CW: I think we can call this an early morning. It might not really be an early morning, but I think we can call this an early morning.
Judd: Okay.
CW: We’re at a joint called Basil. Basil’s actual an…
Judd: An institution.
CW: An institution, of sorts. It needs to be recognized because it really was the first of the new wave of Crown Heights.
So there’s a very famous dish served at most places where you’re gonna wake up looking for something comforting. It’s called Eggs Benedict. You got a poached egg, sautéed greens, and a really good toasted bread. This is called a hollandaise sauce. So instead of Canadian bacon, we have their house cured salmon. But the hollandaise sauce is what it’s all about.
You gotta get it with their in-house smoked salmon. This is what ties it all together.
Judd: Oh well, now I have to go for another bite.
CW: Yo man, eggs benedict is rich, carby, fatty. It’s what you want on a morning. Right? Straight up.
Judd: And a Pink Lady.
CW: And a Pink Lady.
This is a Pappardelle. This is like a hand cut beautiful pasta. It’s a wide, thick egg pasta. It’s got beautiful goat cheese. And then like a chipotle cream sauce. You have your pignolias or pine nuts for the crunch. You have a little parmesan.
And don’t be worried, it’s not too spicy. It’s actually really pleasant. Gentle heat in the background. Just a tight cream sauce, right? So they know what they’re doing. This is their hand cut pasta. The pignolias, the pine nuts, just give that great crunch.
Judd: You!
CW: This is a blue cheese, fig, walnut, honey, arugula pizza. This is not for everybody cause blue cheese is funky, goat cheese is funky, arugula is peppery, figs are very sweet. It’s like a pungent sweet, right? We wanted to show this off.
Listen, fruit and goat cheese and walnut and honey.
Judd: Wow
CW: This is not a new combo, it’s a very classic combo.
Judd: Yeah but you gotta go into it not expecting a pizza, you know what I am saying?
CW: Uh huh. This is a hand held goat cheese salad.
One of the things that Basil has been know about for a long time…
Judd: Forever!
CW: Is the Basil fries. They’re parmesan fries. They do the truffle oil thing.
This place is important. Why is it important?
Judd: Because it literally was the start — jump off point for some amazing chefs that we know and love today. It had styles of pizza that we hadn’t seen yet in the East Coast for sure. And you’re just gonna see some inventive stuff.
CW: We’re glad to say that you know what there’s a place like this called Basil. It’s here. It’s a trendsetter of sorts. We definitely think it’s an important institution. There’s a guy named David Kolotkin. He know how to bang out some food out of a kitchen. He knows how to throw down. He was very heavily involved in changing the scene of kosher dining, in this country. This place is a legit, legit spot. It’s one of the reasons why Crown Heights has really become the epicenter of new wave kosher cuisine.