Love for Food

I was pleasantly surprised when my friend called me about brunch the following Sunday. In a way I am anti-brunch. Brunch is one of the easiest, cheapest meals to make. I've tried having people over for brunch, but we New Yorker's love to go out. There is nothing more intimate than being invited to someones apartment. Therefore, it's hardly done. I have never been to many of my close friend's places, nor them mine.
Being her birthday weekend, I wanted to pick the place. New York City has it's own brunch culture. Every cafe, restaurant, bistro, coffee shop seems to have it's own take on the mid-day meal. Regardless, it's almost impossible to find the perfect brunch spot. I have had quite a few mishaps - waiting three hours for a table, waiting two hours with reservations, lackluster food, empty spots, the list is endless. It was already Friday, and I was feeling quite lazy. I searched by typing "brunch NYC" in Google. Thousands of hit Bah! I narrowed it down to the West Village out of connivance and clicked on Garage because I remembered passing it. Garage had a huge menu (everything was $15.99, $6.00 additional for all you can drink). The menu covers traditional items like eggs, to more lunch type fare. What won me over was the jazz. I wanted a "fun" place since it was a birthday celebration. I wasn't so sure what "fun" was though. When I saw jazz, it clicked. Jazz is fun! Jazz starts at twelve so that's when I made the reservations for, even though I thought it was a tad late for me.
Sunday's brunch was great. It was rainy so we did not get to sit outdoors but Garage has both indoor and outdoor seating. The interior of Garage looks kind of like a pub, with dark wood paneling. I liked the decor, it felt warm unlike some of the more modern, trendy places. You know the places with the plastic white furniture, and harsh lighting. The space is two floors which seemed large but half way though our meal, the entire place was packed. They take reservations and honor them. That was great since we heard the hostess tell a party outside they had to stick the rain out because there was no way they were going to get moved to a table inside. We were promptly seated upstairs in a booth. The waitress mentioned that we had our own personal dimmer in case we wanted to change the lighting. It was totally unnecessary and unused but still made us ooh and ah. Sitting upstairs we did not see the jazz band, but they made for wonderful background music without it being so loud to hear each other talk. Now to the most important part of the review, the food. The food was very good. I don't think it's super gourmet but it fits my typical brunch ideology, and was very satisfying. I had the tuna burger. The tuna burger was minced tuna, shaped into a patty, and seared on the outside. The burger is served with avocado and wasabi mayo. My friends opted for eggs. The best part of the eggs were the mashed potatoes that came along side them. They tasted like sour cream and bacon. Yum! I would recommend Garage to any New Yorker's looking for a good brunch spot. The food was tasty, the price was right, the decor and jazz was festive and you can make reservations. I hope to make it back one night soon to check out their nightlife.