A Taste of Home

When I first moved to New York, I was thrilled to see that my new apartment was sharing an address with the "Home Restaurant". Judging by it's country style sign that hangs over the doorway, fresh platter of cookies in the entryway, and a welcoming and warm interior- I was sure that this place would be frequented by my roommate and I as I imagined warm biscuits and hearty breakfasts.

A few months after moving in, my friends and I finally made it to brunch at Home Restaurant. The food was very good, but not at all what we were expecting. It was more of a stylized menu that focused both and on taste and presentation- which of course is great, but again, not "home".

Fast forward to the present.

Although we haven't been actively looking for such a restaurant, we continually would mention how we could really use a good southern type meal. While New York City has an amazing assortment of places to eat, I was having a hard time finding a place with real southern "soul food". Then again, we weren't really looking, just complaining that we hadn't seen any.

So the other night, while deciding where to go eat, I began my search. Out pops the name of a place called "The Pink Teacup". The great part is, its like right around the corner from my apartment. The menu looks great and convinces us enough to head out to Grove Street.

From the outside, there wasn't much that advertises this place as the place for southern cooking, but afterwards, we would see why.

We entered into the small restaurant which boasted pink walls and an enticing array of smells that could make your mouth water even if you just finished a meal. The wall on the left housed various pictures of Martin Luther King Jr, and the wall on the right was adorned by tons of famous people who had been there saying it was the best they have ever had. Apparently Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg are frequent patrons.

As we seated ourselves in the corner we were pleasantly greeted and handed a menu. From start to finish I have to say that this is one of the best meals I have had since I have moved to the city. We started out with a delicious soup that seemed to be made of some type of bean, but in a chicken like broth that had a bite to it. This was followed by a salad and our main course. Now I must say, the menu choices for your main course are extensive, but judging by what I saw everyone else order, there is probably not one thing on there I wouldn't get. For myself, I ordered the BBQ pork, string beans, potatoe salad, and cornbread. Seriously, best damn cornbread I have ever had. Even if you dont like cornbread, you will like this cornbread, guaranteed. Everything was amazingly good. There really wasn't even one part of that meal that was mediocre, right down to their sweet tea.

Not only was the food fabulous, but the atmosphere just made you feel good. The music would flow from good oldies to Usher...always keeping the customers tapping their toes. I just kept waiting for the lady next to me to hop out of her seat and start dancing. Every once in a while you would hear the cook in the kitchen singing some old R&B type a song and it just made you smile.

We finished up our meal with warm peach cobbler- almost in disbelief of how good it was.

As we were finishing up, the line outside of people was growing and growing- waiting for the first table to get up so they could run in and snatch it.

We walked back to our apartment saying how we had to go there at least once a week and imagining how delicious their breakfast must be. We also thought how scary it is that this place was so close, yet we never knew it existed.

Well, for all you nyc'ers who haven't been there, you don't need to be from the south to love this food, you just have to be human.

Needless to say, I am "home".

http://www.thepinkteacup.com/