There aren’t many things better than girl time + brunch! This weekend I combined both with some of my favorite ladies on the Lower East Side. I have to be honest, the winter weather has put a serious damper on my city adventures lately so I’m glad my friend suggested we get out of the neighborhood! 

Our destination? Sons of Essex. It may have been only 1 in the afternoon, but the spot had the vibe of a cool lounge with dimmed lights and hip hop music. I don’t make it to the LES nearly enough, but when I do I really enjoy the old-New York feeling the neighborhood gives off. SOE stays true to its roots and boosts an eclectic mix of decor within a vintage styled loft that I really loved.

I often find myself falling into my tried-and-true brunch order of eggs benedict – I mean you really can’t go wrong with that order! – but a quick look over the menu told me I needed to try something else. I know my photos aren’t great on this one (dim-lighting!) but after the first glance I found myself already debating between several items. The fun thing about the menu is they have some funky items you definitely aren’t going to find anywhere else – Crunch berry french toast, SOE brunch pizza, and drumroll please… a Mac N cheese omelet. Trust me it was a hard decision! Even harder because this was my “last supper” for awhile before switching to healthy eating before my Jamaica trip next month.

So what did I end up going with? The mac N cheese omelet! I mean.. I had to right? We also ordered up a side of truffle tots, because again, we had to!

So what did I think? Let me tell you! Hellooooo cheesy goodness! You might be wondering how mac and cheese would work with eggs, and I’m here to tell you, it totally works! Just think of an extra creamy cheese omelet. The combination of the gruyere and mascarpone… just perfect.

One of my friends ordered another dish I’d totally recommend, their SOE brunch pizza. Eggs, cheddar and bacon served on a thin crust? Man, I really just love brunch food. We were all really impressed with the food and the portion sizes were just right. I will definite be back to try out more of the menu – after the Jamaica trip that is ;-). If you check it out, I’d definitely recommend making a reservation too. Downtown is a little harder to just walk-in and get a seat and this place was definitely hopping the whole time we were there. Sunday brunch is served all day until 8pm though so you definitely aren’t limited to the afternoon!

We were definitely full after brunch but since we were in the neighborhood we decided we had to pop into one of my friend’s favorite little cupcake shops nearby, Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

Totally a dessert to-go trip for us, but you can’t possibly visit a cupcake shop without leaving with a couple – full or not! Their cupcakes are the perfect amount of sweet with a homemade touch. I ordered up their Strawberry cupcake with cream cheese and peanut butter frosting and it was a nice little PB&J tasting snack for later. That flavor actually had kind of more of a muffin cake texture to me, which I really liked. 

They have lots of yummy sounding flavors though that my friend insists are some of the best cupcakes in the city. So even if you’re full from your trip to SOE, do yourself a favor and pick up a couple to go! 

Well, winter hasn’t quite decided to take a vacation yet! The snow may have continued throughout the day, but Chris and I decided to get out of Manhattan and head to Brooklyn for some comfort food bites.

First up on our agenda? A trip to DuMont Burger. While I will definitely be back to try their burgers.. this trip was all about their mac and cheese. 

Let’s just say this ‘food tour’ wasn’t exactly on the healthy side.. but hey walking through the snow can work up quite the appetite (or at least I’m telling myself that). Chris and I decided to split a side of their onion rings and their famous mac and cheese.

I enjoy a good onion ring and DuMont does this just right. The Spanish onions are cut thick and then covered in a tempura batter that is the perfect combination of fluffy and crisp. I’d happily come back just for a side of these with their special sauce.

Next on our order was their mac and cheese. They offer a bacon add-in, but I suggested we opted for it plain. In my view, to really test out how great a mac and cheese is, you need to do so without any of the extras first. Otherwise it ends up shadowing the cheese mix a little. Their mac and cheese is made with radiatore pasta and a mix of parmesan, gruyere and cheddar cheeses. 

So how do I think it stacks up? I was a big fan of the style of noodles. It’s a little different variety than most restaurants select and the noodles soak up the cheese just right. The cheese blend was a nice combination with a great combination of creamy without being too heavy. Finally, the mac is topped with a nice crust of melted cheese on the top which really finishes off the dish.

After we were filled up on fried and cheesy goodness we headed a little further out in Williamsburg to check out one of my favorite donut joints. 

We first had Dun-Well Doughnuts in the fall at Smorgasburg and I’ve been wanting to have another go at their donuts every since. At I continue my quest to find the best donuts in the city, Dun-Well currently sits a top of my list. The dough that their creations are cooked with is just perfect. 

I follow their accounts on Facebook and Instagram so my mouth was watering before we even made it in the door. We didn’t make it in until the afternoon so they had sold out of a lot of their varieties, but they still had the mini pie options that I had saw on social that morning so I was happier than a clam!

Okay… take a second to check out the bottom right menu item. Doughnut Sundae!?!? That’s just all sorts of fatty deliciousness sounding. If it wasn’t snowing I probably would have went with that route but since we were still pretty full from lunch we opted to take our treats to go. 

Now here is the part that kind of blew my mind a little… It turns out their donuts are vegan! Now I’ve certainly had delicious vegan options in the past, but being someone who doesn’t like missing out on ingredients.. my mind often just assumes that gluten-free or vegan bakeries are just missing a little in their treats, even if that’s a terrible theory.. Well, it’s time I officially throw that mindset out the window because Dun-Well proves that doing things a little different can have even more amazing results. I mean, look at these babies below!

Once we had our treats, it was time to head back to Manhattan. Not before snapping a picture of OMG Taco though. Um, how awesome is that name??  

I’d say our snow noms tour was a serious success. Delicious, and the perfect way to fight off some of the winter blues. Scoots wanted to say hi too :-)

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s a look at some of my favorites for the week.

1. If a night at the museum is a dream in the making for you, then you’re going to be very excited about the American Museum of Natural History’s announcement! The 21+ event promises food, live music and a fossil fact-finding flashlight tour. Plus, sleeping under the whale is kind of awesome. 
2. Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen’s condo is up for grabs! For rent that is.. At $40k a month, you too could enjoy their awesome views of the city.
3. Oh how I loveeee mac and cheese! I’ve done several posts on some of my favorites in the city and this week Gothamist released their list, “The 8 Best Mac & Cheese in NYC" I’m only 2 for 8 on their list so it looks like I still have some work to do, but their choices definitely look solid.
4. New York gets a bad rap for being expensive, and in most ways it’s totally warranted. There are a few things that are actually pretty inexpensive here though and Used New York wrote a great post with some of the details.
5. The Fulton Center subway station opened this week in the city and it’s quite the looker. After more than a decade of construction, the bright and shiny new hub that connects 10 subway lines was finally unveiled.