Grits in the morning...breakfast/brunch inspiration

You know how much I love a good weekend breakfast or brunch (a lot!).  I look forward to filling the dining room table with food and sitting down for a leisurely meal with my husband and son.  The little man finishes and usually takes off after a while but my husband and I linger at the table for a long while just chatting and enjoying a few cups of coffee.

Above all else, I like eating and being at home these days.  But I also make it a point to go out once in a while (especially on Sundays for brunch) and take advantage of some of the amazing restaurants available to us, as we live so close to NYC.  I try to mix things up and in our latest outing a few weeks ago, we went to Amy Ruth's in Harlem. It's known for soul food and, specifically, the fried chicken and waffles.  We'd been there many years ago but thought it would be a nice change to head there again.

We had a good breakfast at Amy Ruth's and our favorite dish turned out to be the smothered fried chicken, served with white corn grits and eggs.  I realized I'd never cooked grits despite how much I love similar things like porridge and oatmeal.  So I was inspired by that breakfast outing to cook grits for breakfast back home!  I love when inspiration strikes.

Here we have breakfast of grits, bacon and eggs, with a side of toast.  Nothing too out of the ordinary but so hearty and satisfying.  One of the things I liked about the grits at Amy Ruth's was how it was a great blank canvas for the smothered chicken.  I asked the server whether the grits were cooked with water or milk and she told me, as I suspected, that it was made with just water.  I was happy to hear it and I did the same at home.  You can source good stone-ground grits but for a novice like me, I settled for the quick cooking kind easily found in a canister.  You know what?  It tasted just like the one at the restaurant.  

You don't always get inspired eating out but it's such fun when it happens.  I keep a little list of restaurants to try out for brunch and I'm hoping for some good meals as well as a little inspiration to take back home every now and then.


There's really no "recipe" for this post.  Essentially - let's have grits for breakfast!  I cooked up some grits in as basic a form as it gets - I made it with just water and salt, following directions on the box.  

To finish, you could stir in a little dab of butter, or some bacon bits, maybe a little bit of cheese, if you like.  Just as well, you can leave it alone and scoop it up and serve it alongside some bacon and eggs.  I called it my "Southern-style" breakfast...I love a good theme to any meal!

Brunching in NYC...

Growing up, we ate out pretty often and I used to enjoy it a lot more...but as I got older, I grew tired of it and for the most part, I now much prefer to stay in and enjoy simple, lighter, home cooking.  That said, I want to make sure the little guy gets a break from mama's cooking once in a while!  It's good to let someone else do the cooking and dishes sometimes.  It's also nice to have a good meal and take a walk around various neighborhoods in NYC, and soak up the diversity. So part of our routine is going out to breakfast or brunch every few weeks, trying different spots in NYC that I've heard about.  Since I can't help but take out my phone to snap a few pics before digging in to our meal, I thought I'd share some of these brunch outings...

For instance, there's Amy Ruth's that I've been talking about.  Here's the smothered chicken with grits that inspired this post...

 ...and the fried chicken and waffles they're well known for.

Not long ago, we brunched at Balthazar's.  I love the buzz and vibe there, and the food is great.

Similarly, there's Laduree in Soho.  It's such a feminine place but the fellas are great company.  I always want to skip the "food" and go straight for dessert, no matter what time it is! 

I realize I really do love a cozy, warm bistro or brasserie.  I loved going to Buvette, which is in a tiny space that packs so much charm.  They're known for their plates of steamed eggs.  We had just seen the movie, BFG (Roald Dahl), and it was very appropriate because we felt like giants sitting at our little table.

Lafayette is another spot though far roomier.  We had a great morning there, sitting in the cheerful and bright atmosphere, enjoying our coffee and breakfast.  I'm looking forward to going back.

My son loves pizza so we tried Motorino not long ago.  Does anyone else love a good octopus salad, by the way?

Once in a while, we drop the forks and pick up our chopsticks and go for dim sum (okay, some of us still use forks).

And while we sometimes get a little dressed up for a more formal lunch, like this one at Gotham Bar and Grill, one of the first "serious" restaurants I ever dined in in New York that's still as good as ever...

or have lunch and tea at King's Carriage House, another restaurant my husband and I remember fondly that we wanted to experience with our son...

there's nothing like a good breakfast...at the local diner!  For that, head to New Jersey, our home for the last almost-10 years!

I could go on but I think I better stop here for now!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great week!  May there be lots of good meals whether enjoyed in the comfort of your home or thanks to the hospitality of a good restaurant!  We need both in our lives, I think.