Pommes Frites

A couple of weeks ago, before my baby sister Christine went back to school, I spent a girls evening in the city with my mom and sisters. And as anyone knows, no girls night is complete without shopping and eating. So that’s what we did.

Since there was a lot of ground to cover, we decided to space out our eating by doing a basic taste test of a few different spots. After a not-so-quick trip to Nordstrom Rack in Union Square, first up was a stop at Otto for some pizza and a cheese platter decked out with truffled honey; the latter of which being worthy of a spot on my own personal Best Thing I Ever Ate list. As I detailed in this post, Otto is famous for their authentic pizza and their prime Village location. And how does one follow up artisinal pizza? Well, with delicious, homemade fries of course.

Enter Pommes Frites. This blink-and-you-miss-it authentic Belgian French fry shop in the East Village serves up fresh from the fryer potato wedges sprinkled with salt and alongside a laundry list of accoutrements. With Jersey Shore-style malt vinegar, 12 mayo varietals, curreid ketchup and melted cheese, there's a little something for every palette. We went with an order of malt vinegar (Mom's pick), cheddar cheese (my pick), blue cheese (Christine's pick) and traditional mayo (Kimberly's pick). Though Shaun and the mayo gods will probably shun me for this, my winning pick goes to the blue cheese. Yum.

Though the four of us managed to put away two regular sized Pommes Frites bags while accruing third degree burns inside our mouths, I must admit that while delicious, these fries were just not up to snuff compared to my favorite thin-cut variety. For the ultimate fry, and more of a French-style pommes frites if you will, I prefer Balthazar in SoHo or Hoboken's Elysian Cafe. The French-style is, after all, reminiscent of our trip to Paris in 2006 where we admittedly indulged in classic pommes frites with mayonnaise dressing (not standard, thick mayo as served at Pommes Frites and any other American place for that matter) anytime the opportunity presented itself.

But Pommes Frites as a stand alone potato wedge? Color me mouthwatered.

On the cheap: Iced Coffee

This week, we've finally gotten a bit of a break from the heat. Plagued by 95 degree days for the last few months, Manhattan has been something of a sweat box. In an effort to combat the extreme temps, I've dabbled in a daily iced coffee. After weeks of spending a minimum of $2.50 per day on iced coffee from my local bodega, and sometimes an admitted $3.25 per day at Dunkin’ Donuts, I decided it was time for a change. While it's not a huge expense, I'm all for cutting corners where I can and saving up a bit of cash to put towards more fun things, like a good Sunday brunch. And can we take a moment for the fact that iced coffee should in no way cost more than hot coffee, which can easily be scored for under $2? Not only is it the same product but they are in fact giving you less coffee. There had to be a better way; a way to do it on the cheap.

Enter my new friend and commuting buddy - the COPCO iced coffee cup, a heavy duty reusable plastic cup and straw with a screw-on lid. Can we say genius?

Just when I thought I was the only person living under a rock and had just discovered this wonderful invention midway through the summer, I was pleased to find that I wasn’t the only one who was frustrated and looking for a solution. As I was riding the shuttle to the Path last week, a few co-riders marveled at it, their amateur eyes lighting up with envy. And I have to tell you, I don’t blame them. It is pretty wonderful.

The cup has long since paid for itself while saving me time in the morning, not to mention daily dollars. I simply brew my coffee at night, let it come to room temperature, store it in the fridge overnight and dress it in the morning. And so you know this isn't just hot air, here's the breakdown:

COPCO iced coffee cup: $7.99 (though technically free since my wonderful Mom purchased it for me)
1 bag Dunkin’ Donuts French Vanilla ground coffee: $8.99
Half & Half: $1.29 (though already had, for my weekend coffee)
Total: $18.27 for at least 3 weeks of morning coffee and counting

For $18, this would buy me 7 days at my local bodega (at $2.50/cup) and a mere 5 days of coffee at Dunkin Donuts (at $3.25/cup). Is it me, or does this make so much more sense? And quite honestly, I think the coffee from my own home tastes so much better, not to mention the fact that now I get to enjoy my coffee during my entire ride to work rather than having to wait until crossing into Manhattan. Oh happy day.

So that's how I've managed to save some coin each day while celebrating a personal victory that I'm not being taken advantage of for my $3. So what do you think? Do you BYO or prefer to purchase?

PS - TAA was in no way paid to or offered any compensation or incentive to push the COPCO iced coffee cup. We just happen to think it's tops and want to share!

Brunch at Mesa Grill

Last weekend, Shaun and I headed into Manhattan for an extra special Sunday brunch at Mesa Grill. Since Shaun's 2009 birthday dinner made my personal top ten best meals list, and subsequently lead to my early demise at 10PM that night, I had high hopes for this one. The outcome? It was nothing short of Southwestern deliciousness. Let's get down to the goods...

Any good brunch begins with a good bread basket and this one ranks supreme. Filled with coffee cake, moist blueberry scones and mini cheddar-jalapeno biscuits with red pepper jam, the bread basket was the perfect way to kick off our decadent meal and within minutes, I'm semi-ashamed to say, we had polished off most of its contents.

I should point out one of our favorite pieces, a blue corn muffin, made with real kernels of corn - the only way to do corn muffins in my opinion.

Though we easily consumed the entire basket of baked goods, we still deemed it necessary to also have an appetizer before the main attraction. With lots to choose from, we just couldn't pass up the Queso Fundido, a burning hot skillet of cheese and roasted peppers served with blue corn chips. We had sampled this during our last visit, and it was just as good as I've dreamed about ever since.

For my meal, I had poached eggs (something that is oh-so-hard to get right) over sweet potato and shredded chicken hash. It was enough to feed two, yet somehow I managed to put a good dent in it all by my lonesome. Perhaps it's my penchant for dipping or my childhood memories of my parents serving up birds' nests for breakfast, but there's nothing like a good, runny egg yolk.

My faith in Bobby Flay paid off and the poached eggs were perfectly cooked; the whites completely cooked while the yolk was completely runny with no hardened yolk to speak of, causing a veritable puddle of rich egg yolk over my sweet potato hash. Yum.

And though by this point we could scarcely move, I still found it necessary to hear the dessert specials of the day. Once the words pineapple upside down cake were uttered, I was smitten and convinced Shaun that it was in fact necessary to sample the goods. You know, for research purposes.

Encased in a layer of carmelized brown sugar and topped with pineapple ice cream and a slice of fresh pineapple, this dessert was no joke. Even Shaun had to admit that it was a good call. It also was the moment I was completely convinced that I must get myself the ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer so that I too can come up with out of the ordinary ice cream concoctions.

So there you have it - a delectable roundup of our fancy Sunday brunch. Though I was on the verge of food coma for the rest of the day and it came with a heftier-than-usual price tag, Mesa was the perfect spot for a special Sunday brunch. And what I'd really love to know is, where is your favorite place for brunch?

Psst...for even more brunch fun, check out my roundups of B Bar, Elysian Cafe and Cercle Rouge!