Franklin Barbecue

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If bacon is a gateway meat, then this brisket is like…an 8 ball I guess?

It is 9:05am in the morning in Austin Texas. It is about 80 degrees and climbing and a slight humidity. I wanted to pretend to be cool and not show up at 9am, wanted to be too cool to show up at 9am on the dot and looking like a crazy person. That changed when I got there and the line was already 20 people deep. Right after I showed up, 10 other people showed up and by 10:30, the line was out to the parking lot as far as I could see. Okay, I did not have my glasses, but the line was very long. This is the typical scene at the line at Franklin’s Barbecue. This may have actually been a toned down line because the UT game was the previous night and otherwise hardcore ‘cue fans were nursing and tired out from an easy UT victory. 

10:30am. They open at 11.

Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue does not have a barbecue generational pedigree story, though his parents owned a barbecue place for a few years. At most, he has a trailer to brick and mortar story, of succeeding. His brisket has been voted, tested as one of the best in the nation. And since no one does barbecue like we do, I will affirmatively say, in the world as well. I was a doubter and thought it was a whole lot of hype but I quickly changed that when I ate there. 

I was going to go light because other barbecue was on the itinerary, I was going to go with a half a pound of brisket, but after a quick taste I had to add a couple more slices. A sausage link, and ribs are part of my standard fare. I got a takeout order for my friends that were not as crazy about barbecue as me and lucky for them, I am only an asshole sometimes. MEAT

Can't get enough Shopsins

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: pumpkin batter fried chicken is the next big thing

Moe #2

Shopsins requires a bit of planning. If you do not want to sit around and wait, show up early, have more than 5 people, find somewhere else to eat and if you are aiming to be productive afterwards, you can just forget about that. The expectations of you being productive are slim. You will most likely want to nurse your newly acquired “itis” and take a nap or re-watch the first season Game of Thrones. I mean obviously you can just order something light at Shopsins, like toast, oatmeal or just plain old pancakes, but seriously? You are at Shopsins; you do not just order oatmeal here.

Awesome donuts

They were getting slammed when we went so when I asked for an order of donut, I was shutdown to a half order, being told that a full order would be too much. It’s a good thing I relented because a full order would have me sprinkling like Lipitor on it. These donuts reminded me of funnel cake or picarones, they were light and airy and had a sweet maple glaze though in the future, I will go with cinnamon sugar to lighten it up a bit. Choosing what to get here is always a challenge and I ended up getting the Moe #2 which like anything here a good choice. Of the group I was with, it was the first to come out and it came with a sparkly tassel forked in it. I do not know if this in the norm for this dish, but I like it. The Moe #2 consisted of a pumpkin batter fried chicken that is sandwiched in between pancakes and served with 2 sunny side eggs. I will give you a second to re-read that and let it soak in. the fried chicken was just great; the batter had a slight sweetness that just worked wonders with the juicy chicken. Pancakes and eggs I hit all the food groups. More Food!

Brunch at The Breslin

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: The Breslin needs more mounted animals on their walls

The Breslin is slowly becoming one of my favorite places to eat in New York and especially in Nomad. I am being awesome and calling this area Nomad because it sounds cool and feel trendy. The brunch menu here is something that should not be overlooked and is offered bright and early on the weekends so if you need a bit of protein after your workout, I think the lamb burger will suffice. The pastries here are good like the gooseberries coffee cake. I have really have no idea what the heck a gooseberry is and frankly, sounds dirty but I know that it works in this coffee cake. 

The gooseberries are really tart and great contrast with the sweetness of the coffee cake and sandy crumbs. One of the specials was the pork sausage roll, all made in house from the sausage up. The pastry was flaky and buttery and oozed of butter that blanketed a dense flavorful sausage. You could taste each Weight Watchers point and with a side of mustard and fried sage leaves, I could have stopped here. But I would have missed my main of the baked eggs with chorizo. The eggs were in a spicy tomato sauce and topped with slices of chorizo this was like an eggy dip. The toast crisps were really the only utensils needed to eat this dish. Only one personal complaint was I wish the eggs were a bit runnier, of the three eggs, there was only one runny egg. Brunch at the Breslin is good, though next time; I need to man up and fatty up and have at that fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

The Breslin
16 West 29th Street 

 New York, NY 10001

thebreslin.com/ 

Dominique Ansel Bakery

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: figure out how the hell he gets his madeleines so light

In Soho I usually try to walk as fast as I can to avoid the random tourist that just kind of stand there or sometimes in the middle of the street to take a picture and I hope that a cab hits them. What? I just said hit, not kill them, there is a difference. However I find myself slowly down to stop at Dominique Ansel Bakery. Dominique Ansel is not a cutiesy cupcake baker, rather one of those, trained in France and worked in Boulud kind of bakers. He ventured out on his own and started up this bakery, sometime last year. At Dominique Ansel bakery, they are making delicious sweets and pastries that would make a Frenchman think twice that there are no good croissants or pastries in America (though they would never tell you that). Like more bakeries that have croissants, I always go for one step further and get a chocolate croissant.

 Any reason to get more chocolate in my diet in the morning is always a good thing. The chocolate croissants are rich and airy and have a shattering flakiness. Of the flaky awesome butter pasties is the kouign amann or DKA for short or to skip butchering the name of this pastry. This is a pastry from Brittany that uses salted butter and has sugar laminated in resulting in a caramelized pastry.

The caneles here are some of the best I have had. There are few places in New York that have caneles, which is odd because when I visit Taiwan, almost all the bakeries there have them. However, the caneles here are the best I have had so far. The outside is rigid, but break through the caramelized exterior; you get a custard-like center. These are so good it makes me finding reasons to justify the purchase of canele molds. Canele molds, the no-shit ones, are made of copper and average about 20 a piece. So, who wants to be my Sugar Mama?

Madeleines are one of my favorite cookies and whenever a place has them, I always need to try them even if I know they are going to bad (like the ones in a Dakar gas station). Tangent, I do not know why they are considered to be cookies by the French, they are just mini cakes. Anyways, the madeleines here are baked to order so you need some patience on your part but you are rewarded with light little cake bites that are fresh from the oven.

The staff at Dominque Ansel is friend and you can see him there all the time either baking to running the register. He is committed to his place and the food and pastries here are the result of his hard work. I find myself now trying to be in area so I have an excuse to come by. 

Dominique\Ansel Bakery
189 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
http://dominiqueansel.com/