This restaurant continues to impress me with the dawn of each new season. Two years ago it was Park Avenue Winter's black pepper-crusted, seared-to-perfection ahi tuna which won my heart. This time it is Park Avenue Spring's generous brunch prix fixe, to which I raise a stiff mint julep. Stephanie, my dining companion on both occassions, initially introduced me to the restaurant and it was on my recommendation that we try their brunch.  

We arrived on a warm Saturday and were immediately seated in their cherry blossom adorned dining room (if you hadn't guessed, the restaurant theme, including name, decor and food, changes with the seasons).

Fresh pastries - enough to make a meal - were presented along with raspberry jam and apple butter.  Please bear with me while I digress for a moment. Apple butter is one of my most favorite childhood food memories.  My babysitter, Mamaw - a 75-year-old salt-of-the-earth West Virginian (her husband, a coal miner, died of "black lung" before I can ever remember meeting him) - was raised with an apple butter-making tradition.  She had an old copper kettle, passed down for generations, big enough that two of me could have fit into it and blackened on the outside from many years of sitting over an open fire.  Each autumn we would pick the apples in her orchard and we'd spend days peeling, slicing, spicing, cooking, stirring and ultimately jarring the apple butter, which would be stored in her cellar to be brought out for a special treat every so often.  I don't eat apple butter often as an adult, but when I do, it is always a pleasant trip down memory lane.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...The pastries marched down the plate: a berry muffin, banana bread, pistachio loaf, cinnamon bun, sugared doughnut. We quickly realized we needed to sample only a quarter of each pastry, lest we fill up before the next two courses.

   

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As it was Kentucky Derby Day, we really had no choice but to indulge in mint juleps:

Our appetizers were exact opposites: Stephanie enjoyed a salmon tartare while I had Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, granola and dried fruit. The yogurt and accoutrements were presented beautifully in their own individual serving dishes on a marble plate:

As our entree choices, Stephanie went with a rich breakfast risotto teeming with sliced sausage, mushrooms and a fried egg on top. The dish was incredibly flavorful albeit heavy for a warm Spring day. I kept with the Southern theme in ordering a fried chicken 'n waffles sandwich. This was not the highlight of the meal: the chicken a far cry from the crispy goodness I've become accustomed to in the South (or places like The Redhed) and the waffles a bland, too soft afterthought of the dish. The sandwich wasn't bad by any means; it simply wasn't the highlight.

It should be noted that this brunch is expensive.  The prix fixe alone is $35, not including drinks, so the addition of mint juleps brought the price up to $50/person.  This is a great option for a special occasion brunch, such as for a birthday, Mother's Day or some other celebration.

In college, DG and I both studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain.  We didn't know each other then, but it was one of the first topics of conversation when we were set up on a blind date.  Nearly four years later, and a wedding on the horizon, we both love to reminisce about our time in Spain - living with host families, enjoying a botellon on the banks of the Guadalquivir river, traveling to different Spanish cities and, above all, sampling the regional cuisine.  So when we received a cast iron skillet from our registry, we knew we had to make a seafood paella with sangria as soon as time allowed.

Cava Sangria

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle Rioja red wine
• 2/3 bottle Cava, or other sparkling wine
• 2 apples, seeded and chopped
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1 cup pineapple, chopped with juices
• 2 cups seltzer
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and let marinate while you make the paella (or for as long as you can stand!).  Pour over ice, making sure to scoop a couple spoonfuls of fruit into the glass.

Seafood Paella

Recipe adapted from Food and Wine

Servings: 12

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• salt
• 2 bone-in chicken thighs
• 2 bone-in chicken legs
• 1/2 lbs wild scallops
• 2 large pinches saffron threads
• 4 cups chicken stock
• Freshly ground pepper
• 4 chorizon links, cut into 1/4" slices
• 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups arborio rice (though I had read the more difficult to find Bomba rice is optimal)
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 12 wild littleneck clams

Intructions:

1. Mix paprika, 1 Tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl.  Add chicken, and coat it with paprika mixture.  Allow to marinate as long as possible, up to 24 hours.
2. Mix one pinch saffron with 1 Tablespoon oil.  Add scallops, and coat with saffron mixture.  Let stand at room temperature while you go through the following steps.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken stock, with the remaining saffron.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer.
4. Heat 14" cast iron skillet with two counts olive oil.  Add chicken and cook over moderately high heat, being sure to brown on all sides, for about 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a large platter.
5. Add the chorizo to the pan, cooking until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.  Transfer chorizo to platter with chicken.
6. Pour remaining fat from pan into a bowl, reserve.
7. Add scallops to pan, cooking until just white, about two minutes.  Transfer scallops to separate platter.
8. Return two Tablespoons reserved fat to skillet, add onion, red pepper and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just soft, about 5 minutes.  Transfer vegetable mixture to platter with chicken and chorizo.
9. Return two Tablespoons reserved fat to skillet, add rice, and stir until coated.  Cook over moderately high heat for two minutes.
10. Add the chicken, chorizo, vegetable mixture, peas and chicken stock.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
11. Using tongs, nestle clams into rice.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
12. Add scallops and shrimp.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes, until shellfish is cooked through and rice is tender.
13. Remove pan from heat and let stand 5 minutes, discarding any clams that haven't opened.
14. Serve with a big glass of chilled Cava Sangria

I went to Minetta Tavern once before.  It was opening weekend and I snagged an 11pm Friday night seating for five.  We were whisked to the back of the restaurant and sqeezed in a booth next to Ralph Fiennes.  I was so enamored with the scene - a crowd of beautiful people, the warm lighting, tin ceiling and checkered floor...the Keith McNally-ness of it all - that perhaps I did not pay proper attention to the food.   

So, when I read that Minetta was adding brunch to its repertoire, I couldn't help but want to go back.  I made a date with SB last Sunday and lo and behold, it was like de ja vu.  The restaurant was abuzz (even though Macdougal Street felt oddly quiet), we were whisked to the back and again wedged into a tiny table where I could have rubbed elbows with my next door neighbors. 

The menu presented some interesting choices: a riff on eggs benedict substituting latkes and lox, poached salt cod (no thank you), black pudding clafoutis (which, in my ignorance, figured it contained exotic cuts of meat, or worse, animal liquids, instead of the more palatable apples and berries). 

Giving in to my Southern roots, I opted for the "Slow-baked Ham in Hay," which consisted of sunnyside up eggs, over ham, over grits, with a biscuit.  I was so looking forward to this indulgence but quickly realized the ham didn't have that sweet/salty flavor, the grits were a soggy travesty and the eggs were every-so-slightly, yet noticeably, undercooked.  The biscuit was the best part of the dish. 

Perhaps I'm missing the whole point of this "restaurant" in that it is a place to be seen, but not to eat.  I, for one, probably won't be seen there anytime soon, not even for a Who-would-pay-26-bucks-for-this burger.

Share Our Strength's mission is to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.  They have a number of programs supporting this mission, including one I participated in today with thousands of other people around the country: The Great American Bake Sale.  Gaby Dalkin, from What's Gaby Cooking, added an extra component to this year's Bake Sale; she united food bloggers in 20 states to host their own Food Bloggers Bake Sale.

New York's City's blogger bake sale was held at the Brooklyn Flea Market.  Over 40 bloggers contributed baked goods, including these candied bacon and maple cream cheese macaroons from Macaron Parlour:

AG and I made two things: individual berry cobblers with fresh strawberries and blueberries and chocolate chip, toffee and walnut scones (recipes follow):

Individual Berry Cobblers

Recipe Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks 

Yield: 24 cobblers

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-rising flour (we made this using 2 cups all-purpose flour + 3 teaspoons baking powder + 1 teaspoon salt)
• 2 cups sugar (we used 1 3/4 cups)
• 2 cups milk (we used skim)
• 2 sticks butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh raspberries (we substituted fresh strawberries and blueberries, as it's the better season for them)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour and sugar, then add milk

Stir in melted butter and vanilla

Pour 1/4 cup batter into well-greased muffin tins (we advise also greasing the rims/tops of the tins, just in case some overflow slightly)

Drop a few berries on top (they'll sink to the bottom during baking)

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until golden brown

Invert cobblers onto a cooling rack

Chocolate Chip, Toffee, Walnut Scones

Recipe Courtesy of Epicurious

Yield: 12 scones

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (we used 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped (we used 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup chocolate covered English toffee bits (we chopped up a few Skor bars)
• 2 cups chilled whipping cream

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Lightly butter two baking sheets

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl

Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and toffee

Using electric mixer, beat cream in another large bowl until stiff peaks form

Gently fold whipped cream into dry ingredients

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until it turns into a dough (about two minutes)

Form dough into a ball and pat it out into a 1 1/4" thick disc

Cut dough into 12 wedges and transfer to baking sheets, being sure to leave space between each wedge

Brush wedges with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes