Ladies Who Lunch: Ellen at Candle 79

During a yearlong unpaid dietetic internship you will actually find yourself becoming more conservative by the day. This is why I loved having rotations with Ellen, because she was the one person who might actually have been more conservative than me at any give moment. She totally understood every single thing I would say and she made the best faces when someone was being completely ridiculous. I miss her facial judgments on a daily basis.

We are both in flux between that soul-sucking internship and grad school so we have time to lunch and discuss our very important social lives and such. We decided to go to Candle 79 as it had been voted the Vegetarian Restaurant of 2007 by just about everyone who was deciding such things. Also, it is a Green Certified Restaurant, and since I am going to grad school for this...it seemed right up our alley. The menu was kind of like that of many Southern California places with raw items. After a precise eye roll from Ellen towards our new wavey server, we decided on some drinks, a lunch entrée, and Ellen had some dessert.

The food was interesting...the salad was divine, and I love Ellen's scrowl face!

above: Ginger Rush sake, plum nectar, ginger

above: Wild Fiddlehead Salad

above: Live Zucchini Enchiladas cashew cheese, spinach, guacamole, chipotle tomato sauce, cashew sour cream, pumpkin seeds, baby romaine, tomato-corn salsa

above: Some Special Ice Cream Thing

~beth

Goodbye Florent!

Literally one month ago my Brooklyn wife, Amy, and I went to see the send off for Gansevoort St. 24/7 iconic restaurant Florent held at Comix. Due to rising rents in the High Line area (Don't get me started on this...Meatpacking District!), it will close after 23 years. There are so few French diners in the world that last a day in the States, let alone 23 years!

There were many amazing acts that wowed us and made wearing such painful hot pink python Marc Jacobs pumps completely worthwhile. One moment it would be intimate to the point of confusion on our part, but then disturbingly entertaining the next. We followed it up with a trip a few blocks away across the bricks to get (literally) a midnight bite.

Where else in the city can you be the only two females within 5 tables of pretty ladies and get a plate of quality pâté for $9? I will be sad to only go to that neighborhood now for lesser things, if anything at all. We fear change.

above: The Dueling Bankheads

above: Varla Jean Merman

~beth ~ Who wishes she were around back during New York City's American Psycho days. Now it's just...pedestrian at best.

Ten Alternative Uses for Coca Cola

For the month of July I have been in attempts to not have a single bit of soda for the entire month. Not one teensy tinesy drop. Reading this list often of other productive uses for it helps.

Taken from the book 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists, by Karl Shaw....

This just confirms my feelings on Coke in addition to its being liquid Diabetes...

Ten Alternative Uses for Coca Cola
1. As a spermicide [India]
2. As a pesticide [India]
3. As a toilet bowl cleaner
4. As a windshield washer
5. As a rust-spot remover
6. As a bloodstain remover
7. As a grease-stain remover
8. As a sink cleaner
9. As s meat tenderizer
10. As a wallpaper paste remover

~beth (Who until this month used to make poor little Andrew go fetch diet Coke at random hours.)

Preoccupation Eventually Gets Boring

Amidst the sea of CU Rugby, Facebook addiction, fractured skulls, beginning grad school and generally being away from the interwebs, I have written nothing substantive. Even the personal statement I wrote for my grad school application was pointless (However, thanks Annika!). I feel like I am under a sea of magazines and books compounded by a fractured skull, helacious humidity, and a depressing economy and environmental outlook...I find myself with tons to write about but no energy to do it. Therefore, I am going to make a decent stab at clearing through some photos and topics promised to myself and others.

Until that takes off, here is a photo of my friend Sarah's posh free range chickens as that is what I owe young Poon, who has asked many times for nutrition information on chicken. Sorry, kiddo.


~beth

Ouch, Starbucks, Ouch

I am once again ahead of the curve on current events, yet was too lazy to post about it last week... *cough* Bloomingdale's shoe sale *cough* Anyway, I think we all know that when it comes to coffee, Starbucks is rather mediocre but they make it so damn convenient by having one every 3.5 blocks, that you get sucked into the trend. Anyone from the southwest knows that it would be far more enjoyable to lick the inside of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf filter sheet taken straight from the dumpster than drink a drop of Starbucks premium blend. Here in the east we're kind of confined to that or Dunkin Donuts, which is also overbrewed trash, but I digress. But this week I have to give Starbucks credit for a breakthrough.

So from a logistical standpoint, being in midtown is already enough to make you want to kick baby pigeons and straight arm tourists, so I needed a little caffeine to make it through the shoe department. There is a teensy hidden Starbucks on 57th Street which is usually dead and so I snuck in there thinking I would get a small plain coffee and life would go on. When I got to the counter there was an overweight suburban mom with a visor and knockoff sunglasses buying her obese son a large Frappuccino (Screw their Italian sizes!). I proudly held my tongue although an eye roll might have slipped out, oops. Anyway, I took the time to look at the pastry selection which always amazes me. I am not a sweets person, so when I see people loading up on that stuff like it's crack I wonder what's up with their wiring. But low and behold, I noticed a new tagging system, giving the calorie counts on each item under their names. Sweet Jesus, I said, now this is exciting....especially since many items, even the "lowfat" ones were well over 400 calories per item. There was even one with 520 calories on the tag.

As I get to the counter to order my basic baby coffee, I size up the counter guy. He could have doubled as one of Ludacris's back up dancers and had tons of flair, so I figured he might be approachable and that I could ask him some questions. I asked him if since their re-tagging of the items, have people been buying as many? His face got all animated as he told me that their sales were down by over 50%, that people come in and see the tags and flip out. But he said that just as many others don't read or cannot care. He capped that off with stating, "400 calories? That's like a whole meal. I'm not wasting that on one tiny cupcake." Good man. I left a tip.

The public repeatedly rides the fence, half the time demanding they know nutrition information and the other half denying a need to know. I just think it's nice to see the numbers. Cupcake conspiracy indeed. Don't even get me started on the lemon pound cake. Ouch.

~beth

Happy Earth Day! Now Get Off Your Ass and Make a Change!

Happy Earth Day! No really.

OK, now that we're done cheering for the earth... There is a concept that bothers me just as much as water wasting, plastic bottles, and automobile reliance. Can we quit with the damn plastic bags already? That has been one of my peeves increasingly over the past few years and it is my Earth Day resolution. I will do everything in my power to not use these bags even if it disgruntles every last grocery store bagger on the planet. What does this have to do with nutrition, you ask? Well, every trip to the grocery you have the options of using your own reusable bags, the store's paper bags (if they have them), or plastic bags. You have the choice to turn down these bags and also, to inform the places you give business that they should rethink their use of plastic.

Some malnutritious facts:

• 1.2 trillion bags are used per year, averaging roughly 300 per adult on Earth.
• 1 million bags are used per minute and the average span of use for a bag is twelve minutes.
  
• High density polyethylene bags can take over one thousand years to degrade.
  
• The U.S. alone goes through 100 billion plastic bags, requiring 12 million barrels of oil to produce.

The statistics on landfills and wildlife destruction at the will of the plastic bag litter are equally as staggering. And this is what you rely on to carry home your organic produce and precious snacks? Countries around the world are taxing and banning such bags to try to squelch their prevalence. My former home city of San Francisco even passed a law banning them, so hopefully New York City will follow. First the trans fats, now... Really how hard is it to hit up etsy or just plunk down the change to get a reusable bag at the check out?

And if you are still not concerned enough to start using other options to carry your precious Cheetos and 6-pack home from the corner store, watch this little informative video. Seems that plastic is making a place in our bodies....a fact which is more than a little creepy. Malnutrition indeed!

PLASTIC PLANET: THE CURSE OF THE CARRIER BAG



~beth
*I know "malnutritious" is not technically a word, but it should be!

Oatmeal, Good... Orange Rind, Good...

In an effort to eat less meat and to also use some of my not-as-limited-as-the-actual-consumer knowledge, I am trying to come up with ways to incorporate more whole grains into my diet. It is strange for the average American woman not to be a bread hound it seems, or in those terms at least not to be a pasta puppy? For some reason I never really developed a taste for starches. I probably could live without bread entirely, I downright don't like white potatoes, and I could go weeks without pasta. Frankly, all these things are only useful to me if they are covered with olive oil or tomato sauce of some sort anyway. Therefore, I am trying to actively fill some of the gaps in my diet left by meat with whole grains.

I have always liked couscous, barley, oats, etc., they just can occasionally be a pain in the ass for someone as lazy as myself to really bother with on a day to day basis. For example, there is this can of stone cut Irish oats that has been sitting on the counter for what I would guess as over six months at this point. So I should probably just cook the damn oats because frankly, I live in Manhattan and I need the counter space, and I do know they have tremendous health benefits, that's why I bought it in the first place. I love me some fibers and manganese! So how can one make this a habit? Oatmeal is one of those foods that if not prepared well, can come out with a taste and texture likened to wallpaper paste.

Then I turned and saw a few nice oranges we had just picked up. Being a kitchen dork with too much time on my hands, that means we all know I attempt to put zest into everything. Well, why not cook it into oatmeal? Orange rind has a compound known as d-limonene in it which holds many cancer fighting benefits. Therefore, lately I have been scrubbing all my oranges (if they were not organic) to get off any residues, pesticides, then zesting them and putting the zest of just about anything I can find. Screw skin cancer! However, dependent upon the variety of orange, the product may be more sweet or more bitter, although still chemopreventive. Therefore, I thought cooking it into oatmeal might tone it down a little....and the addition of a little light brown sugar didn't hurt either.

~beth

Congratulations! Now Have Some Street Meat!

What does one do directly after passing the R.D. exam? You don't pass go. You certainly don't collect a penny (Quite the opposite to be exact.)... That's right, you indulge in a little street meat. All your currently overloaded knowledge of foodborne illness and Coronary Artery Disease be damned!

Please to enjoy some random photos from the Union Square Street Festival, which is code for "We're going to shut these streets so people can roam and eat otherwise hideously bad for you food." Traffic be damned!




~ beth

Allison's a Celiac. Thaw Out the Steak!

My token hot bald friend, Allison, is coming to dinner. She also happens to be my token Celiac friend. Anyone who knows what Celiac Disease is, knows it is a colossal pain in the ass and can wreak havoc on the intestines as well as the general day to day life of the person afflicted with it. Basically, she cannot eat gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, barley, oats, and rye....and therefore just about every other processed food on the planet, even including things like envelope glue. The affected person's immune system reacts in attack against a portion of the intestines when gluten is ingested. In light of this, I try to provide her with edible menu options while also leaving stamp licking for my other guests.

Seeing as gluten is in such a large percentage of general menu items, it is easiest to prepare foods for her from whole foods using as few ingredients as possible. Now, while she never gets to pig out on pizzas and pasta (that's what everyone else will be stuck with), she does get choice cuts of meat, fish, cheese, and vibrant fruits and vegetables. Really, I don't want this to sound like one of those Beneful ads on television where you are drooling over the dish of tasty meaty chunks then get confused and embarrassed when they put the dish on the floor for the dog, it looks that good. Anyway, since my house has been meat free for awhile now, I went to dig in the freezer to find some relics of our former diet. I found a lovely London Broil cut steak for young Allison, but now it needed to be thawed. I know how to do this due to the genius that is sanitation certification class, but trust me, not many other people actually do it correctly.

We'll start with freezing, most directly with a little freezer maintenance. Make sure that the temperature is at 0 (zero) degrees Fahrenheit keep any bacteria or mold from growing. This seems to be a common problem, especially with apartment dwellers. If there is an item that has a funky smell or a crystalline blanket if ice, chuck that out, it is not worth the energy it is going to take for you to cook it to deem it too nasty or freezer burnt and then throw it away anyway. There should be no suspect odors coming from your freezer or items in it.

If you need to be freezing things to save them for later rather than buying small quantities to use fresh (My choice!), then avoid freezer burnt items by eliminating as much air as possible. This means either using a freezer-lock bag system or covering the item with heavy duty foil, then placing inside a freezer bag, pushing the air out. Unlike the TSA, I don't liken plastic bags to Kevlar, so you should not as well. If what you put it in there was a bomb of bacteria or meat after its date to begin with, that is going to be the same bomb when you get it out.

Now you are planning on eating an item from the freezer that needs to be thawed. Unfortunately this requires a little bit of planning, because just as it took a long time to freeze your tasty food, it takes much more time to thaw it. You want to check your refrigerator to make sure it is operating at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, then make some space on a low shelf for your item. It should be left in it's packaging and placed in a container that could catch any potential drainage on that bottom shelf. You should expect to leave said item overnight. The general rule is applying to things like turkeys is 24 hours for every five pounds. So Allison's two pound steak got the overnight treatment.

If you recall your mother leaving items out on the counter to thaw and then cooking them up for your tasty dinner, I hate to say it, but that would be a bad bad choice on her part, and here's why. When food sits out, bacteria can play all over it, loving the temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and multiplying copiously. That makes for a tasty old plate of food poisoning for din dins. You should never leave food out on the counter, that's just common sense, but especially no longer than 2 hours. Any bacteria that was present before you froze the food will be ready to go when the temperature rises, trust me. therefore, using the item promptly is important. Ground meat and poultry should be used within a day and whole red meats within three to five days. The longer you wait, the more quality will be lost.

There are other thawing options such as cold water thawing and thawing via the microwave. They require much more care and use of food more quickly. Water thawing can open the item to bacterial damage if the packaging is not waterproof and can also water log the item as well. And microwaving can produce an uneven thaw and even cook parts of the item being thawed. Depending on the quality of the item, these can really not give you the same effect as time and refrigeration. All in all, you have multiple options to get the job done. Happy thawing!

~beth
*Continued good luck to the CUWRFC! Don't forget the green beans and never fake it!

No, Peeps Are NOT Food. Now Carry On.

I know, it's fun to taunt your local dietitian about whether marshmallow Peeps are actually food. Do a google search to obtain their ingredients if genuinely want to know, but my answer will be the same as if you ask me if McDonald's or Twinkies are food, an emphatic "No."

~ beth
No, I would never feed the Meer Brothers Peeps! there are dried cod treats shoved in the back of them. Joyous Easter Peep Carnage!

Feeling Small And Helpless? Read This.

I am finding it hard to generally function on a daily basis (not because I am staring down this ineffectual R.D. exam), but instead because I feel like the choices I am making are not impacting the world, or more specifically, the environment. I'm in no way a dirty hippie, but I grew up on a nonworking farm where we did not waste water or food or electricity, where we grew a majority of what we ate, and we composted and recycled. Now I live in the city where people lap the block in their cars for status in a city with a subway, there is a litter of water and other bottles on each corner, and chicken bones regularly crunch under your feet if you don't look down when you walk down my block. A stark comparison, yes, but it does at least make me feel like I should be doing more to make up for it. This, of course, makes me want give a wake up call to everyone around me, but apparently American society at large does not care so much.

So here's is a topic from an organic nutrition standpoint that the average person might want to check out and ultimately the to help make a dent. You cannot live without it...

Water! Yes, we all know we need water to live, but if any of you heard any statistics this past March 22, aka World Water Day, you might tighten up that two shower a day policy, turn the water off when brushing your teeth, and generally stop watering/washing everything in sight. One of the biggest consumer impacts you could make would be to stop buying so much bottled water. The other day I was picking up some necessities at my local Tarjay and the woman in front of me in line was going on and on about how the case of "baby" water bottles she was purchasing was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. Really? That's the capstone? She's right, those bottles are probably way cuter than all those African kids with the swollen malnutrition bellies and flies on their faces who have no water at all. Well played, Tarjay lady. Yes, I did see her loading her plastic shrine into an SUV five minutes later, but I digress.

Here are some facts about her precious bottled water: "A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water. A person needs 4 to 5 gallons of water per day to survive. The average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day, and the average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day." Yes, we concede the body needs water, but does it need that mountain of plastic that seems to go along with it? Due to our addiction to bottled water, 38 billion bottles a year end up in landfills. I guess they're not so cute when they're empty, huh? Get a reusable bottle and find something other than the fact that your water came from Fiji to get psyched about already. And just because you have access does not mean you should abuse it, and in that vein, that you always will have access. Take the minute and a half to figure out how much you're using, then make an active decision to use less.

Another huge consumer impact is made when you choose not to purchase meat. Fast food companies and meat lobbyists pay billions of dollars a year to keep y'all yearning for meat, but frankly, it shouldn't be what's always for dinner. Digestive purposes aside, the fact that it takes the farmed animal industry approximately 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat and only 25 pounds to produce one pound of wheat is a hard one to stomach. You don't even have to think animals are cute or that they feel pain or have feelings to wrap your brain around that one. That means you could in theory, eat one pound of meat or have a year's worth of showers. And then if you push one step further and take into account that it averages approximately 13 pounds of wheat or grain to produce one pound of edible beef (not bone), your mind might explode. I know what I'd pick...a lot less meat in my diet.

Even if you cannot give up meat completely, you certainly can choose to eat less of it, just think how logically thirst-quenching it could be. That would be way more water you could drink from your tap instead of from a plastic bottle. Because if you are still going to choose to eat anything it is going to have to be farmed on land not filled with plastic bottles... See, this is how all the dots can be connected and I can make myself feel once again as though my personal choices have an impact, as would everyone else's. Enough for now, my high horse and I are thirsty.

~beth

I Heart DanActive. Here's Why...

Let's face it, dietitians tend to believe that food-based nutrients can be as genuinely supplemental to health as most medications. So when this wave of "Let's poop!" dairy-based yogurt-like probiotic products came out, they needed to be taken seriously....at least by us. At the end of the day, who doesn't want to clean themselves out? Waste equals weight. Previously we had acidophilus capsules, aloe vera, and a few bales of broccoli to do the job, but now once a day incorporating a small serving of these products instead? I had to try it, so I could at least answer the basic questions that one out of three people who know what my degree is in are going to ask.

Before we get into the gut to gut comparisons, some background information. What are probiotics? To short word this one, probiotics are bacteria that can help maintain the balance of the intestinal tract. As mentioned earlier, the most well known bacteria is Lactobacillus acidophilus, found in yogurt. These different strains of bacteria can be introduced in the diet to regulate the gut and make it more functional. While they may help in aid to a host of digestive issues, they can also cause allergic reactions and other side effects, so they should be monitored while in use.

I chose the three most commercial products to try: Activia, DanActive, and Yo-Plus. I judged them initially on texture and taste, followed by other aspects of convenience cross-referenced with their actual merit on improving my digestion. Their websites all show extensive scientific testing, etc., but frankly, if it tastes nasty, it's useless to me.

First, I tried Activia. Frankly, they were the frontrunners with their overly catchy theme music (Think "Hot Pockets" or "By Menon."), their aggressive "challenge" advertisements and using Jamie Lee Curtis as a spokesperson which makes me think of the some of her better work, etc....snowball effect, I'm trying it first. Sadly, it was fairly less than homogenized and gloppy and I did not even make it through the 4-pack of containers, let alone the challenge time... Icky. It did nothing for my taste buds (horrible fake sugar taste) or my digestion, although I would not have ingested as much as as was stated (two weeks) it would take to see a difference. This product was also panned by Andrew "The Yogurt Lover" at breakfast. If that kid won't eat it, trust me, there's something wrong with it. Sorry, Activia, you lose, even with your challenge rebate of freeness.

Second, I tried DanActive. They boast to have "more than 10 billion live cultures per bottle, including Dannon's exclusive L. casei Immunitas(TM)." Now why wouldn't I want that? Exclusive, trade-marked bacteria? Sign me up! The other thing I liked about this product is that it is a drink, kind of like a slightly fruity double shot of live bacteria. There is no spoon required. Pesky, time-consuming spooning is a such a plague with modern foods. And the container tossed easily in my recycling bucket; It gets major points for the convenience and green aspects. It also came in 8-packs which insured I would have enough to last a full week (one per day). But did it work? Why, yes it did! And only after two days, holy regulation, Batman! This is a product I would recommend, clearly. However, when I stopped using it, my digestive system lapsed back to its former sluggishness in about a week. It claims many aids to immunity, which frankly sound delightful, but in reality you are going to see basic changes just by cleaning out your intestines. Any time you rid yourself of toxins, you have a win-win situation.

Lastly, I tried Yo-Plus. Even though I already had an active love with DanActive, it seemed my local grocery was not ready for the run on it and one day I found myself without, and there was no way I was going to gag back any Activia. Yoplait had long been my favourite yogurt until their recent ad campaign featuring annoying women debating what kind of good the yogurt actually was (I broke my mute buttons on these hags.), so I felt it merited a taste test. It is the most like yogurt of the three, but it definitely has the shortest shelf life. One of the containers in the 4-pack was already molding by the time I got it out to eat. Some aggressive bacteria, indeed, although more likely a commentary on the ghetto quality of my local Fine Fare. This product tasted the most like a smooth creamy yogurt, so it got points there. And even denying the one moldy bit, it was easy to stick to three days of it, although no dent was made in my digestion. Then when I returned to get more, it was nowhere to be found. Back to DanActive.

So, in the great spirit of consumerism and choice, I would have to say that DanActive does make good on my digestion. I would recommend it only to healthy adults without medical conditions, of course, and each person's gut is, of course, different, as are their taste buds, so choose accordingly.

~beth

New 3 Train Cat Blog from Moi

So...we have gotten a little lazy here in Foodland. I even stole that last sentence from two posts ago, that's how lazy it's gotten. It's all that time spent studying...or better yet, avoiding nutrition related topics altogether in a last ditch procrastinatory effort to do Lord knows what instead. So instead we will get to delve into the microcosm of NY public transit explored on 3 Train Cat. It's completely different, but still fiendishly written.

~beth

Busy Times Call For Cute Cupcake Photos!

Due to some pending nuptials and new jobs, this blog has not gotten the fabulous effort and attention which it deserves. Therefore, a friend sent a cute little deer to remind us to get back at it already!

New Scrumptious Food Blog from Miss Kim

So...we have gotten a little lazy here in Foodland. It's all that time spent studying...yeah, right! Anyway, we have found other little blogistas who appreciate food too! Check out Scrumptious Photography to catch some, well, let's face it, drool on your chin and also a lovely photo of pickles taken by yours truly.

Restaurant Review ~ Community Food & Juice

On November 2^nd I received an email forward (Thanks Becca!) touting the addition of yet another brunch stop in Morningside Heights, this time claiming quality baking and all organic ingredients with a focus on comfort food gone eco-gourmet. “Wow,” I said, “This place seems to have hit the hilt on the list of potential current trends.” I love businesses being socially conscious as much as the next former tree hugger, but lately it seems like the quick way to cash in without having much thought towards the actual finished product. So we decided to check it out, wisely choosing to go on a weekday rather than a weekend.

Overall look, feel…Is it worth the price? ~ First of all, decide on one name and stick to it. Either it is “Community Food & Juice” or it is “Community Restaurant.” At this point the two are not separate and it says one thing on the windows and another in the media, so.… The décor is nice and light and sunny with the entire front the restaurant utilizing the floor to ceiling windows/doors. The space boasts to be designed in accordance with the Green Restaurant Association Environmental Guidelines for sourcing and use, which is nice. There is a large dark wood bar which looks kind of out of place with the otherwise light color scheme and the open kitchen seems to not fit in the scheme as well being tucked in the back at an odd angle. The layout just seems ill proportioned and poorly aligned. But as I was sitting in the front next to a window, I just ignored all of that. I got to watch the restaurant get a citation for trash on the curb from two of New York’s finest, the unloading of organic fruits from Riverside, CA, which doesn’t scream “locally sourced” to me, and a number of other events.

Service ~ The service is not even a week in the making and is therefore going to be not as polished during training phases as one would expect in an established restaurant, but it was almost worse than it should have been even with the exceptions. There were just so many staff there wandering around looking awkwardly for things they should be doing not sure who should be doing what. The hostess was agreeable which was nice. The server was personable, but really dropped the ball on a few things that will make or break a breakfast/brunch location. When someone orders coffee, it should not take more than 5 minutes to get it on the table. When it his the 4 minute mark (Yes, I’m that finicky in the morning.), I asked the young man who kept refilling our water with unparalleled diligence if we could have our coffee. He wasn’t sure, so he went over to a small group of cheerfully bored looking servers in the back if we could have it. A few minutes later, we got some coffee. This is how the rest of the service experience would play out: plenty of water but asking multiple people multiple times for ketchup, butter, milk, etc. Luckily, we did not have to ask for the check, which was nicely delivered when our plates were cleared.

Food…the MOST important part of all! ~ I ordered the Veggie Scramble made with egg whites, market vegetables, and avocado slices served with 7-grain toast, a side order of double cut bacon, bruleed ruby red grapefruit, and coffee. The scramble was exceptionally boring; the only thing giving some taste was the cauliflower. The eggplant tasted very salty as if it had not been rinsed properly. The peppers and onions had little taste as if they had been cooked too long and avocado slices were crunchy. I am all about using ingredients in season, so don’t go the extra mile to include something if it is not ripe enough to serve. I had ordered the bacon soft and it came out crunchy which 9 times out of 10 means it’s getting sent right back. But the young Andrew traded me his Canadian bacon for it, so it was not an issue.

Both of our meals included breakfast potatoes which were very pretty, but completely without taste. There were three ramekins of gourmet ketchup delivered by there different people which would have solved the problem excepting that it was so sweet that it overwhelmed the potatoes entirely. The highlight was the bruleed ruby red grapefruit which was not really bruleed but was excellent all the same.

As for the inclusion of Clinton St.’s famed baked goods, I didn’t see what all the hype was about. The 7-grain bread made for a horrible toast as it was so dense that it was cold in the center and did not really accept the butter or jam offered to us in little ramekins lined up on the table. Andrew enjoyed his biscuit, but noted that he likes biscuits largely because “they really remind me of scones, and I like a good scone.” I think he was just slightly stoned on the raspberry jam.

All in all I would recommend that this place has another three to 6 months to iron out their growing pains. This was a soft opening and you shouldn’t really expect greatness but there were too many detractors. The restaurant offered 15% discount on the check for their opening week patrons. That was thoughtful, it almost covered the cost of my $6 half a grapefruit.

Community Food & Juice

2893 Broadway, between 112th and 113th Streets

212-665-2800 or communityrestaurant.com

~beth