Bombing The Breslin’s Lunch Menu: A Solo Mission on Opening Day

The mains arrived: the beef tongue sandwich arrived on had a nice, crunchy bite to it, and the tongue—instead of your typical deli-thin slicing—was almost a patty, from which a hit of strong, garlicky, beefy flavoring emerged on each bite. It was glorious. The malt vinegar and sea salt fries were nice, sausage-sized bites, but a little overly salted, though that could be dealt with after a little fork scraping of the salt flakes that stayed on top. Ketchup had to be asked for, and there was a heated discussion about ketchup-distribution procedure between what appeared to be the bar manager and a server. No mayo came with it, which for gastropubby food was a little surprising, as was the fact that the guys next to me got some without asking. With the sandwich came a perfect-sized, half-cup portion of lentil soup that had a nice few droplets of oil sitting on top; it maybe could’ve used a dash more salt, but considering the fries, I was good. Only service issue besides the ketchup was the iced tea—basic, offered with simple syrup—which took until the main arrived to get refilled.

The receipt came, and the salad charge wasn’t there ... nice. Total, without the salad charge, with tip: $36 for one lunch (sandwich, fries, iced tea), which was more than enough to be full and take home. The salad was just an order to see what they could do with vegetables, which was, naturally, a savory, spicy shindig.

Other notes: music ranged from Outkast, to B.I.G., to Wilco. Place stayed at a nice noise level the entire time. If I’d crunched my time, in-and-out would’ve been thirty to forty-five minutes. Dinner service hasn’t started yet, but it’s forthcoming.

Verdict: Small service kinks and slight (but: subjective?) salt issues to be worked out; then again, it’s British bar food. Salt’s the name of the game. Fatwa on Friedman is over for now. The new Battle of The Breslin’s gonna be getting a two-top for 1pm lunch, which, from the looks of it, will be well worth whatever effort’s put in to doing so. Next mission: Breakfast. Menu below: