Telepan is one of those restaurants that I have always heard good things about, meant to try, and would forget about soon thereafter. I was browsing through OpenTable.com for a brunch place in the Upper West Side (it’s on 69th Street just east of Columbus Ave), and when Telepan came up with an open reservation, I was delighted to finally be able to cross it off the list.
We were warmly greeted and shown to our table. Bread came out fast and it was my favorite type of brunch bread basket: lots of different things to try.
And the jam and butter were especially good!
We did the brunch prix fixe for $32, which included the breads, apps, and entrees. First out was the apple sausage with poached egg, duck prosciutto & watercress. It was all well balanced, well dressed, and quite tasty.
We also tried the house smoked brook trout with potato-chive blini & sweet onion sour cream. It was the most mentioned dish on FourSquare tips, so why not? This was one of those moments that FourSquare proved its value to me. I would have never ordered this without the recommendation, and that would have been a shame. This had great smoky flavors, excellent texture, and a great balance.
For our entrees, Mike, surprise surprise, got the burger. It was one of those burgers that was almost too high to get into an average sized mouth, but Mike overcame this hurdle and somehow ate it. And it was good.
I got the Lumberjack, which had scrapple (which is kind of like a pork scraps cake), canadian bacon, buttermilk pancake, and sunnyside up eggs.
The combination of flavors and textures made this into a really great dish. The scrapple was especially delicious and crispy. A really great brunch dish.
I really enjoyed our meal at Telepan and I’m surprised it took me this long to try it. I want to go back for dinner in the near future and try some more dishes. But if you’re looking for brunch on the UWS, Telepan is a great choice!
They also participate in Restaurant Week, and have picnic baskets to take with you into Central Park, and Sunday night Burger Night. In case you needed another excuse to go.
Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10
