September 5, 2009

Permanent Brunch - Breakfast food all day long

Permanent Brunch in the east village opened a couple months ago to much fanfare.  I mean, who doesn't love brunch?  And why is it only on Sundays!  Like "happy hour one more hour," Permanent Brunch builds upon the idea of extending a favorite meal all day long.

I mean, didn't you always want to have pancakes for dinner as a child?  There are many places in the city that serve pancakes for dinner (Clinton Street Baking Company - don't bother waiting for brunch to get their blueberry pancakes - just go for dinner!)

However, Permanent Brunch takes it to another level, serving all kinds of "brunch" food for dinner.  To do so, it means that many of their brunch dishes are more savory than sweet.  In fact there was only one real sweet entree - buttermilk pancakes.

Baked Eggs at Permanent Brunch
I tried the Baked Eggs with Braised Short Rib Ragu and Duck Fat potato fingerlings.  Delicious, with the potatoes being the best part.  I mean cooked in duck fat?

Can it get better than that?  It was served quite prettily and was just the right portion.

While I did eat it for "brunch," I could definitely see craving it at dinner.

Who said eggs were only for the morning??

Sorry my pictures are kinda muted - but I guess it gives you a sense of the ambiance.  Permanent Brunch is quite tiny and the lighting is club like even in the middle of the day.  Bring your iPod and you can be part DJ, part diner...

Chicken and Waffles at Permanent Brunch
I also tried the Chicken and Waffles.  Now the chicken was super moist and juicy - not dried out which is often the case with chicken and waffles.

Done coq au vin style, it's not fried chicken and waffles like you'd normally think.

The waffles are cooked with wild rice and topped with maple glazed bacon.

Crispy, sugary, delicious - the bacon provided the sweet to the savory dish.

Overall, Permanent Brunch has quite delicious food - and most of the entrees are savory and sophisticated enough for dinner.  It's not your classic brunch food, so I guess that's why it makes sense to the taste buds for dinner as well.  To a certain extent "brunch" almost seems a misnomer.

P.S. - they actually don't have brunch during the week during "brunch hours."  M-F they open at 5:30pm, Sat and Sunday at 10:30am.  Friday and Saturday they don't close till 3am!!!  So you can even get an early brunch to ward off that inevitable hangover....

Permanent Brunch
95 1st Ave (At 6th)
212-533-3315

3 comments:

tuce said...

Actually, they recently started serving lunch during the week!

FRANNYONTHEGO said...

Dying to try this spot though only for breakfast or brunch. Wondering how long was the wait?
Frannyonthego.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

good to know about lunch!

For brunch - I went at around 11am on a Saturday and there was no wait..but that may because it was raining and on the earlier side. I would suggest going before 12pm if you don't want to have too long of a wait :)

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