Variation of a Classic: Brunch at Jane's, NYC

So, after Ana left for Colombia (hopefully she'll write a post about some Brunch-like experience there) I decided to spend the weekend in New York City with Vicky and Pablo. I was taking the 3pm bus back to Boston, so we made plans to have a go at Brunch before leaving. After all, New York is, by all accounts, the Brunch capital of the world. We set course for Jane's on Houston. Is this place in the Village or in SoHo? I guess it's on the north side of street, so probably the Village... In any case. We met up with our friends Melany and Alejandro and the 5 of us had Brunch while it was pouring violently in the City.

I have to say that I have been many times to Jane's and it has become one of the places in our usual rotation of Brunch spots in NYC. The atmosphere is pretty relaxed and the dining room is quite large. This means the waiting time is slightly less than the average in New York. They have a pretty solid Brunch menu, with all the fundamentals, and you get a free drink with your dish. What more can you ask for?

Pablo and Vicky went old school and ordered the French Toast, an absolute favorite at Jane's. As always, it looked massive and cooked to perfection. They come here often too and always get this dish, so you certainly can't go wrong with it. Melany and Alejandro were more adventurous an went with the Salmon Scramble. It looked very nice and well presented. I decided to order a variation of the conceptual cornerstone of the Brunch experience, Eggs Benedict. They call this dish Benedict Johnny (see picture) to distinguish it from the classic dish and from another creation of theirs, Benedict Jane.

The Benedict Johnny is a great twist of a classic. It consists of two circular pieces of corn bread (I am sure Ana is regretting leaving for Colombia before Brunch now...) topped with two chicken sausage patties, poached eggs and tomato hollandaise. You starting to get hungry now, right? It's a great dish that is served with house roasted potatoes on the side. Simple, innovative, effective. I highly recommend it, although one of my poached eggs was slightly undercooked (it's so hard to get them exactly right... I should write a post on this subject). I ordered a Bloody Mary with it, as no Brunch endeavor is complete if your Eggs Benedict are flying solo. Although it was not memorable, the drink was not bad at all. I especially liked that they serve the drink with some kind of pickled tomato. Yummy!

So, if you happen to be lost somewhere in between the Village and SoHo you should definitely try Jane's for a classic New York Brunch experience.