For some reason, whenever I go to a restaurant that I know I am going to pay for, I want to pan the shit out of it (and swear in my posts). Coming here, I’d read some less than stellar reviews. The google rating of this place gives it 2.5 stars. I was fully expecting this place to be terrible.
I met Eat It Brooklyn (not her real name, obv) for breakfast here and actually liked the vibe. It was a cool kind of neighborhood place that I wanted to like more than the Iris Café (link). I loved that place. I went to Iris super early on this nice snowy morning, I immediately wanted to move there. Brooklyn Heights is one of my favorite areas of the city.
I saw the Steel Cut Oats and had to try them. Ms. Brooklyn got the Granola with Fruit and Yogurt. In her post, she said the service was slow, but I didn’t feel that way. Maybe I am a boring conversationalist. I got a cappuciino that didn’t look that pretty but tasted fine, nothing to write home about. The Steel cut oats were a bit more milky than I had wanted them to be, but everyone likes their oats a different milkiness, and these were pretty awesome despite that fact. It had slivered almonds and golden raisins on top and I thought that combination was beautiful. Eat it doesn’t like slivered almonds. She likes regular almonds, but not slivered.
“Everyone has weird food likes and dislikes,” I said, “I like frozen peas and not so much regular peas.”
“You don’t like fresh peas?” She asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had fresh peas. Where do you get them?”
“The farmer’s market. They’re really good.”
I guess I was a deprived child.
We also had the Marshmallow (pic) for $1.50. It was a day old and a complete rip off. My guess is that the $1.50 marshmallows from the bakery where the marshmallows are made might be worth $1.50, but if you see marshmallows in a jar, ask where they get them from. If their answer is anything but, “we make them right here and this one just came out of the marshmallow making machine less than ten minutes ago,” do not buy that thing.
They do have a weird rule about computer usage – no computer usage from 11-4. I don’t care because I’ll probably never go there again (I can’t afford to live in that area), but if someone came up to me at 11:01 AM and said, “no computer use from 11-4,” I don’t think I would close it on principle that it’s a rule designed to maximize sales and not to create a community atmosphere. A better rule would be no computer use allowed (like Cafe Grumpy [link]), or no outlets, or no wifi, not “we want tables free at these specified times.” Pretty soon, batteries will last for eight hours and we’ll all have tablet computers that connect to the internet through our mobile provider, and there will be a need for more rules, more signs.
That didn’t even affect me, and overall, I really liked this place. The food was great, the vibe was cool, and it’s a wine bar at night. If I lived in this neighborhood, however, the Iris Café would still be my coffee shop of choice.
Here’s the video:
Guest Writer: Eat It Brooklyn … Here’s her post
Tazza
311 Henry Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 243-0487
