The Carnivore and the Vegetarian

Formally Dresner’s, Flight is a new gastropub that offers numerous beers, wines and spirits, all of which are available in flights. The restaurant features a bright, glass enclosed, café area in front, a long wooden bar and plenty more tables throughout.

Happy hour is an ideal time to stop in, as the offerings include $5 small plates, $5 glasses or wine, select beers and $7 specialty cocktails. The beer list is quite extensive, giving you the option to try larger more prominent craft beers as well as smaller, less common beers. You can never go wrong with anything from Sixpoint.

The menu options are vast and includes several dishes with a Thai and other Asian influences. The best of these dishes was the steamed PEI mussels with Thai style coconut curry sauce. There are other sauce options, but stick with the spicy Thai version.

If you’re not sure which direction to go, the seafood flight let’s you sample a crab cake, calimari and a roasted jumbo shrimp. The winner here was the crab cake, which can be ordered on it’s own, with a mango-pineapple-papaya slaw with lime vinaigrette.

For a larger, more substantial meal, there are pub classics like fish and chips, fried chicken and rack of lamb. Sandwiches also fill the menu, so you can come in for lunch and not be stuffed to the gills, while enjoying a tasty cheeseburger.

Before you go, don’t sleep on the sticky toffee pudding. Maybe even get some iced cream and combine them for the ultimate dessert. While Flight featured some delicious gems, the menu may be a bit too large for it’s own good and offering a bit too wide of an array of options. The prices however are very reasonable for the neighborhood and is a great place to stop and enjoy a pint of beer.

A restaurant doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive to offer a great meal. In fact, these days, with a small baby, going out some place fancy will be few and far between. A place like Spiegel, nestled in East Village/Lower East Side, is perfect for a delicious meal in a casual setting, without compromising on quality and taste.

I’d consider Spiegel to be a casual restaurant that is open early (7 am) until late (1 am). The mornings feature amazing coffee and house made croissants, best enjoyed around the semi-circular bar. And your lunch and dinner rangers from a tasty burger with crispy fries to a schnitzel plate with rice and a side of your choosing (go for the cumin roasted beets).

A little more on the coffee. Owner Shmulik Avital brings in coffee from California roaster Verve, which boasts rich, somewhat sweet coffee, that is only available on the east coast at Spiegel (for now anyway).

The friendly and inviting environment was on full display in my visit. Many around the bar knew each other, or if they didn’t, they were already friends. Spiegel seeks to be a neighborhood spot where you can gather to watch soccer or tennis on the big screen, while peering through into the open kitchen below. The beer and wine selection is also quite nice, with many of my favorites in the brew departments (Dale’s Pale Ale and Guinness).

I sampled a number of appetizers, salads, entrees and sides, as well as several desserts cooked up by the chef. I’ll dive into some of my favorites…

The baked feta comes out in a warm skillet with a smokey, spicy tomato and eggplant sauce with olives, served with warm pita. This is a nice sharing plate for you and your friends. The zucchini fritters were lightly battered and very flavorful paired with tzatziki sauce and a small arugula salad — you know, to make you feel like the fried food is more healthy. The salad I enjoyed most was the kale salad, which featured a number of other fresh veggies and a pomegranate vinaigrette.

As for the entrees and the accompanying sides, the grilled salmon with crispy potatoes, roasted fennel and tomato chimichurri was a winner. I might prefer the salmon rare, but the potatoes were how I like them. The schnitzel plate is enormous, as is EVERYTHING (whose complaining there) and the chicken is perfectly crisp and adds a touch of spice. The sides include cumin roasted beets, Moroccan carrots and broccoli with tihini. Each one is quite large, so order accordingly.

The dessert that I favored most was the baked apple pie/tart. It is full of apple and cinnamon goodness surrounded by a warm crisp crust. Add ice cream and I think I could eat it forever.

If you’re in the mood for an inviting casual restaurant, where everyone will know your name (well, in due time), then Spiegel is the place for you. And if you really love the best espresso around with a fresh croissant, then this is definitely the place for you!