Sunday, September 18, 2011

Green Eggs Cafe in Philly

I was staying with my cousin in Philadelphia a few days ago when she suggested that we wake up in the morning to get breakfast at a great little cafe a few blocks away. It is safe to say that I was not fully prepared for the food that I was about to encounter.
Green Eggs Cafe is nestled within the neighborhoods of South Philly and a popular spot with the locals. When we got there, we did not have to wait to be seated, which was nice, but it was still busy none the less. It turns out that it has become so popular in the short time that it has been open that they added on another room for seating to accommodate customers, which is where we were seated. I was told that normally, one can expect to wait about 45-60 minutes to be seated, so we seemed to have lucked out with that. 
Once seated, I expected to see just your typical breafkast menu like at any cafe. Conventional, however, is not what you receive. Instead, I was greeted with a menu filled with rich culinary flavors and combinations. How can a girl even choose?? You have everything from "The Kitchen Sink" which, indeed, lives true to it's name, to eggs every way, waffles and pancakes or sandwiches and salads if you are feeling more like having a lunch or dinner. One thing to note is that they may run out of something, so getting there early is advisable if you have your heart set on trying one of their specials like we had wanted to. But no problem there, since instead we ordered the Red Velvet Pancakes as an appetizer for the table.
These were hands down, the best  pancakes that I have ever had! They are red velvet buttermilk pancakes with chocolate morsels layered with strawberry mascarpone and topped with fresh strawberries, maple syrup and chantilly cream. Pure goodness on a plate. I am so glad that they were out of the special appetizer of the day. Needless to say, we finished those with no problem. Next, for my main course, I ordered the Creme Brulee French Toast.

Again, I am graced with tasty food and great flavor combinations. The french toast is drenched in a vanilla bean custard, and topped with a berry compote, drizzled with vanilla anglaise and warm maple syrup, and then topped with chantilly cream and fresh berries. I found the berry compote quite flavorful and a nice touch to the lightness of the anglaise and chantilly cream. This is definately one of those dishes where you want to pile every component of the dish onto your fork and open up wide!

Green Eggs prides themselves in being eco-friendly and practicing a sustainable way of life. They buy their products locally, which not only provides their customers with a high quality dish at a resonable cost, but also helps to support their local merchants.They also both recycle and compost all of their food product. One thing to note, however, is that they do charge for their to-go containers, which are biodegradable and safe for the environment.  

Overall, Green Eggs Cafe was a pleasant surprise. They offer great food at a reasonable price (nothing on the menu was over $12). I will definately be visiting again soon. I think next time I will try the breakfast burrito, which has a habaƱero tortilla filled with eggs, olives, corn, house made chorizo, potatoes, peppers, onions, tex mex cheese and topped with pico de gallo, sour cream, avocado, and fire roasted red pepper black bean sauce. Whoa! I'm going to need to brace myself for that one.

<3

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Trend: "Designer Cupcakes"

So the other day, I was in Washington DC looking for an apartment to rent out during my internship that I am about to start next week. I was staying with some family friends who kept talking about this cupcake place that has a tv show, Georgetown Cupcakes. I had heard about them before, but had never seen the show. Quite frankly, I find most of these reality restaurant shows to sort of be a joke. Don't get me wrong, I love reality tv...probably more than the average person...but when they make a drama fest out of something that you are passionate about, it can get frustrating. But I digress! The people that I was with told me how they had tried to get cupcakes there twice but had not made it in yet. So I decided to get them a box as a thank you for letting me stay with them for the weekend. Ohmygoodness. That line was so long!



It went all the way down the block. I ended up standing in line for 45 minutes until I got to the front of the line.

Once there, I was allowed to go into the shop and stand in another short line before putting my order through. The place is quite small, so I understand the system that they have going. They offer a pretty good list of various cupcake flavors to try. The only thing that I did not realize at first is that there are only certain flavors available each day. So Monday has select flavors, then Tuesday and so on. So that instantly elimanted two of the flavors I wanted to try.

Their flavors of the month, however, were Caramel Apple and Apple Cinnamon. Those were a no brainer. It sounded so good! I also got Carrot, Peanut Butter Fudge, and Lava Fudge.


The main thing that I found sort of silly about this place is that each cupcake was $3. I think that's a bit ridiculous for a normal sized cupcake, but hey...the line is out the door every day, so it works. We had a great dinner of grilled bacon wrapped shrimp, steak and chicken. Oh, gosh...so delicious! But I made sure that I saved some room for my cupcake.

I, of course, had to try the caramel apple cupcake. I'm a sucker for anything with the word caramel in it ;) It is an apple cupcake with dulce de leche center, topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and drizzled with more dulce de leche. Mmm... the cupcake was very moist and good. My favorite was the caramel center...shocker, I know. It was veeery sweet, so I almost was not able to finish the whole thing. But that would just be unacceptable, so I pushed through. I got some good apple and caramel notes, so the flavors were balanced very nicely. Overall, I enjoyed my Georgetown Cupcake experience. I am not so sure that I would stand in a 1 hour line and pay $3 a cupcake again, but I would recommend others to experience it if in the DC area, especially if you are a fan of the show.

<3