Brunch at Norma's - NYC

Norma's is one of the legendary brunch places in NYC - I've been wanting to go for a long time since breakfast/brunch is my favorite meal and especially because it was featured on Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" show for their decadent french toast made with slices of chocolate cake instead of bread - described on their menu as "Chocolate Decadence French Toast - Covered in Strawberries, Pistachios and Valrhona Chocolate Sauce"! (The restaurant was also featured on Gossip Girl!) However, the restaurant is not only in midtown, it's also in a hotel - which means it is pretty expensive. Thus, Giltcity's $20 for a $40 Norma's gift certificate presented the perfect opportunity for me to try it out!

Walking into the restaurant, it is not what I expected. It is a lot smaller than I imagined and kind of felt like more of an extension of the hotel lobby (even though it is set apart from the lobby on a separate balcony area).

On to the food...

Complimentary banana, pineapple & guava smoothie shots to start off!

My dining companion ordered the "Hudson Valley Duck Confit Hash à Cheval" - shredded duck with peppers, cippolini onions, and potatoes. I loved the use of cippolini onions in this rather than just normal onions!

While I've been dying to try the chocolate cake french toast, I've been on a health kick lately so I opted for the "Egg White Frittata With Shrimp With Oven-roasted Roma Tomato and Spinach." I loved this frittata, the egg whites were surprisingly fluffy, and I loved that the tomatoes were roasted on top. It was a lot bigger than I expected as well - the frittata was pretty thick, and it sat on top of a pile of fingerling potatoes.

While we were waiting for the food to arrive, my dining companion and I suddenly noticed an incredibly delicious smell and looked around trying to figure out who ordered what food that smelled so delicious. It turns out to be the toast that comes with some of the dishes. I got multigrain toast with my frittata, served with butter, blackberry jam, and orange marmalade. Sometimes, simple warmed toast, spread with butter and jam just hits the spot!