Brunch at The Little Owl

Look familiar? It's where Monica, Rachel, Chandler & Joey lived on Friends! And it's also where one of the best restaurants in New York, The Little Owl, is.  This tiny corner restaurant seats 34 people max, but if you go exactly at 10:30 a.m. when it opens on Saturday or Sunday, you won't wait for brunch. I've been for dinner, which is also great, but you can't beat the location for brunch on a gorgeous New York day.  Winter came for two days, and it is now spring again. 

The host is one of the nicest guys I've ever met at an NYC restaurant, the whole wheat pancakes were fluffy and divine (they are Alton Brown's favorite "cake" from Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate), and the brussel sprouts were addicting. I just might go back next weekend.

How To Get a Dinner Reservation

Call at 10 a.m. exactly one month before the date you want to go-if you want to go on February 12, call on January 12 at 10 a.m.  OpenTable Reservations open 28 days before, so all the good slots will be taken by then. Better to call!

 

Grilled Cheese & Tuscan Peasant Soup at E.A.T.

I love "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network.  So many of the "best things ever eaten" are in New York. A friend of mine writes a fabulous organic cooking blog and even visited New York with her mom and based their trip on the show's recommendations! 

Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, recommended the Grilled Cheese & Tuscan Peasant soup from Eli Zabar's E.A.T. on the Upper East Side. It has been unseasonably cold the past few days in the city.  I have felt colder than I have felt all winter, thanks to a biting wind chill.  Grilled cheese & soup was a great choice on such a frigid day.

I was glad we split the grilled cheese-a half is plenty.  The soup was definitely one of the best things I've ever eaten, with chunks of tomatoes, bread, cheese, and fresh basil.  And for $10, you could stop in and just get that after visiting The Met or wandering the Upper East Side. 

Don't miss E.A.T. Gifts next door...there is truly something for everyone, though not something they might NEED!