Amity Hall

That’s right folks – this is a lit­tle piece of heav­en on a Sun­day morn­ing – al­most. Re­cent­ly a friend and I de­cided to try out Amity Hall (80 West 3rd Street, Man­hat­tan) for brunch. I go there for happy hour on oc­cas­ion (de­cent, and a good space for part­ies), but this was my first ex­peri­ence di­n­ing in. I had heard there was a make-your-own Bloody Mary Bar as well as un­limited Bloody Marys and Mimosas (for $12) – awesome. As you can see from the photo above, there are vari­ous opt­ions for the Bloody Mary base. The waitstaff gives you a 16 oz. water glass with ice (way too much ice – I would re­com­mend as­k­ing for less) and a de­cent dose of vodka. You can opt for house ($5 each) or pre­mium ($8 each) vodka, but if you are going for the un­limited opt­ion, house vodka it is. The Bloody Mary Bar’s (some­what ec­lectic) opt­ions in­cluded the fol­low­ing:

• V8 Juice, Tomato Juice, or Bloody Mary Mix
• Cris­py Bacon
• Lemons and Limes
• Car­rots and Cele­ry
• Olives (mixed, though the menu says “Juicy Green Olives”)
• Slim Jims
• Twizzl­ers
• Atomic Fireballs (candy)
• Pickled Cor­nic­hons
• Str­ing Cheese
• vari­ous hot sauces, A-1 Sauce, Wor­cestershire Sauce, and hor­seradish

As ex­cited as I was to make my own Bloody Mary, I have to admit that I was a lit­tle sur­prised at the qual­ity of the many opt­ions. For ex­am­ple, the lemons and limes were not fresh, and the peels looked dull. The olives looked like they were about a month old and sitt­ing in a grimy brine. There were about ten olives in the con­tain­er though I was the Bar’s first cus­tom­er for bunch. The tiny car­rots and cele­ry were li­v­ing in a water that made them look less than ap­petiz­ing. On a side note, there was no clam juice opt­ion, which for many peo­ple is a sta­ple in the crea­tion of a good Bloody Mary. To me, why half-ass a great idea like a Bloody Mary Bar? I ex­pec­ted it to be brimm­ing with the fin­est (or at least fresh) vers­ions of the in­gredients above. I was honest­ly af­raid to put one of the olives in my drink. It would have been rea­l­ly nice to have a fresh, large stalk of cele­ry, rath­er than a sick­ly, rub­be­ry, tiny piece, which would get lost in the large glass. Maybe I just went on the one day that they didn’t get their act togeth­er? Who knows.

As for the food, my friend or­dered the Be­lgian Van­il­la Bean Waffle with mixed berry com­pote, whip­ped maple pecan butt­er, and cris­py can­died pepp­er bacon ($10). The only flaw in his dish was that the waffle wasn’t cris­py, which is too bad. The whip­ped maple pecan butt­er was de­lici­ous, and the the cris­py can­died pepp­er bacon, which had a maple ess­ence to it, was THE BEST BACON I HAVE EVER TAS­TED. I would eas­i­ly go back for this bacon again and again. Amaz­ing. I got the Gril­led Chick­en Cobb Sandwich, with bacon, avocado, tomato, crumbled bleu cheese, and lemon-herb mayo. It was very tasty. Still can’t get over the cris­py can­died pepp­er bacon, though, even as I write this.