Pretty Standard

Easter weekend was filled with sun, bagels, shopping and drinking. Nevermind that it was Passover and I was not supposed to be eating anything good - carbs are my life and I refuse to give them up.

I had a great friend in town who deserved a great brunch in New York City so I made a reservation at the Standard Grill. The menu looked good and very reasonably priced for such a hot spot these days and I was shocked they had a reservation available on Easter Sunday.

We got there on time and the place was super crowded. I noticed they had outside seating so we requested that we sit outside and we only had to wait an extra 15 minutes - not bad! The table was perfect for people watching and had ample sun so one of my arms got burned and the other didn't - fabulous.

The three of us chose all different things, 2 egg dishes and one sweet so we could all share. And we got a side of the herb roasted potatoes for the table. I got the baked eggs Florentine and they were great. Eggs Florentine is one of my favorite egg dishes because spinach with your poached eggs is always better than ham. I usually get the hollandaise sauce on the side also, so this dish was perfect for me. Even though the eggs were baked and not poached, it was still wonderful. The spinach was more like spinach dip with melted cheese throughout and the eggs were runny and went perfect with my toasted sourdough bread.

Lindsey got the other baked eggs dish on the menu even though our waiter said it was one of the weirdest things on the menu. Her baked eggs came with sausage and chickpeas in a tomato sauce. I tried it with a bite of her flatbread and it was definitely interesting but good at the same time. I'm a fan of tomato sauce all the time so combined with the eggs was good in my book. The chickpeas was an unique addition, but it didn't make or break the dish.

And last but not least, Erin got the brioche french toast with bananas and walnuts. Two pieces came in a serving and we cleaned the whole plate. The crust was crunchy and the middle was soft and sweet. A perfectly made french toast.

We had a great brunch at the Standard. Even though it was extremely crowded, the service was great and everyone was extremely accommodating. We even had our own celeb sighting -- Tori Spelling, her husband Dean, the 2 cute kids, and PR celeb Jonathan Cheban! All looking great in their Easter best.

Side note: I heard through the foodie grapevine, that the Standard Grill for dinner isn't that great, so wait for a nice day, get a table outside and go there for brunch and a day of drinking in their beergaren under the Highline!