Pricing: Not Cheap
Venue: Sit Down
Cuisine: French (cafe/bistro)
Favorite Dish(es): Croque Monsieur, Merguez Baguette

Lazy Sunday summertime brunches have never been better than this. Start with a strong iced espresso to jolt your hungover brain back into action, and then fill your belly with an awesome French breakfast sandwich. Take your pick, they’re all damn good. The Croque Monsieur is a toasty ham and cheese with perfectly melted Gruyere cheese on top and the Merguez is a spicy lamb sausage recipe borrowed from the Berbers (ref?) that has a decent kick. Either will help soak up last night’s booze while you pine away about how nice it would be to be in Paris right about now…

Merguez. Baaaa!

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1.  Bouchon Bakery at Columbus Circle has some devilishly tasty-sounding specialty items this season.

• Bat TKO’s – A Bouchon Bakery Halloween favorite; crisp, bat-shaped chocolate cookies filled with sweet white chocolate ganache; $2.75 each
• Pumpkin Cupcake – These decadent devils food cupcakes are shaped as a pumpkin, complete with a rich, cream cheese center and finished with fondant; $4.50 each (see pic below)
• Spider Cookies – Homemade shortbread cookies festively decorated with fondant; $3.25 each
• Pumpkin Brittle – This classic brittle is fused with pumpkin seeds to highlight the flavors of the season; $5.75 per bag
• Caramel Apple – fresh, crisp apple smothered in house made caramel; $7.50 each

Check out these decked out pumpkin cupcakes. I can just imagine how sweet and buttery that fondant frosting must be...

…and….

2.  Cafe Du Soleil on the Upper West Side is holding a costume party dinner with a $24.95 Prix Fixe menu and $50 to the best costume.  Click the flyer image below to make reservations on their website.

This soiree looks sinful...

Cafe Du Soleil
2723 Broadway, at 104th St
(212) 316-5000

Pricing: Not Cheap
Venue: Sit-Down
Cuisine: French
Favorite Dish(es): Moules De Bruxelles (dinner $17.95) – steamed mussels, beer and shallots; Veal Sausage (Brunch); Pommes Frites a L’Ail (side $2.95) – garlic french fries

Nice Parisian style cafe perfect for weekend brunches with friends and family. They open their doors to the outdoor seating patio during spring and summer when the NYC weather is nice and warm. Basically all the dishes are semi-fancy with good, garlic and herby flavors. They have, in my opinion, THE yummiest garlic fries in authentic European style- thin, crispy & lightly seasoned. Try their steamed moules frites cooked in beer or white wine. Both excellent. They have great weekly specials including 1/2 price wine night and Steak Night for $12.95. Check out their website for details!

*Update 10/13/09: Added New Pics!*

Moules Frites - Mussels with French Fries

Garlic french fries. Arguably the best fries in NYC.

A very nice rainbow trout, prepared however you like it.

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Pricing: Not Cheap
Venue: Take Out
Cuisine: French Bakery, Dessert, Coffee
Favorite Dish(es): Blueberry Macaron ($2.95), Bacon Chive Scone, Red Velvet Cupcake

Fancy bakeries are pretty commonplace in NYC, but this one on the top floor of the uberposh “mall” at Columbus Circle sets itself apart with a few notable offerings. Most obvious are the colorful, oversized macarons (not to be confused with macaroons) and bakery-made Oreos behind the glass. Don’t even get her started on the macarons. Definitely try the blueberry one- it’s blueberry and cream cheese heaven. I also liked the chocolate and our friend is a huge fan of the vanilla ones. Just get one of each and try them all to find your favorite. I doubt any will be left uneaten.

But in my opinioin, the hidden gem that isn’t a sweet treat at all is the Bacon Chive Scone.

It may sound odd to some, but it’s really a good pairing of flavors and textures, meat and carbs. Crunchy bits of bacon embedded in between flaky layers of buttery pastry that are more like puff pastry than “scone”, but who cares? When i think of scones i think of a rock. This is firm but not crumbly. Its almost like a super gussied up hot pocket, without the freezer burn and oozing fake cheese. I almost thought for a moment that it could be even better with a coat of crispy cheese on top, but the butter and bacon are plenty salty and savory enough on their own. It’s a good thing I don’t work near Columbus Circle or I’d be eating these for breakfast on a regular basis.

The other sweet nothing whispering in my ear was a huge Red Velvet Cupcake. Really though, at the size of a large beefsteak tomato, it was shouting at me, “Take me home.” So I did. It was the perfect size to share, like a mini cake. The interesting thing about it was that it actually tasted chocolatey, unlike most other red velvets. (Red velvet, for those who don’t know, is simply just red food coloring added to a cocoa-based cake mix.)  The chocolate flavor is strong but not overpowering. The frosting is a thick rich cream cheese and butter base. Think chocolate cream cheese muffin. Mmmm. The packaging was also fancy, albeit wasteful. I felt like I had just bought a Coach bag – it is, Columbus Circle after all.

I’ll be back here for sure. after I work off the 2 lbs of butter from the first trip!

Crayola Macaroni!

macarons, not little hamburgers.

chocolate, meet blueberry and cheese

Beggin' for Bacon...Scones

fancy schmancy

mega cupcake, not sure what the red crunchies on top are...

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1700 Broadway, at 53rd St & 7th Ave
(212) 757-2233

Pricing: Not Cheap
Venue: Sit Down
Cuisine: Contemporary American
Favorite Dish(es): Croque Madame $11.50; Moules Provencale $14.95

This is a huge touristy place in Midtown, with outdoor seating and the biggest patio umbrella you will ever see. It’s a typical French/Belgian bistro-style cafe with the standard Brasserie (Cafe/Restaurant) fare: Moules Frites (mussels in soupy sauce with Belgian french fries), Steak Sandwiches, super strong coffee, imported beer selections, and full course dinner entrees.

We mostly come here for the brunch, especially for the Croque Madame. It’s a version of the Croque Monsieur sandwich with an egg on top – basically a fancy ham & cheese: Ham and melted Gruyere or Swiss Cheese between baguette bread which has been toasted with cheese on top forming a crunchy crust. Served with a bechamel or hollandaise sauce. Yum.

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