Beatnik - Brunch

 

 

 

 

A Beatnik was the name given to the counter-culture of the late 1940s to early 1960s and those that embraced it.  They were worldly, open, artistic, pushing back against the ideas of the time and embracing many ideas and philosophies from India and Asia.  They were the Hipsters of their time.  The restaurant, Beatnik, in West Town, tries to embrace this aesthetic with it's design, menu, and soundtrack.  I decided to go there for a weekend brunch, just before the lock down started, because I had heard a lot of good things about it and I wanted to get there while I still had a chance.  Things started before I even entered the building.  It was very easy to recognize because of the colorful shelter at the entrance.  The door opens to an atrium with glass walls and a cracked tile floor.  The cocktail lounge is to the left and the dining room which the atrium opens to in the middle of the room is mostly to the right.  The room is large and basically open with antique brick walls, unfinished ceilings, and a lot of plant life and parasols.  Many of the dining areas start with large and heavy wood tables, which was what ours was, and the seating consisted of a lot of wicker and cushions.  There is a large skylight at the front of the room, where many of the parasols are located, with the back of the room lit with large crystal chandeliers and candlelight.  There were several large semi-enclosed booths against the walls, that employed Eastern motifs, that would seat about 12 people apiece and the kitchen was open.  The menu design went with much of the rest of the place, employing paisley/psychedelic design.  The food and drink was very international, sometimes bringing elements from several different cultures into one dish.

 

There was a lot to look at on the menu, so while I was looking, I took a little time and ordered Coffee and a cocktail.  The coffee was served in a vintage coffee cup that looked like something I might see in my Grandmas house.  The coffee itself seemed to be a medium roast, was pretty flavorful, and was quickly refilled.  My cocktail was called a Wake Up Call and it was like a bastard child of and Old Fashioned and an Irish Coffee.  It started with Bourbon, and added Sparrow Cold Brew, Walnut Liqueur, Montenegro, Demerara, Mole Bitters, Coconut Whip, and topped it with Nutmeg.  It was really good.  In addition to the booze and coffee, the cocktail added some sweetness and spice topped with whipped cream and I really liked the Nutmeg finish.  With what was essentially two cups of coffee in front of me, I was definitely ready for the world.

As is typical for brunches, I will look at the pastry list.  While Beatnik didn't have a list, as such, it did have a platter.  While I do typically order multiple pastries for the table to share, with the Platter, it was a given that I was going to need to share.  The Decadent Pastry Platter included a Cookie, a Cupcake, Coffee Cake, and Banana Bread.  As the name suggests, this platter was pretty decadent with many international flavors among the sweetness with a Miso Butterscotch Cookie, a Pecan Pie Cupcake topped with crushed Pecans, Apple Date Coffee Cake, and a couple slices of Tahini Banana Bread.  It was big, very good, and almost too much for my party of four in addition to our regular dishes.

As for my main dish, I noticed on the menu before I even came, a dish with international flavors (and origin) that I will not frequently pass up, though I did look at the rest of the menu before ordering it.  They had Shakshuka.  Admittedly, I had had it recently at my last brunch at Bad Hunter a few weeks prior and had loved that, but that was done in small as a pastry, and this was a complete dish.  As I had mentioned, Shakshuka is a Mediterranean Dish that is essentially Eggs poached in Tomato Sauce.  This Shakshuka was made as a Tagine, a Moroccan method of cooking that uses an earthenware clay cone over it that essentially slow cooks and steams the food inside.  This Tagine Shakshuka was prepared with Duck Eggs  in a Spicy Tomato Sauce, Roasted Marcona Almonds, A Fresh Herb Salad, and Merguez Sausage.  It was served with Pita Bread.  I found the best way to eat this was to stuff it into the Pita (Sausage, Eggs, Tomato, Herbs) and eat it as a Sandwich.  It was good, I enjoyed the flavors and textures, and eating it as a sandwich was different, but it wasn't something that I will have to come back for, like some of the other flavors here.  This was a lot of fun.  I loved both the design of the place and the international flavors.  I will definitely have to return to try their dinner and other cocktails.

Bad Hunter - Brunch

 

While I had gone to Bad Hunter recently for dinner with Tasting Collective (and really enjoyed it), their brunch had been on my list for a while.  I had wanted to go about a year previous, but a fire got in the way.  The fact that I had really liked it for dinner put it near the top of my list and pushed me to make brunch plans.  I generally do not make plans for small parties, but the number that were coming with me doubled in size at the last minute, which did not allow me to make a reservation for the date and time that I had planned, so it was going to have to be a walk in and wait (if it came to that, my party wasn't that big).  While there were no tables available, we were offered one side of the counter in the center of the dining room which had a row of plants in the center, separating us from the other side of the counter.  It was a little awkward for conversation from one side of the counter to the other, there were 5 of us, but the plant life in front of us was nice.  I started things off, as is typical for me for brunch, with Coffee and a Cocktail.  The coffee was a medium roast and nicely flavored.  It definitely helped do the trick.  For my cocktail, I went with something light and refreshing, a Pink Spritz which came with Ramazotti Rosa, Batavia Arrack, and Sparkling Rose.  The Ramazotti is a wine based Amaro made with Hibiscus and Orange Peel and the Batavia Arrack is a Sugar Cane based Liqueur similar to Rum, but made with the addition of Red Rice.  The drink was nicely chilled, lightly bittersweet with floral and citrus flavors, and provided a nice start to a great meal.

 

 

When there is a pastry selection, I will generally order it for the table.  There were three choices and they all sounded good, so I decided to order all of them.  The first selection were Beignets covered in Powdered Sugar and served with two dipping sauces, one Caramel based and one with Orange Rind.  If beignets are made correctly they are very light and airy with a flaky crust under a ton of powdered sugar.  They are great to eat even if a bit messy with the powdered sugar.  These were very good beignets and the dipping sauces just added to them.  The second Pastry was a Cranberry Sage Pop Tart.  Many Pop Tarts are very sweet.  This pop tart, while having some sweetness was not incredibly so.  It also had a lot of filling and the Sage added an herbal complement to the bittersweet cranberry flavor.  The last pastry was the one that I was most interested in.  It was called a Shakshuka Croissant which I had a little bit of a hard time wrapping my head around.  Shakshuka is a dish from the Middle East consisting of Eggs poached in Tomato Sauce and Spices.  It is very savory and I like it a lot.  A Croissant is a flaky layered pastry which I also like.  While I could see eating Croissants with Shakshuka, I couldn't see how Shakshuka could be made into a Croissant.  The answer was moderation.  The egg was cooked on top and the tomatoes were inside the croissant.  It was topped with Basil and Grated Parmesan and was pretty amazing.

The restaurant had hit a home run with the pastries, I was excited to see how my main course would turn out.  I ordered a Chicken Fried Hen of the Woods Mushroom Sandwich with American Cheese, Bread and Butter Pickles, White Barbecue Sauce, and a side of Hot Sauce.  Mushrooms are very savory and are frequently used as a meat substitute.  Chicken Frying the mushrooms, added a crunchy exterior while maintaining the mushrooms juicy.  The Bread and Butter Pickles were sour and crispy.  White Barbecue Sauce is a spicy, mayonnaise based sauce used frequently with chicken, and everything is better with cheese.  American Cheese is simple and goes well with those things that don't need any complexity.  It was a great finish to a great brunch and I would be happy to return if for nothing more than the Shakshuka Croissant.