Seeing as tomorrow is a holiday, I will most likely revert to my Sunday eating schedule: brunch & dinner. If I do sleep late, and therefore combine breakfast and lunch into one gluttonous meal, I will most likely head to Cowgirl Cafe (Hudson and West 10th). I will not go to celebrate the history of America--the wild west and/or women's liberation (was there a time when "cowGIRLS" weren't allowed to exist?)--but, rather, I will go to celebrate the historical day I happened upon the Cowgirl Cafe brunch.
It was a little over two weeks ago, a sunny Saturday, and I was very much in the mood to get a bite to eat outside and people-watch. I had been to Cowgirl for margaritas and maybe a Quesadilla or two but never in the hours before noon--margaritas before noon would actually be a little embarressing--thus I took it upon myself,and my friend, to give it a try. We chose a table under an umbrella--I highly advise this route because when the summer sun pops through it becomes hot as blazes--and plopped ourselves down unsure of what the brunch menu would hold.
While it may seem obvious that a restaurant with Cowgirl in the title may relate to a region in the USA, namely the Southwest, I had never paid the name much heed and had always assumed it was Mexican. I think a large part of my oversight is that I do not often find Southwestern food in New York and therefore forget what a wonderful hybrid of cuisines is found in that region--spicy Mexican inspired dishes alongside hearty comfort food.
What most excited me at Cowgirl, once I got a hold of the brunch menu, was that all the egg dishes were served with a buttermilk biscuit and your choice of cheese grits or potatos. The egg-plus-biscuit combo was a genius solution to the brunch conundrum that requires you to pick between eggs and a delicious bread product (i.e. pancakes, french toast, waffles). Although not particularly sweet, the biscuits cake-like appearance and formidable size, made it feel more special than plain old toast and therefore I went ahead and ordered the "Cowgirl Crazy Mixup"--scrambled eggs with jack cheese, bacon, tomatoes, sweet onions and topped with a tomatillo avocado salsa--and chose the cheese grits. I was not disappointed. The eggs were moist, and the ingredients very uniformly spread throughout the mix--no huge mounds of cheese clumped together, as sometimes happens with omelettes and scrambles-- the buttermilk biscuit was warm, fluffy, and even bigger than I had imagined, and the cheese grits tasted like the real deal. My friend, who had spent four years in the south during college, declared that Cowgirl's grits were the best he'd ever had. In fact, after his own half-plate serving, he shyly asked if he could have some of mine.
This scramble was "crazy" in the pop-culture sense of being "crazy good" or "crazy flavorful," maybe even "Crazy, Sexy, Beautiful" if I were to get musical about it--Remember what a big hit that was? Needless to say, I adored my meal and the meal of my friend. He ordered the "Ranch Handler" which consisted of eggs any way you want them, 2 pancakes, meat of your choice and either potatoes or cheese grits. The eggs didn't really interest me because I'd had my fill, but the blueberry pancakes (you can also have plain or banana-pecan) were calling my name. The tops were the mahogony color of the pure maple syrup that accompanied them but the insides were warm, bready and choc-filled with blueberries. They were also half an inch thick--cakes in a pan indeed! In addition to all of the food on both of our plate's Cowgirl also included a little dish of fruit salad with each meal. Having this fruit salad in addition to the heart-attack inducing meals we were consuming was a little bit like ordering a diet coke in the throes of a McDonald's value meal, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
As if the satisfying food and outdoor seating was not enough, Cowgirl was also a great bargain (dishes range from $8-$13). I want to go back as much as my biggest pair of jeans will allow me and I highly advise you try it too. Giddy-up folks!
