Spoon & Stable - November 15, 2015
I took most of October off of brunching and trying to limit my eating out so I could save up some money for charitable reasons (that got delayed), so this was my first time back to my favorite brunch spot since mid-September, they refreshed a fair amount of the menu, including a removal of the original breakfast sandwich and adding the Croque Madame. Many of the pastries were the same, unsurprising, you don’t mess with near perfection; the one addition is below.
One interesting, and a possibly good, thing? By the time I arrived they’d sold out of their Goat Cheese Danish. (Funny, that’s when I was trying to use Instagram as a writing platform. That was written on my phone. I don’t recommend it.)
I was at the bar between an older couple that were trying to decipher the menu and a bartender from Eat Street Social. She was intently studying a book about urban distillation and working on transcribing her recipes, including a delicious looking fall sangria, to a new notebook. I’ve never been to Eat Street Social, but seeing a craftsperson that dedicated to her craft has moved it up the list.
Pistachio and White Chocolate Croissant: The new pastry. Buttery, flaky, tasty. A really interesting concept if a little messy (not the execution, the pistachio dust), the flavors worked great together. The white chocolate cream injected into the interior void after baking was great with small flecks of pistachio. It’s a bit much for one person, and difficult to cut in half, if you’re intent on splitting it, I recommend using a stabbing motion to make a perforation versus applying a cutting motion. I tried cutting and the cream snuck out the injection site, but it was still enjoyable.
Croque Madame with house made ham, gruyere cheese, sunny side up egg, on toasted brioche, served with house made chips: This is what I was really coming for. I’m a sucker for grilled cheese as it is. If you add ham, Bechamel sauce, and then top it with a fried egg that has a runny yolk? I’m powerless against it. The ham had a great cure, not too salty and it being sliced super thin made it easy to take a complete bite, no worries about that chewy intramuscular fat that can happen with thicker slices. You know the ones where you take a bite and pull back and a the rest of a slice wants to come with? Not an issue here. The brioche had a nice buttery crispness to it. Nice salty, buttery, milky Bechamel. Gruyere was a good choice. And the yolk doing what yolk does best. Chips are chips
Crepe Cake - I don’t know if I need to repeat the praises I have for this. If I’m brunching at Spoon & Stable, and Crepe Cake is available, I’m getting it. I’ve never actually counted the layers, but I finally did and it appears to be 30, think about that. 29 times for each cake a pastry chef is laying a crepe, putting a layer of pastry creme, and then putting another crepe. And they make more than one cake. I’ll need to ask sometime if it’s mundane mechanical repetitiveness or if it almost becomes a habitual zen, whatever it is, I appreciate their efforts greatly. I’ve seen pictures of crepe cake where the pastry chef trims the edges so it’s more cylindrical (round) but I prefer the rustic appearance of the edges on this one, and the brûlée on top.
One simple joy of sitting at the bar is that your dining companions can change midway through the meal. The older couple switched to a table and a couple a few years my junior sat in their place. She commented on how much it looked like I was enjoying the Croque Madame so they ordered that as one of their entrees. Then they saw me order the Crepe Cake. So they ordered that too. It was funny, as I was leaving, they thanked me for ordering what I did, otherwise they would never have tried either. I’m glad they got to experience, and in a way share, the same meal I had. A small bond shared over brunch, a fleeting connection over some good food.