My brother decided to take us to one of his favourite spots in the Financial District for brunch, Smörgås Chef, a restaurant that specializes in Scandinavian dishes.
My brother's Bloody Mary
My freshly squeezed orange juice in lieu of alcohol
The only remotely Scandinavian food I've ever had is the Swedish meatballs at Ikea, so I was super-excited to try this place. They offer a brunch prix fixe deal for $18, that includes your dish of choice from the brunch menu, plus a cup of coffee and a cocktail. My brother is the only one "New York" enough in my family to have a cocktail before noon, so my mom and I got ours replaced with freshly squeezed orange juice instead. (Also because we don't drink.)
Ham & Jarlsberg skillet baked eggs with tomatoes and spinach
Norwegian Benedict: Poached eggs with smoked salmon and dill hollandaise
Coffee to start and finish
My brother and I shared his favourite dish: skillet baked eggs with ham, Jarlsberg cheese, tomatoes, and spinach, topped with hollandaise sauce. It's a pretty heavy dish to have by yourself for the first meal of the day, but it's so damn good that you'll wish you didn't have to share it. The second dish we shared was the Norwegian Benedict, which is basically Eggs Benedict with the peameal bacon replaced by smoked salmon. It's some of my favourite foods in one dish: smoked salmon, hollandaise sauce, English muffin, poached eggs. And it's served with a delightful Scandinavian-style potato gratin. So, obviously, I couldn't go wrong with this one. If all Scandinavian food is like this, I really need to eat more of it (and not at Ikea). And, you know, despite having to wake up before noon, brunch might be my new favourite meal.
Smörgås Chef
53 Stone Street
New York, NY 10004
(212) 422-3500
Sorry to break it to you..heh, Scandinavian food is a wee bit more bland. At least in Norway, the food is much more simple. Technically, most Norwegians (the ones I know at least) are not really food people. I get a lot of strange looks for the effort I put into cooking and sourcing for ingredients.
ReplyDeleteThey only eat 1 warm meal a day, usually for dinner. There are people whom I work with who won't eat warm lunches even though it is usually an option at our canteen for lunch. Their lunch is usually cold cut meats with bread and cheese. Sometimes they eat boiled eggs with lots of salt on. Smoked salmon is a staple, as is caviar spread and mayonnaise.
The warm meals are more like roasted meat with potatoes, stews, and baked fish (salmon or cod) and chicken. That said, the number of ingredients, spices, condiments etc. are very few. Unlike Asian food where you need at least 5 different spices sometimes, most Norwegian food only require salt and pepper. Mostly salt actually :) They're not very into spicy dishes.
Apparently, Smorgas Food was started by a Norwegian chef who wanted to promote Scandinavian cuisine in the US -- I obviously don't know how authentic the Scandinavian food is in North America, but to be fair, a restaurant can't just serve a boiled egg with salt on it, LOL. Maybe they wanted to use Scandinavian ingredients or cooking techniques? Or maybe it's like how real Chinese food and the fast food Chinese food are totally different things?
DeleteI've heard cold lunches are the standard in Europe. My BFF, who is from Germany, says that most people eat a cold breakfast (like breads/pastries), sometimes a hot lunch, and then a cold dinner (like cold cuts, bread, cheese). My question is, where are the vegetables???
I agree :) Yeah, cold lunches seem to be the standard in some countries in Europe. The bf, who is German, is a big fan of cold dinner though I think he's forgotten about them ever since I started cooking curries for him for dinner. But you're right, most Europeans have only 1 hot meal a day I believe.
DeleteMaybe they get their other nutrients from fruit and salad. There are salad bars at most of the canteens at work. When I was in Berlin, for work, they also had a salad bar there. But the lucky people there got delicious warm meals everyday for lunch.
Haha, I only eat cold dinners when I'm SUPER LAZY. And then I just make a sandwich and a salad. Which is actually really often, sadly...
DeleteBut, like, how hard is it to microwave something? Voila, you got a hot meal! :P
I'd get so sick of eating salad everyday. Why no cooked veggies???
That skillet breakfast looks AWESOME! So does the Bloody Mary.
ReplyDeleteMy friend's husband who is Finnish also eats a cold breakfast with mostly some yogurt, cheese and bread. I think he was pissed that I ate most of his cheese, lol.
God, those skillet baked eggs were so divine... I wonder if there are any restaurants in Toronto that offer these?
DeleteLOL, cheese is the best -- if there's cheese on the table, I'm pretty much gonna hog it all to myself...
But, yeah, Europeans really like cold breakfasts. When I went to Europe many years ago, every single hotel breakfast was a continental one. But... you can't really go wrong with cheese and cold cuts on bread.