Delicious Habits

Earlier this month Hell’s Kitchen hosted their Fan Appreciation Brunch. It was a celebration of 10 years in business and reaching 10,000 fans on Facebook. I knew when David and I started the 5×2 blog we would be reviewing Hell’s Kitchen at some point and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We got there a little early and were shown to a table in the Fireplace Room. Normally there is only live music in the main Underground room, but for this appreciation weekend they had live music in both rooms. It was nice to have in the background and wasn’t too loud to prevent conversation. In honor of their ten years in business Hell’s Kitchen was offering many of their classic dishes for just $10. This was a nice bonus, but I didn’t really plan on letting that decide my meal choice. I started looking over the menu and had my usual decision problem at Hell’s Kitchen. There are just too many good choices. Add to this the fact that I can’t just rely on “my usual” because I don’t have a usual at Hell’s Kitchen. I like to try different things, which is also part of the problem here because I have tried almost everything on the menu both in my kitchen and at the restaurant. It’s all good and I find myself not being able to choose almost every time I sit down at a table in Hell. It seemed that everyone else at the table quickly chose their dish and it was up to me. Our server had mentioned that the Corned Beef was good so I went with that for my order, but at the last second I asked everyone at the table if we could all share an order of Lemon Ricotta Hotcakes and some Bison Sausage bread – no one objected.If you are a new comer to Hell’s Kitchen and are there for breakfast then you need to try both of these signature items. There are so many great things on the menu, but these two and the Mahnomin Porridge are truly unique. I thought about getting the porridge too, but I know I’ll be going back again.

There were six of us and the hotcakes and sausage bread were gone before I thought to get out the camera, but for the meals I made everyone wait drooling over their plate while Kira snapped pictures of their food. My hash came out look amazing as always.

The eggs cover it up a little, but underneath is large hunks of tender corned beef and pieces of fried potato, onion, and celery. It is a salty goodness that is hard to equal.

Both Kira and her Aunt got the Portabello Benedict, which is a classic Hollandaise sauce poured over a Portabello mushroom and shaved ham. The peppery Portabello makes a great base for this Benedict.

Both David and Katherine ordered the crab cakes, which  on the menu are listed as Shrimp and Crab cakes because they have shrimp in them as well. In the Hell’s Kitchen cookbook they are listed as Steve’s Tits Up Crab Cakes, which should give you an idea of how good they are. The Hollandaise poured over the deep-fried crab cakes is mixed with roasted red pepper puree to give it that red color and a small kick.

Kira’s uncle got the meal I was considering until he ordered it (I have a problem ordering the same thing as others at the table, it feels like a wasted opportunity.). He had the Huevos Rancheros, which is amazing by itself with spicy black beans, hash browns, pineapple and red pepper salsa, scrambled eggs, and a fried tortilla, but he had them add some bison sausage to take it completely over the top.

The food was delicious and I added a Hell’s Kitchen bloody Mary to make it the complete brunch experience.

The service was great as always and Mitch and Cynthia both stopped over to say hello and I got a chance to congratulate them on ten years of success. As a part of their 10 year celebration they honored me with the title Customer of the Decade. I think it is because I did a little bit of blogging about the cookbook. (Actually, it is a huge honor and I plan on writing about that more over on that old blog when I find the time.)

It was a great morning spent enjoying our food, friends, and family. I know I will be going back soon – I’m just not sure what I will order.