sans Fussy Crew in New York City
Sunday Brunch at the Plaza
The Brunch of the City
When in New York, the Casual Restaurant Critic and Co. always try to make sure that the stay includes a Sunday. Why? To enjoy Sunday Brunch in the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel (corner of 5th Avenue and Central Park across from FAO Schwartz, where the store is beautiful, the line-ups legendary and some lunatic parents pay 18,000 dollars so their kids can have a pijama party there).
When you think Sunday Brunch, perhaps some long tables in Las Vegas come to mind, an all-you-can-eat affair featuring dried up and/or soggy foods, stale fruit and bread, etc. etc. etc. Or on a more local Merida kind of level, Sunday brunch at the Fiesta Americana or Hyatt hotels, where you have a decent enough selection of foods at a reasonable price, unless you arrive at that magic moment called no-mans hour, when neither lunch nor dinner is being served. Or maybe you're thinking of that horrendous brunch that tries really hard to be elegant and fails miserably in this Critic's humble opinon, at that Hotel on Montejo called the Palace or Paseo? The F&B manager, having studied at the local Conalep, has equated volume and quality, and figures they'll get that select clientele they're after. Note to the more cynical among us... they're full. What does that say about Merida's restaurant patrons? Oh, and what about their fake spinach pasta, colored not with spinach but with lime green food coloring?
Well, the Plaza is not the vast selection of flavor-challenged inexpensive carbohydrates that most 'buffets' turn out to be. Everything is absolutely first class. From the tuxedo-clad classical guitarrist and the string quartet playing alternating sets of classical music, to the heaping bowls of fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries and the accompanying bowl of real whipped cream, to the fresh clams and oysters on the half shell with all the trimmings, to the 5 different kinds of smoked fish, to eggs cooked to order with about anything you could imagine including caviar if your tastes run in that direction, to all kinds of breads, to myriad (look it up) cold cuts and a tasty assortment of hot dishes, to the selection of 20 or so cakes and other absolutely fabulous desserts. Hungry yet? And it's not the sheer volume of the display or the foods available; it's the fact that they're so attractively presented that you can't help but want to try everything.
Have a mimosa (champagne and O.J. for the un-initiated) and enjoy.
Brunch, with two mimosas, and the already-included tip
was about $120 USD.
The Casual Restaurant
Critic's appetite knows no bounds.
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horrendous, don't bother, not worth the price, time and/or calories
not really good, but has the occasional saving grace
average, some good points some bad, nothing special
good, only a few nitpicking details
really good, great food, great ambiance for what it is supposed to be,
great