THE TABLE

My favorite sitting place is next to the window, at the entrance, for people-watching. This is also where the restaurant puts their best flowers.

The little shelf there holds an antique sewing machine, vintage flour bags and long stretches of willow branches.

I just dream that this is my home (because I could probably live on their menu).  This place is under the BQE.  It is in-between Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo.  The place is neighborhood friendly and chic.  The area it is in is not busy or loud--quite the opposite.  Right down the small lane from a children's park and dog park, there is a small block of brick houses.  On this block is Iris Cafe.  They have rustic community tables and the same smiling faces making sandwiches and buttery treats for you.  It is that type of place where if you go more than three times, they will recognize you.  It is the perfect place for romantic lunches with your sweetie.  

The most surprising thing about this Iris cafe?  Their iced coffee (iced coffee is an obsession for us. I order it deep into the beginning of winter and cough a lot.)  You heard it here first.  The iced coffee is comparable to La Colombe's.  Say what?!  It is thick, flavorful iced coffee, with a hint of nuttiness.  Love you, Iris.


Iris Cafe / 20 Columbia Place, Brooklyn NY 11201

BE VIBRANT

BRUNCH. This is one of Brooklyn's super hours. It's an ambiguous word that means: come get your breakfast... but with the cocktails of lunch hour and the outfits of dinner hour. You thought your Equipment shirt, Céline bag and Opening Ceremony silver broques were too casual for dinner? Yeah, just wear it to brunch. People bring their friends, their pets, their kids... (what do you think about this? My thoughts? Let's just say Lek and I avoid Park Slope on the weekends at times. It could be because of the thousands of MacLarens or another brunch date in Park Slope that went awry... that is a story for another day.) Brunch? I love it, we love it; this is the people's consensus. The only problem?

It is too easy to get the same old plates. They usually consist of: poached eggs, grapefruit brulee, or some sort of burger or hash steak nonsense. But then we discovered the french crepe at Pates et Traditions. Super Surprise!!! (I wrote that in French. Yeah it's the same spelling and meaning in English but I am so bilingual and cultured right?!) Each crepe is stuffed with so much flavor and wonder (goat cheese and figs, or sausage and grilled tomatoes). It is exactly what you want in the morning. Something light, yet succulent and super happy-inducing. And to get you to that bliss point? After the crepe, walk over to Reynard in the Wythe Hotel and grab a drink in a sun-filled room.

Pates et Traditions  /  52 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211

A LITTLE HELLO

My most perfect type of morning involves sweet treats and lattes.  This one is from a little Norwegian bakery just a tap dance away from us.  Bakeri (not Bake-er-eye, but Bahk-ree: a mistake we told ourselves we never made inside the place, no no I refuse to think about it!) is like a dream within a dream.  A hole in the wall with beautiful girls baking in vintage blue jump-suits and silk scarves in their hair, plates of quiches, breads, cookies comparable to Levain Bakery (we have a funny story about this place too) and ceilings with vintage textiles.

Perfect!

Ceiling detail