Restaurant Week at Root & Bone, East Village

When Summer Restaurant Week was in full swing, and Angela and I visited Root & Bone, a southern comfort food restaurant by two Top Chef alums. I know what you’re thinking… what is the vegetarian doing at a southern food joint?! Even though they’re known for their chicken and waffles, there were a couple meatless options on the Restaurant Week menu.

For $25 each, three courses plus a side for the table to share is a good deal. An outside table just happened to open up before we walked in. Since it was Friday, we decided to have cocktails ($13) with lunch! Angela had the Colonel’s Daughter, a strong bourbon cocktail, while I sipped on the light and summery Colette.

Even though the salads sounded tempting, we both ordered the Drunken Deviled Eggs to start. I’d say it’s more of an amuse bouche than a starter, but it’s such a beautiful dish! They soak the eggs in beet juice overnight to achieve that pretty pink color. The yolk filling was quite good, and the pickled roots and root vegetable chip topping were a nice touch.

I had the Waffle Benedict, but asked them not to include the bacon. This is the first time I’ve had a benedict dish with waffles instead of English muffins. It was tasty, but I would have preferred savory instead of sweet waffles. The eggs were nicely poached. A good dish overall.

Angela ordered Root & Bone’s award winning Fried Chicken & Waffles. The chicken is supposed to be brined in sweet tea and dusted with lemon. It’s serves with a spiked tabasco honey sauce. The waffles part of this dish is a grilled cheese sandwich that comes with whiskey maple syrup.

Before ordering, Angela asked me if we should get the mac and cheese or the watermelon. My response? “The mac and cheese, of course! What kind of question is that?!” As much as I love watermelon, Root & Bone is clearly the kind of place that knows mac and cheese. It definitely lived up to my expectations, and the crust on top was perfection.

The Restaurant Week brunch menu had desserts: Strawberry Shortcake and Peaches & Cream. I got the strawberry, Angela got the peaches, and we got to feast our eyes on both desserts.

The Strawberry Shortcake was an adorable single serving stacked dessert with strawberry consome with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. The actual cake was light, but had a richness that I would expect more from puff pastry.

Peaches & Cream, a classic southern, summertime dessert, was served in a little jar with vanilla panna cotta, poached peaches, and oatmeal crumble. I didn’t taste any of it, but it looked lovely and prompted me to recreate it at home.