Hundred Acres

Leslie loves the city. She's from Connecticut so although we have met in her hometown for brunch/lunch a few times - for the most part in the last 15 years - we meet up in the city.  Picking different areas.  Usually after our meal..we would wander the neighborhood we landed in.  Today we were in SoHo.  We've done Upper West Side, Lower Manhattan and everything in between.  It's been fun playing "tourist".  For example, for my birthday this past year, she chose a restaurant by the WTC.  I probably would never have done that but I'm glad she did.  I needed to cross that line I had been avoiding.  I believe we have never visited a restaurant twice!  Easy to do within NYC!

For our brunch today, I did some research and thought I would like "Cookshop" but couldn't get a reservation.  Instead I learned of their sister restaurant, Hundred Acres and made reservations. Located on Macdougal Street near 6th Avenue, it has that old rustic look similar to the storefronts in the area.

The backroom we were led to, appears to have been an additional since it looked different from the rest of the place.  Brighter and with a greenhouse vibe, it sits about 30 people comfortably.  4 Round tables of 5-6 plus 2 rectangular tables down the center allows for a nice private party space.  We sat at one of the rectangular tables and it was wonderful that no one was ever seated next to us.  And the place got busy!

To start, I ordered the beignets to share!  The first time I had beignets was at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.  And really...after that...nothing compares!  But that was over 30 years ago and the taste of it is just a faint memory!  Hundred Acre's beignets were amazing!!  To me...they reminded me of Zeppoles which I've always loved but refuse to pay the price at Saint Gennaro's feast!  Lightly dusted with powdered sugar and sitting in a small pool of honey...it was a "dancing in our seats" kind of moment when we took our first bite!
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Leslie had a baked egg dish which comprised of navy beans, roasted cauliflower, pickled onion and jalapeno peppers topped with cheese.  I had the soft scrambled with fall squash, leeks, gruyere, creme fraiche, chives and cornbread.  Served with hot strong coffee, we caught up on each other's lives.

Beignets

Baked Eggs

Soft Scarmbled with Frisee salad

Leslie is actually one of my "newer" friends.  I met her at a Club Med Singles Only resort in Mexico 16 years ago in January.  She's 6 years younger than me but we had hit it right off and it's been a pretty great relationship.  As you get older, it's not that easy to make new friends that become close ones so it's been a treasured gift in my life.  Happy Birthday, Leslie!