the finer diner

(Despite the fact that I completely disagree with all of you about br- vs. lunch, I’m going to keep posting on SPF because I know that you will all come around someday.)

Last night, mwr, Casey, and I went to Relish, a pretty conspicuous diner/restaurant in Williamsburg that I have always been confused by (there are always a lot of motorcycles outside?). QueenOfCuisine has been talking this place up for a while now, and I really wanted to know if it is as good as she said…

First thing’s first: the atmosphere. Mwr ruined it for me a little by texting “I already love this place!” as soon as he got inside, but it was still really great. Really laid back, really dark, and not really laid out so that anyone is in your junk and you feel uncomfortable. We were promptly served our drinks, and the waiter checked back an appropriate amount of times when we (mwr) couldn’t decide what we (mwr) wanted.

Now the Food: Queen told me about an incident where she had the best veggie burger ever at Relish, so that’s what I had. I had a bit of a problem with the caper mayonnaise since I really don’t like the idea of mayonnaise at all. I think deep down I knew that I should have trusted the chef, but instead I was a fool. I asked them to hold the caper mayonnaise. As soon as I received my burger, I knew how wrong I had been.

It was not like so many other burgers; it was served on lightly toasted whole wheat bread. This fact alone makes it much more accommodating to things like mayonnaise or mustard, and not so much ketchup. Something about daintily spreading ketchup around on toasted bread with a knife felt completely wrong. I was ashamed. I really feel like I need to go back to Relish as soon as possible and have the veggie burger with the caper mayonnaise. How it’s supposed to be… how it was meant it to be.

But back to the veggie burger. It came out sliced in half, each half pierced with a olive-laden toothpick. I do not like olives, but it was a very nice touch. The burger itself was very good; they make it in-house and you can definitely tell. It tasted fresh and savory… a real taste explosion. It came topped with lettuce, tomato, and red onion, all fresh and crisp. All wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever had a veggie burger from a diner that wasn’t greasy or lacking in some way, until Relish. MMMMMmmmm.

For my side dish I was given the very difficult dilemma of: side salad, onion rings, or French fries? I got the onion rings, which were enormous and much less greasy/fatal than others. Unfortunately, I could barely eat half of them, and I was too stuffed to even think about whether or not they tasted good. I’m pretty sure they did though.

I will report back once I’ve revisited Relish and had the veggie burger WITH the caper mayonnaise. But tonight, we’re taking an SPF field trip to Quantum Leap (the restaurant, not one of my favorite shows ever), and just looking at the menu makes me want to drool all over the place.

TTYL!

P.S. - Sorry about no pictures... it was too dark!