Westchester Breakfast Club

:a_Top:

The WBC winds down 2012 by breaking its recent diner streak with a visit to the realtively new King Street Restaurant & Bar in Chappaqua.

Attendees: :jump_to_Shelley:, :jump_to_Sylvia:, :jump_to_Jeff:

:a_Shelley:

Finally, not a diner! I mean, don’t get me wrong. Diners are fine, diners are affordable, diners are usually reliable. But it was definitely time for something different. And King Street Restaurant & Bar fit the bill.

The restaurant sits on a corner of King Street in Chappaqua. I remember a different restaurant being in that location, and my memory was confirmed when I asked the waitress and she said that the restaurant’s been open for only about a year. The interior is cozy and, as seems to be the thing to do at many new restaurants, the colorscheme was neutral and centered around dark wood tones.

Glancing at the weekend brunch menu, I was impressed. The restaurant offered many choices, including some unique sounding dishes (like Sylvia’s smoked salmon and chive waffle) along with more standard fare (like my selection of two eggs any style).

My style of choice for eggs is, of course, scrambled. We also decided to get the red velvet waffles to share. Since it was a cold winter morning and my nose was not happy with me, I ordered green tea to wash down my meal.

When our beverages came out, the WBC engaged in a lengthy debate about the square mugs. What’s the best way to drink from a square mug? Will you dribble your hot beverage if you try to drink from the flat side? Should you drink from the corner? But that’s awkward… Eventually, us being the brave breakfast adventurers that we are, we just dived in and discovered, lo and behold, you can drink from the flat edge of a square mug without dribbling your hot drink on yourself. We’re so skilled.

After a reasonable wait time our meals arrived, and visually everything looked great. The presentation was clean and plentiful. My two scrambled eggs seemed very generous for just two eggs. They must have the really large eggs; or, since there weren’t alot of patrons in this morning, maybe they snuck in a third egg. The home fries were nicely cubed potatoes mixed with slices of roasted red pepper, and there was no grease shine. I chose sausage as my accompanying breakfast meat (it’s bacon or sausage), and the three links were thin but appetizing-looking (they thankfully were not just the microwave type of sausage links). It only occurred to me in looking at the menu online afterward as I write this post that my meal was also supposed to come with toast; I got no toast. I wound up not needing the extra carb since we shared the waffle, but it is a noteworthy omission, especially since no explantion was given. They just plain ol’ forgot the toast.

The eggs were well-cooked, well-seasoned, and nicely fluffy. The sausage had a nice subtle spice to it, but I’m pretty sure it was pork sausage, with the flavor being very reminiscent of the filling in a pork wonton or dumpling.

The red velvet waffle looked nice. It thankfully was a very subtle red, not the bright, electric (and I think highly unhealthy) red that you see in many red velvet concoctions (the result of using a whole bottle of red food coloring). This waffle went the more natural route to achive its red velvet status. It was topped with a generous portion of fresh strawberries and blueberries, and, of course, a dollup of fresh whipped cream. The waffle was tasty, although a bit gummy. And I have a brief commentary on the current red velvet trend. I’ve noticed that many establishments want to feature some sort of red velvet item on their menu, I think to stay on-trend. But really, in this particular case, there was no need to deem this a red velvet waffle, other than to be a bit gimicky. I think it would have been more natural to just call it a cocoa waffle or, hey, just go for a chocolate waffle. I’m glad we tried the waffle, but I think I’m getting tired of seeing red velvet this and red velvet that on so many menus.

Finally, to round out the meal (I had to get something to go with my second cup of tea), I shared the Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake with Sylvia. It was a perfect portion, a delicate round serving rather than a slice. Big points for presentation: the plate had a dollup of caramel sauce at each corner, a generous drizzling of some berry sauce on the bottom, and delicate chocolate pieces stuck into the topping of chantilly cream. It was delicious, quite refreshing, and had a perfect balance between all the pumpkin spices. The cheesecake was creamy without being clumpy and the graham cracker crust on the bottom was buttery enough to hold together but still crumbly enough like a good graham cracker crust should be. My only note is that the $7.95 price tag is too steep given the smaller portion of this dessert (all desserts are $7.95). I would recommend that the restaurant price its desserts individually.

Overall I enjoyed my meal at King Street Restaurant & Bar. The overall price tag was reasonable (about $9 for my egg dish, $2.50 for the tea–and none of us got charged for our beverage refills) and the atmosphere was nice. The experience felt upscale without upscale prices. Service was prompt, attentive, and friendly. Food quality was high. This is a good addition to the Chappaqua area and a place I’d like to return to for brunch. It particularly seems a good destination for a holiday or special occasion meal with family that won’t break the bank.

:back_to_Top:

:a_Sylvia:
Here’s a little back story with how we ended up here on this sunny post-snowstorm Sunday.  In an attempt to try to find a place for us to brunch at that was somewhat near Pleasantville, I turned to google maps.  After moving about the area, I found a little icon in Chappaqua of a restaurant that was new to me.  A little more searching on google, a brunch menu was found, and the words “Red Velvet Waffle” sealed the deal.

The King Street Restaurant & Bar is a cozy little restaurant warmly decorated with dark wood tones.  It’s on the end of King Street by Susan Lawrence.  You know a brunch menu is good when we had to shoo our waitress away twice before we had finally decided what to order.

As we were deciding, we noshed on some yummy warm cranberry and walnut rolls.

I had a Smoked Salmon and Chive Waffle, which was served with two poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, and a Caesar salad. The meal was very good.  The waffle had bits of smoked salmon and just a hint of chive.  It was half a waffle and on top perched two perfectly poached eggs covered in a very tasty hollandaise sauce.  The combination of all three was delightful.

The Caesar salad complemented the heavier waffle and egg half of the dish well.  Well-dressed with fresh croutons and a generous amount of shaved Parmesan on top.

We all shared the Red Velvet Waffle.  It was good.  I don’t know if I would have been happy with it as a meal, but it wasn’t bright food color red and had a subtle chocolate flavor to it which was a plus.  The berries on top were fresh and sweet.

Shelley and I also split a pumpkin spice cheescake.  There was a bit too much chantilly cream on top, but otherwise it was a good choice.  It was more like pumpkin pie custard in weight and texture than a cheesecake, but it was delicious nonetheless.

The czar says:  A surprising find and a good meal to break the diner streak the WBC has been on lately.  The restaurant seems child-friendly based on the large family seated at the table near us.  The place has apparently only been open for about a year.  If I still worked in town, it would be a nice place to escape to for a nice leisurely celebratory kind of lunch (still a bit pricey for regular lunch…but that is Chappaqua).  I’m glad they are on google maps, otherwise, we would have missed out!

:back_to_Top:

:a_Jeff:

It’s been a while since the WBC has gone to Chappaqua.  In fact, it’s been about 3 years.  This isn’t to say the WBC is fearful of Chappaqua excursions.  We just never had a reason to go, until now!

According to the server, King Street Restaurant & Bar has only been around since last February.  Lucky for the WBC, they serve breakfast, or brunch.  I’m not exactly sure what the difference is.  Is it only brunch if lunch is also served at the same time?  Or maybe it’s brunch if it’s served on Saturday and Sunday?  Either way, it’s a good reason to go back to Chappaqua.

It’s a nice restaurant.  Coffee is served in strange squareish cups.  I think the best, and most fun, method of drinking is to choose a corner and drink from there. The menu has a large selection, everything from just plain eggs to pancakes.  I settled on the stuffed French toast with berries and maple syrup.  What I didn’t expect was to have a fruity cream smear on the inside.  It was delicious.  The whole meal was very filling.