A Public Brunch

During one of her recent visits, Diana and I grabbed brunch at Public, a beautiful spot in Nolita.  Consider me easily charmed by any place that uses old school Dewey Decimal style drawers in their restaurant decor and stamped butcher block paper on the tables.

We were greeted by complimentary herb biscuit-bites that were tiny, cute and lovely.

Strike that.  We were really greeted by a table covered with freshly baked goods and spreads.  These goods were not complimentary, but the self-serve spreads most definitely were.  Diana and I decided to try one pastry, but mainly as reason to eat copious amounts of jellies and jams !

Yeah.  It was hard to stop at just one.  And yes, Diana and I do practice self-control.  Sometimes. (Especially when we have another meal to head to right after!)

We decided upon the lamington, a coconut covered pastry that is filled with a layer of cream and strawberries.

The pastry is a beaut, but the cake was much drier than I expected.  But that's where these come into play!

The spreads were all delicious: there was mango, apple preserves and a lovely coconut milk sauce.  It was hard to pick a favorite because they were all uniquely great.  I think if you just gave us a loaf of bread, our brunch could've ended in pure bliss.

But of course we ordered more!

Like the black pudding waffle with red wine poached pears and whipped foie gras butter.

Man this dish was unlike anything I expected, and sometimes we learn about culinary concepts the hard way.  The dish was incredibly and surprisingly savory for me, at which point Diana explained, "Oh...I think black pudding is what they call blood sausage or something."

Oh.  Not actual real pudding.  Lesson learned.

So if you go in fully aware with that, this dish might be up your alley. The foie gras butter added even more creepy decadence, but the red wine poached pears were quite good and added a nice light element to this otherwise heavy dish.

Contrasting with the waffles were these delightfully bright coconut pancakes topped with ricotta and fresh mango chunks.

Simple and wonderful.  Especially with some of the above described compotes and preserves !

I also asked for a side of chorizo which was a bit of a disappointment, with a strong note of fake smokiness to the whole thing.

Overall, the atmosphere and spaciousness of Public makes it an ideal place to host a group of friends for a cheery brunch.  It's warm, inviting and c'mon. Self-serve spreads.  That's all you need to know.

Public
210 Elizabeth St
New York, NY