutely loved my meal.  It was just wonderful comfort food and sent over the edge by delicious popovers. 

I highly recommend the journey to the Upper West Side, especially if you love popovers.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

 

Forwarding our Food Network Sluttiness with Marc Forgione

5 Nov

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.

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

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And they even had a mini spiral staircase.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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But the bacon was fantastic.  Thick cut and crispy.

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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.

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

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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.

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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

Nomming thru Maine: Acadia National Park/Bar Harbor- Part 2

14 Jul

After planning so well for our restaurant stops in Portland, I really didn’t have many foodie plans for Bar Harbor.  We mostly stumbled upon places through the week.

One night we were looking for an early bite, however, most places didn’t open up until after 5:30.  One place we did find that was open was Rupununi

We started with the “empanadas” which were unlike any we had ever had before.  It was described as “Traditional Argentinian style, hand made empanadas stuffed with lobster, roast corn & cheese.”  It was like an empanada went to France and mated with a croissant.  But it was delish.

Mike ordered the Fisherman’s Fried Sampler with scallops, haddock, and Maine shrimp.  I think Mike maxed out on the fried food, however, the scallops were heavenly.  The rest was ehhhh. 

I went with the Lobster Scampi which came with fresh Maine lobster, artichokes, capers, cherry tomatoes, and spinach over linguini.  This was AMAZING!  You don’t see chunks of lobster like this outside of Maine.

Later that evening we were strolling through town and ducked into an ice cream store to buy some fudge.  I was so blown away by the following sign that I just had to try some of this ice cream flavor. (It was actually not half bad, though nothing I’d ever want as more than a taste)

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

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Unfortunately, our stay was very rainy, however, we made it over the Jordan Pond House one rainy afternoon for tea.  The location was a beautiful, old building right on the lake.

Here was the menu:


I went with the tea and popovers.


These were OUTRAGEOUSLY good popovers.

Mike went with the lobstah chowdah.

It looked kinda oily, so I was concerned, however, there were solid chunks of lobster meat that were as big as the bowl’s circumference.  And the taste was just sensational.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10 (for the afternoon tea anyway)

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On one of our last evenings in Bar Harbor, Mike and I went to Reel Pizza Cinerama, which is a movie theater that serves pizza (that smelled AMAZING) and had couches and little tables in front of seats to eat from.  We just had the beer.  It was a fun experience!

For dinner, we took a TripAdvisor recommendation and tried out Cafe This Way.  

I appreciated the design aesthetic on the ceiling.

The bread came out and smelled delicious. (It was fair)

We ordered the smoked duck wrapped scallops for an appetizer.  They were pretty good, but it wasn’t quite as ducky or scallopy as I would have hoped for.

We ordered a Pinot Noir while we were there that we enjoyed so much that I took a picture.  Look out for Angeline!

I guess I was on a duck kick and I ordered the roasted duck with spiced pears and blueberry jus.  This dish was dissapointing.  First, there were only 2 little slivers of spiced pear on the plate (with that heaping portion of duck!) and the blueberry jus wasn’t very interesting and the duck just wasn’t as flavorful as I’m used to (perhaps it was the type of duck this restaurant uses?)

Mike chose the grilled lamb sirloin that was served on a goat cheese, cheddar, onion, and jalapeno quesadilla with cilantro mint chimichurri.  I’m pretty sure he declared this just average.  Nothing like the lamb from Fore Street a few nights before.  

Overall, we were pretty disappointed by this place.  Nothing was bad, just underwhelming.

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10