The Breslin

I love good food.  Eating out is a very social experience for me; sharing good food with friends is very important to me.  So while I love good food, and will occasionally subject myself to discomfort for it, I don’t really enjoy waiting on ridiculous lines, wading through throngs of people who just want to be part of the latest trend, calling a place at exactly 10am every morning hoping to get a reservation for a month later… I just don’t get food being trendy, or hip, or the IT thing… Just if it tastes good, eat it!

On that note, I went to have dinner with my friends E & StB recently, and as is my usual practice, someone else chose the place.  (There’s too much pressure to choose a place!)  StB chose The Breslin, which she’d been meaning to try for a while, and so we made our way there the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, hoping this meant a shorter wait and less crowds, as they don’t take reservations. 

E and I arrived first, and each got a drink while we waited.  E ordered the Synchronicity, which had Pimm’s in it, which she hadn’t tried in the past, and like me, found Pimm’s very refreshing and a fun summer cocktail.  Mine was, according to the menu online, called Lust for Life (ha!, isn’t that just me!), gin, lavender honey… tasty.  Both of our drinks were very tasty and well-thought-out.  Yum! 

We decided to split everything; StB suggested the small terrine board ($25), which had – top left, going down – guinea hen with morels, rustic pork, rabbit & prune, head cheese, and liverwurst… the three small cups were a nice grainy mustard, gherkins, and some pickled veggies, along with four slices of rustic bread that’d been grilled lightly.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize E doesn’t eat most of this stuff, so it was up to me and StB to chow down!  Luckily, both she and I eat all of this stuff with gusto.  All of these were quite tasty – and I almost shamefully admit that the rabbit was definitely one of my preferred tastes of the night; not gamey, nice and meaty, with a hint of sweetness from the prune.  But the rustic pork was also delicious, and really, each item was, but my least favorite would be the headcheese – if only because there were only 4 pieces of bread, not enough to complement the oiliness inherent to headcheese (it is, afterall, very fatty).  So that was my one complaint about the terrine platter: not enough bread. 

Our other appetizer was sweetbreads ($16), which, unfortunately, E also didn’t want to try… but StB and I convinced her to try a little piece! and she thought it wasn’t that bad!  Actually, of the now-6? times I’ve had sweetbreads, this is definitely in the top half of the list.  Not chalky, creamy, and well suited with the creme fraiche on the plate… just, yum.  I could happily have eaten the whole plate myself.  Not that it was all that big anyway! 

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to order “thrice cooked chips” ($7), and these were quite lovely, served alongside a slightly mustardy dipping sauce and a few spicy pickles.  Pretty good fries, crisp outsides with hot potato insides.  Yum! 

Our main course was arctic char, one of the specials of the night.  Cucumbers with creme fraiche, dill, and lightly grilled.  The fish was juicy and moist, and the skin crisp.  Yum!

For dessert, E went with the buttermilk pie, with strawberry preserves, blush currants and fresh cream.  I tried a bite and it was really fresh and light tasting, despite its name seeming to imply otherwise.  I know she really enjoyed it as well. 

StB and I shared the chocolate stout syllabub. 

No, I don’t know what a syllabub is, but the description of bubbled caramel and creme fraiche sold both of us.  The bubbled caramel was crunchy and sweet, and the entire pudding-like texture contrasted nicely.  I really enjoyed this dessert, though, at $9… I don’t know.

Here’s what’s interesting though, that I’ve refrained from mentioning this whole time: the food was good.  Excellent, even; there wasn’t a single thing I’d change about what we ordered (aside from giving us more bread for the terrine board).  But the pretention that oozed from the staff, the atmosphere, overall, rubbed me the wrong way.  A number of incidents: sure, they can’t seat incomplete parties, not a big deal.  But the hostesses/waitresses had entire conversations while we waited to ask them a simple question; we tried to order the steak – which is sold in certain sizes, so we ordered the smallest one – but were told they’d sold out of that size.  They had another size, about 2oz’s difference, and it was $125!  WHOA.  You’re not even a steakhouse!  Come on now, even the top places don’t charge that much for steak. 

Okay, so that’s not pretention, but what happened next was: we asked to see the menu again, and requested that our appetizer orders be put in the meantime.  The waitress tilted her head, looked at us as if we weren’t quite speaking her language, and then said, “Sorry, the kitchen doesn’t accept partial orders!  Let me know when you’re ready!” and walked away.  We were starving because we’d had to wait for so long already (yes, there was still a wait), and were just kind of like, um, ok… And of course I later snarkily commented to my friends that ordering dessert makes our previous order incomplete (I know, I know, that’s not really true, but whatever).  Overall, the experience was just kind of icky dealing with the staff, the air of derision and just … ech. 

Yvo says: The food here was excellent.  Aside from the ridiculous price of the steak, everything was fairly reasonable, and were I able to go to just enjoy the food, without the staff or other people there… I really would.  If they allow to-go orders (for some of the stuff; other stuff is just meant to be eaten there, obviously)… I would totally do that.  But the attitude of the staff, the “We don’t really need you” sense I got from everyone?  Sorry, I don’t go out to dinner to be treated poorly.  I’m not into that.  But hell, if that’s what floats your boat…
recommended for the food; the attitude, not so much