The Breslin

I've been to this restaurant once before, for lunch -- but I was always too scared to go for dinner (high prices, fancy people, pressure to get appetizers... yikes). So tonight's dinner with my mom was something of an achievement for me, as pathetic as that is. Fortunately the people weren't fancy at all, and aside from a ridiculous $50 pork thing, the prices weren't that bad, either. The Breslin is absolutely worth it.

Run by April Bloomfield and known for its $21 lamb burger, The Breslin is one of the many fixtures of the Ace Hotel on 29th and Broadway: Stumptown, the John Dory Oyster Bar, Liberty Hall, and a number of expensive oddity stores (you know what I'm talking about). Bloomfield also runs the more well-known The Spotted Pig over on the west side, but that jump I'm definitely too scared to make, at least right now. Not ready for a suckling pig dinner!

I'm not usually a food blogger, but the flavor combinations at this place were inspirational. I'm going to list them, in case they inspire you too:

blood orange-grapefruit salad over bibb lettuce with fried red quinoa, chives, and arugula, in sheep's milk dressing
smashed ozette potatoes with sauerkraut and mustard seeds
spiced parsnip panacotta with parsnip cake "croutons," fresh pear, and pear sorbet

It goes without saying that The Breslin also has a made-exclusively-for-The-Breslin saison by Sixpoint.

All this gets me thinking about potential food projects and combinations:

homemade yogurt + cara cara oranges
different milks
jerusalem artichokes + vinegar
root vegetables as a silkener: celery root, hawaiian sweet potato (celery root rice pudding with granola?)
prickly pear + graham crackers
lychees + cream