Brunchinée: A little fusion goes a long way..Uncovering a neighborhood gem : Citrus

Hello our dear rEATers! If you notice we love to play with our food and words and encourage you to always do the same, so you’ve been warned!

Hope your having a wonderful day! Hey, have you noticed that May seems to be extra busy in the brunching neck of the wood? Seems recently all the babes are talking about is Cinco De Mayo, Mothers Day, Memorial Day Brunch and the FINALLY seeming cooperation of mother nature, (Thanks Girlfriend), on weekends which has brought out the seasonal brunchers & novice brunchers (WELCOME)! The diagnosis from the babes is that

May is totally High time social brunching season!

Believe me we here don’t need anything but the promise of a new eating adventure and dominating the goal of trying every brunch under the sun to get us out of bed on the weekends, but you have to admit its extra fun to involve yourself in a national celebration, even if sometimes it isn’t your nation hehe, a jovial pastime. Just like it's way more exciting to see a baseball or basketball game live than in your own living room. The activity takes on a new meaning, smiles & warmth seem easier to come by, groups sitting close by seem to converge a little easier, and you wonder if you and your waiter hadn’t been best friends in a previous life and suddenly Mimosa doesn’t sound like such a bad name for your first born anymore. (Your friends never made much sense anyways, lol.)

Some of the Debbie downers of super awesome weather and popular celebrations can be the crowded tables, the booked up al fresco, the not wanting to kill hours of precious weekend or bottomless weekend time waiting, table hawking or elbow dodging in a crowd all of which these babes have begrudgingly been non willing participants of.

Lucky for NY’ers & its tourist and well now those of you that have stumbled onto our little website I have found, if you do a little searching on the less travel road you can often uncover some savory gems. Let’s be clear for me in depth research usually includes grabbing my Beau or my Babe in Crime picking a neighborhood, drooling over menus outside, examine patron faces to see if they are flushed with foodie happiness (we suffer from this disease often and can readily identify the symptoms), asking waiter for the most requested or fawned over dish, typing in Brunch into 3 different browsers with various zip codes or cuisine suggestions and, for me personally being obsessed with all things SAUCE! If the table comes preloaded with condiments outside of Ketchup & Mustard, I see potential for a good time!

Now here at Brunchinee, the babes aim to take some of the guess work (a lot of the waiting & wondering) but none of the flavor out of your quest for a great brunch experience. So here’s the drop on a gem we recently found. Resident babe Erika and Myself went out for a quiet dinner @Citrus Bar & Grill this past Friday to plot our brunch battle plan for the weekend and my taste buds were quickly jogged with the "ghosts of brunch pasts" and the wonderful memory of a great brunch I had there with my honey before! During both trips I wondered why this restaurant, which is also very visually stunning complete with a sit down sushi bar indoor waterfall and an al fresco section didn’t have every table overflowing. Maybe because even though it's located in the foodieville, Upper West , it’s not in what’s historically known as a highly traveled area. It's over on Amsterdam so you may not pass it if you are just taking a gander for somewhere to eat when you get off the main train lines which are on Broadway and Central Park West. Whatever the case may be the fact remains that it is indeed a Citrusy gem. We enjoy the fact that you may have several empty tables between you and the next patron, that you can have a conversation without being distracted by someone else, that there is extra attention to detail. This post includes an extra treat with pictures of dinner and brunch.

Citrus Bar & Grill, which is part of the Josie’s NYC chain boasts Latin Fare with Asian Flare, now fusion cuisine seems to be all the rage for quite some time now but there really is an art to melding flavors and spices from different parts of the world. You must have a real good grip on gastronomy and I’m sad to say I have been burned as the lab rat taster of many unsuccessful attempts. However, one glance at Citrus' Menu and you feel assured that what Executive Chef: Abraham Jimenez & Sushi Chef: Kevin Wong have put together is nothing short of tantalizing creative and explosive in flavortown! Enjoy the visual feast and send us pics or stories if you pop in. We'll be sure to post! Soo now we’ve shared a gem with you feel free to send gems our way too!

THE DRINKS


Pomegranate Caipirinha Pama Pomegranate Liqeur, Cachaca & Simple Syrup

Rosita Margarita
sauza hornitos plata tequila, pineapple juice, lemonade & strawberry puree

THE APPETIZER

Taco Trio Tasting natural braised skirt steak with salsa verde roasted natural chicken with mango-chipotle sauce braised pork with pineapple-red pepper salsa

THE BRUNCH


Stacked Chicken & Egg Tostada grilled diced margarita natural chicken breast, scrambled eggs, white cheddar cheese & pinto bean puree in a baked flour tortilla with salsa verde (You Can have Cheddar Grits also)