Bun Boy Eats NYC – FIVE LEAVES – GREENPOINT

FIVE LEAVES – GREENPOINT – BRUNCH

March 20, 2015 5:00 am

MOROCCAN SCRAMBLE
$13
merguez sausage, scrambled eggs w/ spiced chickpeas, crushed avocado & grilled sourdough

Five Leaves is probably THE most popular brunch spot in Brooklyn. And they don’t take reservations.

This means really long waits. The kind of long wait, where the hostess rolls her eyes and sighs before you even open your mouth to tell her how many in your party because she KNOWS you’re gonna freak out and she’s already over your bullshit.

Today, our wait was to be 1.5 hours. My dining companion didn’t appear equipped to handle this kind of bad news. Then, she had a brainstorm. We could peruse a nearby thrift store in the meantime.

Crisis averted.

The snow had started coming down heavily, and blanketed Greenpoint quite nicely as we slipped and slid our way to the thrift store.

Now, I don’t know what kind of thrift stores you had in your home town growing up, but I’m used to something substantially different than what I happened upon, this wintry morning.

First of all, the smells are all the same. Thrift stores stink. It’s a fact. No matter how much you Frebreze that shit.

I grew up buying cool vintage shirts for $1.99 and Led Zeppelin records for half that. As time went on, I monitored the increase in prices and when I finally moved from Seattle to Los Angeles, costs had doubled. $10 bucks for someone’s stinky, threadbare throwaways became the norm.

This is also around the same time I had the epiphany that I preferred to wear new clothing and, so I left my thrift store legacy behind.

Now, I know I haven’t been to one of these stores in a while and I knew as soon as I stepped inside that this place was Trendy, USA. I mean, they have a shop dog. A cute Chihuahua who I fell in love with.

But that didn’t really make up for the outrageous prices.

The good news about this store is all the merchandise appeared to be the “good stuff”. None of Marcia Brady’s hand-me-downs or 80’s Bill Cosby sweaters.

For that service, however, you’ll pay dearly. My friend ended up buying a used blouse for $50! My jacket set me back about $25 but jackets have a longer shelf life than some stinky shirt who’s front I’ll eventually cover in various artisan mustards.

We finally headed back to Five Leaves to see if our table was ready. It was not.

We hung out in the corner, while my friend began to panic that we would be seated by the door. This is, indeed, exactly where we were seated.

I was fine with it because my stomach began to audibly voice it’s confusion of why it was not completed filled to the gills by now.

I started with a bloody mary which was quite nice. Very traditional, with a nice horseradish kick.

I then ordered the Moroccan Scramble, which I dubbed “Cilantro City”. Not officially, or anything. In fact, I didn’t even say to my friend “Woah, look at all that cilantro, friend!”

In fact, cilantro was not discussed at any point during our meal.

My point is, you’re going to need cilantro to be your most very favoritest herb in the world, in order to like this dish. For me, cilantro is up there on my list, so I quite enjoyed it.

Fluffy eggs, Merguez sausage, chickpeas and red chiles piled high on this really nice, crusty piece of avocado toast.

Avocado toast is everywhere these days. I’m sure 7-11 will start carrying it next to those satanic, stuffed Dorito things. And I’m fine with that. It’s a tasty treat.

Just don’t charge me $14 bucks for it. It’s toast and $1 worth of avocado. It should cost $6 maximum….but never does.

In this case, you get a heck of a lot of accoutrements with your avocado toast. Meaning, a shit load of eggs and, of course, cilantro. Cilantro City, in fact.

My companion ordered the Ricotta Pancakes with fresh berries but the best part was that incredible honeycomb butter. So good! Highly recommended if you’re in a sweet mood and have the remainder of the afternoon free for the inevitable sugar crash.

18 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
b/t Nassau Ave & Lorimer St in Greenpoint
Phone number (718) 383-5345
fiveleavesny.com

ALL PICTURES TAKEN WITH AN iPHONE