Tapeo 29, Lower East Side

Brunch at Tapeo29 with Leslie and Derek back in mid-September. We bought a Gilt City coupon for $65. One entree per person, 3 drinks each, two desserts to share. Our waitress wasn’t counting the drinks. Pretty sure we all got at least 4 or 5 brunch cocktails. Can’t believe Derek added Worcestershire sauce to his Bloody Mary! I’ve never seen anyone do that before. I love Worcestershire sauce, but in a cocktail? No thanks.

The weather has just gone from hot and humid to cool and comfortable. All of the doors and windows at Tapeo29 were open, and we grabbed a table near a window. P.S. Check out the gigantic candles over the bar! I ordered the Flamenco Eggs. Fried eggs over a chunky piquant tomato sauce with vegetables and chorizo. Home fries with caramelized onion on the side. Think I might try making this sometime with soy chorizo and poached eggs. Leslie’s got the Toro Omelet with egg whites, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and blue cheese. I’ve never added sun-dried tomatoes to omelets. Sounds tasty. John’s Three Egg Omelet with bell peppers and home fries. I honestly thought this was the most boring item on their brunch menu, but John got it because it comes with more eggs than the other dishes. Hehe.Derek ordered the Valencia Paella, which wasn’t part of the brunch menu, but the waitress made it work anyway. I believe the Valencia includes more veggies/beans than the usual Spanish meats and seafood paella. Look at that paella! After all that food, we still had 2 desserts to share. Here’s the Tarta de Chocolate: soft center warm chocolate cake in rich chocolate sauce topped with light whipped cream. Looks like an excessive amount of whipped cream, but it went very well with the cake. The chocolate cake was tasty, but the Crema Catalana was even better. Classic Spanish custard with a caramelized top. Basically, crème brûlée… but I believe the Catalan version uses an iron broiler to caramelize the top instead of a flame. I seriously need more crème brûlée in my life. Mmm, this dessert made me so happy. I’d love to go back to Tapeo29 for brunch. Or maybe for a tapas dinner for a date night. It’s a cute little place, but wasn’t too crowded during peak brunch hours. I just wish it wasn’t so out of the way for us!