In the spirit of spontaneity and trying new things, Yung and I finally made it to Stock and Barrel--a restaurant we've been talking about for at least 5 months. It is located in the Bishop Arts District, which will always hold a special place in my heart, because it is where we went on our 3rd date. I had a weekend day off, so we took advantage of trying their brunch. We walk in and were told that the wait was over an hour, but we were offered to sit at the chef's table (basically, it was the bar next to their open kitchen), so we said yes!
Stock and Barrel selfie
Our seats granted us a special experience at the restaurant, because we had a front row view of what goes on behind the scenes. Here are a couple things worth noting:
- There are a lot of flies buzzing everywhere. It's no one's fault. It's just the fact that the doors keep opening and closing and flies love good smelling food.
- There is an order to the kitchen. There are the cooks, there is someone supervising the cooks, and there is someone calling out orders and checking the food to make sure it looks good before it is passed out (I know there are more people than that, but these are the only people that we could see). I was trying to figure out how everyone just happened to know what to do. The man would call out the order once, and magically, everyone just knew what they were supposed to make, and how many to make. There was very little talking, confirming, and question asking. Everything ran smoothly.
Here is our food--plus french fries that are not pictured. Avocado toast with Spanish chorizo, pork cheek hash with poached eggs, and cheese grits with mushrooms and over easy eggs. The restaurant had a new-American-trendy, yet casual feel to it. I am convinced that the lone diner sitting next to us was someone famous. In Yung's words, "I think that guy is popular." He really was. The supervising chef knew him, and he had at least 2 other people come up to him to talk to him and ask for a selfie. Our waiter must have thought we had VIP status as well, because it literally took 5 minutes for our food to be delivered to us. Not too shabby!
Taken by Yung
All in all, it was a great experience. The food was good, but it will not be going on my absolute favorite list. I did, however, feel very hip to be out with the brunch crowd. We rounded out our hip afternoon by sipping lemonade and cappuccinos at PIRCH, and looking at kitchen, bath, and outdoor appliances that we will never be able to afford. Did you know that you can get a sauna built into your house?
Mirror selfie at PIRCH
Craziness.
But I secretly want one.
Here's to being hip.
Much love always,
Necon
