Now that Hurricane Irene has passed, we can write off this lame weekend of being trapped indoors and plan brunch for next weekend to make up for it.

The Socially Superlative crew was invited to check out brunch at Yotel New York, thanks to The Dizzy Fizz.  Served up on the fourth floor of the hotel on their lovely rooftop terrace, they have tables, picnic tables and posh cabanas for dining, and a great lounge section in front of the bar with modern couches for those who feel like boozing outdoors.

The dishes are served tapas-style, so you can share and try a little bit of everything of their Asian-inspired brunch plates.  What makes it even easier to do so is that for $35, you can elect their all-you-can-eat-and-drink option to truly indulge yourselves over the course of two hours.

It’s only natural to start off with cocktails, so I opted to start with a refreshing mango mimosa.  Not being able to narrow down all the delicious sounding options, we asked for our waiter for recommendations.  We started with the crunchy shrimp with lemon sake aioli sauce, which had a great kick of flavor.  The crab wontons with cream cheese, corn, mushroom and ponzu were also excellent, leaving us drooling for more since they were tiny rolls.

Though we didn’t order the fried egg in a tortilla with black beans, salsa and cotija cheese, it was magically delivered to our table.  We clarified that it wasn’t ours, but they said, it’s all-you-can-eat, just go for it.  Go for it, we did!  The salsa was pretty tasty, but overall a relatively standard dish.  The Yukon Gold Tostones were cooked well but would have been even better with some kind of dipping sauce accompaniment (not to say that I didn’t slather it in the remains of sauces from other dishes).

For our second round of ordering, we decided to dive in for more protein.  The tenderloin benedict on an English muffin with kimchi and chipotle hollandaise was incredible.  The meat was amazingly tender, the sauce was flavorful but not overpowering, and the kimchi added a unique twist on an otherwise seemingly normal eggs benedict.  My regret is that I didn’t order three more of these.

The house ground beef burger slider was slightly lacking flavor.  On the other hand, the halibut slider was astounding, the fish cooked well and drenched with a delicious remoulade sauce.

Ending the meal on a sweet note, we opted for the french toast topped with a bit of pineapple preserves.  While the bread was sweetened and the preserves were sweet, the french toast was just a bit bland and dry without any additional syrup or jam.

Overall, the food was hit or miss: anything that came with a sauce or dressing was generally pretty delicious, and anything without was lacking flavor and/or dry.  I guess the complexity of their flavors come embedded in their sauces – even just a little bit goes a long way.

The dishes were unique enough to want to give everything a shot and try out all the different plates, and the AYCD option definitely makes it worthwhile.  To check out the menu for yourself, take a gander here at the Yotel Weekend Brunch Menu.  Or just stop by to check out the beautiful terrace, which brings over the attractive Hell’s Kitchen crowd in the evenings.

Yours,
Von

YOTEL New York
570 Tenth Avenue
West 42nd Street