Jason and I had tickets to see Avenue Q in Manhattan yesterday afternoon. We decided to do brunch before the show… being a little bit tipsy seemed like the only way to go see an inappropriate puppet play. We decided on Maysville in Manhattan, the sister restaurant of the recently closed down Char No. 4 in Brooklyn. Char No. 4 was Jason’s all time favorite place, as it boasted not only delicious pork focused bites, but also a wall of bourbon glory. You can only imagine his devastation when it closed… Rest in Peace, Char. Maysville turned out to be similar, with a slightly more seafood focus than porky one.
Here was the brunch menu:
Maysville Brunch Menu Top
Maysville Brunch Menu Bottom
And here was the Maysville wall o whiskey:
Maysville Bourbon Wall
It was beautiful to gaze at as we imbibed and ingested some delightfully yummy spirits and food.
Maysville Blueberry Bite Starter
To start, they gave us a mini blueberry muffin – buttery and delicious.
Maysville Brunch Cocktails
To drink, Jason went with a perfectly concocted bourbon Bloody Mary, and I did the “Midnight Rambler,” which was composed of Bourbon, Lillet, Cointreau, Lemon, and Red Absinthe… yummmmm.
Maysville Hay Roasted Oysters
For an appetizer, we were torn between the two oyster options, and went with the hay roasted version. They were a tiny bite to get started (they only came with four on the platter), but very tasty. Pickled shallots and huge hunks of sea salt are always good in my book.
Moving on to the actual brunch portion:
Maysville Smoked Sausage
The smoked sausage was mostly chicken, with a touch of pork as well. Juicy and flavorful and great.
Maysville French Toast
The French toast boasted fresh ricotta, honey, and blueberry jam. All very fresh tasting. The blueberry and honey were a good balance of tart and sweet. This was kind of like dessert, great for any sweet tooth brunchers.
Maysville Crispy Grits
The grits were great too. Super oniony, and I loved the texture of them formed into the grit cake: crispy on the outside and silky on the inside.
Maysville Cheese Board
For “dessert” we decided to taste all of the cheeses from the menu, and we each chose an ounce of bourbon to try. Our waiter helped us make our bourbon selection to pair well with our cheeses, and we went with an ounce of McKenzie and an ounce of Dad’s Hat. Both were great but we voted on the Mckenzie as our favorite – slightly smoother.
Basically, everything was excellent. Cocktails were great and strong. Food was fresh, well executed, and had a few special touches of originality. The cheeses were delicious – a nice little variety. And of course, the bourbon was magical; it’s so much fun to taste and learn all of the differences between each distiller. Our waiter was helpful without being pushy, and was the perfect amount of bubbly without being annoying. And the 80’s music during the entire meal, which might usually annoy the hell out of me, was somehow really ironic and fun. In fact, I was inspired by it to watch the classic rom-com, the Wedding Singer, last night.
Maysville earned a four star Baconboozer rating. If you’re looking for a good brunch in the Flatiron area of NYC, especially if you’re a whiskey drinker, you should definitely check them out!