Well, this morning went pretty much as planned...I met my mom for breakfast around 9:30 at a spot called
E.J.'s Luncheonette. E.J.'s has three outposts in Manhattan - one on Amsterdam in the West 80's, one in Greenwich Village, and one near me, at 73rd and 3rd. This is the one Mom and I visited today.
E.J.'s is known for large portions of good, solid comfort food - nothing fancy, but plenty of hangover cures to be had, which may explain why they're packed to the gills on weekend mornings. This morning was pretty quiet, about half full. Mom had eggs overeasy, bacon and challah toast with raspberry jam. I had "crispy french toast," which is challah coated in egg, cornflakes and crushed almonds, then fried up in butter. Served with syrup and more butter. It was good - my cold is preventing me from tasting a whole lot, so it seemed bland, but it could just have been my impaired taste buds doing their thing - or not, as the case may be.
Sorry for the small picture! ImageGullet and I were having a bit of a tiff...we've made up for now, but that picture was the collateral damage, I fear.
After saying goodbye to my mom, I walked uptown to
Eli's, a market owned by Zabar's founder Eli Zabar. Eli's can be expensive - their produce in particular seems pricey to me - but they're great for cheeses, prepared foods and breads. Also, unlike Zabar's across town, Eli's is relatively sane, even on a Saturday morning.
I needed to grab garlic, onions and bread for the garlic soup I'm making this afternoon, and also needed to pick up some stock - I don't have much in the freezer right now, so I figure theirs is the next-best thing to homemade. Here's a photo tour of what I found!
Eli's entrance on Third Avenue, looking northeast:
When you enter Eli's, you walk through a small florist's area, and then you hop on the escalator that will take you down to the market's main floor...
The escalator dumps you into the produce section - I thought the citrus looked particularly good!
After you pass through the produce section (where I ended up grabbing the aforementioned onions and garlic as well as a lemon for the endless cups of tea I'm drinking to combat my cold), you enter the prepared foods section. There's a small cooler with sandwiches (brisket with roasted onions on health bread is a typical offering), the requisite sushi, and then shelf upon shelf of soups, stocks, dips, dressings, and the like. This is where I picked up my chicken stock - I noticed that they are also carrying schmalz these days, though I prefer to buy that at the kosher butcher in my block.
Close to the prepared foods are the olive and pickle bar and the cheese section. The photo I took does not do the cheese section justice - the service here is great, as are the descriptions of each cheese offered on the placards. I am not a huge cheese-easter, but usually serve some to guests, and the folks at Eli's are great about letting me know what will go well with my favorite olives and cornichons.
I didn't get a chance to document them, but the meat and fish counters are great here, too - recently, the NY Times did an expose on "wild" salmon being sold at counters around NYC, and only Eli's was found to be carrying the real thing.
Before you make it to the escalator that will take you into the baked goods section, you pass through the dry goods area - nuts, dried fruits, coffee, vinegar and oils...all good, though, as noted above, slightly pricey.
And, here's the view on the up escalator!
The baked goods at Eli's are awesome - they have the most delicious mini-toasts that are great for parties, and their breads are amazing and relatively cheap. They also always have samples of at least one baked good available for tasting. Today it was some sort of coffee cake, and the gentleman whose hand is in the picture was really enjoying his third taste!
I was very taken by these muffins...
But I was a good girl. I reminded myself that I was there for bread, and set myself to the task of choosing just one! At first I thought I might go with this one...
And this is one of my favorites...
But then I decided on this one:
On my way toward the checkout counter, I passed the salad bar. This is one of my favorite take-away spots. I'll stop by after work and grab a piece of chicken or a cornish game hen, slap some green beans with garlic in there, and head home.
I hit the dairy section briefly to pick up some eggs, and saw this gorgeous L'Escure butter. Yum. I resisted temptation, though.
Finally, I made it out.
And now I'm home, and will soon start on the garlic soup!!!
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But, I'll be back with a full report on breakfast and any adventures undertaken on the way home.
