Entries Tagged 'Food' ↓

I like my Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood. Really, I do, or at least that’s what I tell myself. PLG is right by Prospect Park, the zoo and the botanic garden. Authentic Jamaican beef patties, Trinidadian roti and oxtail soup are available just outside my door. Aside from those exotic options and the local pizza joint, I lament the lack of restaurants in my area. Do I really have to go all the way to Park Slope—or even worse, the East Village—just to have a nice brunch?

I’d walked by Cafe Enduro at least twice a day, every day, since moving to Brooklyn in October, yet I’d never been in. I wish I’d stopped in sooner, because the moment I walked in, I stopped merely tolerating my neighborhood and fell in love with it.

Cafe Enduro is a cozy little spot, one that makes you feel like you’ve left New York City for the day. Old-school rainbow Christmas lights and decorative wood beams add character to this Mexican joint. I was there at 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday for brunch and got a table right away, a feat that would have been impossible in the Slope or the Village. The prices also reflected that we weren’t in Park Slope anymore. The average price for a brunch entree, not including coffee, was $9.

I tucked into a generous portion of the fluffiest French toast I’ve sampled in ages. The basic serving is $7; adding strawberries and bananas to mine raised the price to $9.50. I don’t know how they managed to make the French toast so soft, fluffy, and almost gooey at the same time, but I didn’t ask questions, I just ate.

Cafe Enduro has a breakfast hash on the menu, not something you see every day. My friend tried the turkey version on a recommendation from our waitress, who said it was “well-spiced.” The hash came topped with an egg and, like my French toast, quickly disappeared.

Next time I’m there for brunch, I’ll try the eggs benedict with chipotle hollandaise. (Eggs benedict are the true measure of a brunch place.) By night Cafe Enduro is a Mexican cantina, so I look forward to sampling their margaritas, enchiladas, and banana fritters with mango cream for dessert.

Note to all my NYC friends: I’ve been coming to your neighborhoods, but now you have a good reason to meet me in my neck of the woods!

Cafe Enduro // 51 Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, 11225 // (718) 282-7097 // Q, B, or S to Prospect Park

The following post originally appeared on Neighborbee on December 29, 2008.

Happy new year, everybody! As 2008 draws to a close, it’s time to start thinking of New Year’s resolutions for 2009. Burn off those Christmas cookies. Climb out of debt. Get a better job. All those resolutions sound like hard work! Let’s add some fun stuff to the 2009 to-do list.

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The following post originally appeared on Neighborbee on December 23, 2008.

Times are tough. The Dow is down, prices are up, our wallets are empty. But we’re not going to let the recession keep us from enjoying the greatest city in the world. So let me present my Chrismukkah gift to you: the Ultimate Wallet-Friendly New York Date. (It also goes over well with out-of-town relatives.)

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The following post originally appeared on Neighborbee on November 10, 2008.

Now that the election is over, we can get back to talking about the really important issue—food! In the month since I moved to Brooklyn, I’ve visited Flipsters twice, both times with friends who were big fans. It’s easy to see why this good-natured bar and grill in Park Slope become part of my friends’ restaurant repertoire.

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The following post originally appeared on Neighborbee on October 27, 2008.

When I was making plans with my friend Sarah this week, she sent me four Brooklyn restaurant choices, all with links and menus. Perhaps it’s because I looked at their website first, but Melt was the clear choice for our dinner date.

Situated in Park Slope just a few blocks away from the subways at the Atlantic Terminal, Melt was already winning points for being so conveniently located. For some reason I’d been expecting a bigger restaurant, possibly because their menu was so intriguing. The space was pleasantly small; with room enough for only about seventy people. With modern furniture and clean lines, Melt manages to be sleek and sophisticated without being pretentious.

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I write about Brooklyn every week for NYC’s Neighborbee blog.   The following post originally appeared on Neighborbee on October 20, 2008.

Hello Noo Yawkers, it’s Julie here, Neighborbee’s new Brooklyn blogger. I’m back in the city after year-long travels, and now I have one more good reason to go out and explore my new borough.

Unsure of what haunt to cover for my first post, I called my friend Hils, a long-time Brooklynite. She suggested Camp, a Smith Street bar that had always intrigued her. “Julie,” she said, “they have S’mores.” That was all it took for me to agree to a 3-train trip across Brooklyn.  (Sidebar: why is it easier for me to go into Manhattan than to go to Smith Street? I really must look into buses.)

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Hello from Fiji! Before Jared and I tell you about our time here in paradise (seriously, Fiji is heaven on earth) let’s look back on our quick jaunt to the good old U.S. of A. We spent 10 days seeing people we love and chowing down on all the food we’d been missing.

Jared and I don’t plan too far in advance, so when Jared’s sister offered us two free tickets to Houston for her graduation, we jumped at the chance to go home for a bit. We took advantage of some buddy passes and frequent flier tickets and mapped a frantic U.S. tour: first Houston, then Florida, New York, and finally Los Angeles.

We touched down in Houston after more than five months in South America. I couldn’t help but immediately see the overconsumption that is prevalent in the States. Everywhere we looked we saw big SUVs, big houses, big portions of food. Then again, this was Texas, where everything is big.
We weren’t in Houston to sightsee, we were there to see family. Jared’s sister Rachel became one of the newest flight attendants in the skies, and we both gained a new respect for flight attendants. (Rachel can evacuate a plane in 90 seconds!) As a bonus, we got to stay with Jared’s cousins Cindy, Todd, 3-year-old Jessica, and one-year-old Colin. Last time we saw Jessica she was only one, and this was our first time meeting Colin, who I wanted to take with me.

Our next stop was my hometown, West Palm Beach, Florida. Throughout our last few weeks in South America, I was growing more homesick by the day. Seeing my parents, grandparents, and best friends did more for my spirits than a stay at a five-star hotel. My parents are selling my childhood home, so next time I see them they will be living in Georgia. I gave my grandparents big hugs, because they are 81 and 90, and I can’t take them for granted anymore. Jared and I even got to spend time with his grandmother Myra, who lives not far from my parents. Friends are the family you choose, so seeing Jen, Billy, Katie, Bill, Eileen, and Hope was as important as seeing my parents. (I just wish I had taken more pictures of everybody.)

Then it was on to New York City, which is still my favorite city in the world. We had 36 hours to see as many of our friends as possible. It was a chilly Tuesday night in the city, but a few friends came to meet us for dinner and karaoke, and even more came out later for drinks. Over salmon and avocado rolls at our old sushi joint, we all sang rousing versions of “Sweet Child O Mine” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Being serenaded by Feldman was worth the price of admission. Jared and I had missed all our friends more than they know, and seeing them was worth the trip to New York.

The next day in New York, I realized I had lost my wallet. Somewhere between paying for the cab back to Maria’s apartment the night before, and walking 10 blocks that morning, my wallet went missing. Both my debit cards and three credit cards were in my wallet, and I know better than to keep all that stuff in one place. As my favorite blogger would say, BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Now that I was back on familiar territory I had let my guard down, and I was paying the price. It’s better to have lost my wallet in New York than in a foreign country, but still, this is not how I wanted to spend my one free day in the New York City. I wanted to spend my day getting lemon cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop.

Los Angeles was the last stop on our North American leg. We scored a great deal on a flight to New Zealand, via Fiji, at half the price we would have paid from South America. So by coming home, we actually saved $1600. Plus we got to spend time with our good friends Erin, Hal, Hasmik, Kareem, Noah, Greg, Danielle, and Jenni. We grilled on a sidewalk, soaked in a hot tub, and spent time enjoying the hospitality of our new and old friends. Our time in L.A. also coincided with Community Next, a conference founded by our friend Noah. (We were used to seeing Noah in boxers at his Buenos Aires apartment, so it was strange to see him in a suit.) Right before our flight, we even crashed a barbecue where the host, who only met us that day, made us an incredible lunch of root beer marinated pork chops and grilled eggplant.

Having seen lots of family and friends and satisfied my cravings for margaritas, buffalo wings, spinach dip, sushi, chocolate chip cookies, salt and vinegar chips, In-N-Out Burger, Ethiopian food, sushi, burritos, The Cheesecake Factory, cookie dough ice cream, and more sushi, Jared and I boarded our flight to Fiji. We left the states feeling happy, exhausted, and ready for another long leg of travel. Thank you to everyone who put us up, transported us to and from airports, fed us and came to see us. We appreciate it more than you know.