Tuesday, November 9, 2010

10 Downing

We've gotten some comments from a few of our loyal readers that all of our posts are positive. For the most part, this is true. There are a few reasons: 1) we do research before deciding where to eat; 2) we do research on the best dishes at the places we choose to eat at; 3) our friends recommended good places; and 4) who wants to read us complain about some meal we had?

Well, well, well... Y'all got your wish! We had a less-than-stellar brunch experience with my parents at 10 Downing in the West Village. The omelet lacked any real flavor and fell completely flat in the cheddar cheese department. A major no-no. The Open-Faced Curry Chicken Salad sounded great on the menu but neither Jess nor my dad particularly loved it. For both dishes, my dad mentioned that my mom's versions was far superior. He wasn't just being nice... it was the truth. And, you never want to spend your money eating out when you think you can be doing it better at home.

On the positive side, the pumpkin bisque was delicious - even though the bowl was only filled up half-way - and the bloody mary's were just right.

Jess was here for dinner recently and had a good experience so maybe brunch just isn't their thing. In any case, we won't be back here for brunch. There ya go... not every meal we eat is the "best meal ever." Bummer.

For Dinner:

My dinner here came before the brunch experience tainted our perspective on this local spot.  One positive is that their bread basket comes with chunky tahini that is a nice departure from plain old butter.  

My mom and I split the butter lettuce salad with a warm goat cheese crostini and it was tasty!  I had a huge craving the day after for another butter lettuce salad - it's so superior to every other type of lettuce.  I got the scallops as well, which were great - flavorful and accompanied by brussels sprouts and spaghetti squash.  My mom went with the herb-lemon half chicken and it was quite tasty as well, and a large portion.  We split a side of the brussels sprouts, since they were raved about in reviews and they really didn't live up to the hype.  They weren't cooked enough so they were harder than I like my sprouts - the pieces of bacon did not redeem this dish.

To sum up, after eating dinner and brunch at 10 Downing in the same week, I would definitely use it as a fall-back dinner option going forward and will not be going back for brunch any time soon. 

Hopper'd. 

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