Menu:
*Kimchi Omelette
*Brioche French Toast with Maple Syrup, Berries and Bacon
*Savory Tart with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere, and Roasted Tomatoes
*Wild Blueberry Scones with Clotted Cream and an Assortment of Jams
*Tea & Coffee with Buttermilk Rusks

Plates & Records is a nomadic and themed supper club organized by Joann, Ram and Andrzej, a writer, a human rights lawyer and an artist respectively.  To attend, all you need is a plate, a record, an empty stomach, and an Andrew Jackson ($20).  The original P&R trifecta includes Andrzej, but in his place at the stove that morning was their friend Georgie.

Joann and Ram

Talisa and I arrived at Joann’s apartment to a friendly “Hello hello! Come in!” through the intercom.  Dashing into the hallway to greet us, Mellow, Joann’s Daschund, led us into the apartment, where we found a bustling kitchen and joyously inhaled the aroma of freshly baked savory tarts. We then climbed up the stairs and into the backyard, where a long communal table for 20 was set up, and a few people had already settled down.

Joann’s botanical kitchen / living room

Luckily, what started as a wet and dreary morning turned into a sunny afternoon.  It wasn’t long before we started passing around an aluminum tray of blueberry scones and assorted jams and began sipping on Mombucha and mimosas, all while I got a head start on my summer tan.

Joann’s dog, Mellow, scoping out the brunch scene

Ingredients for the kimchi omelettes

Ram’s Savory Tart with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere, and Roasted Tomatoes

My plate, after I took a few bites and before I grabbed a scone and piled on the berries and lemon curd.

Joann collected our plates and returned them with piping hot omelettes filled with a savory spicy mix of finely diced Soppressata, carrots, cheddar cheese, and of course kimchi.  This was all topped with a zig-zag of ketchup and Sriracha hot sauce.  Who needs a Bloody Mary when there are kimchi omelettes?  Kimchi omelettes aside, Ram’s savory tarts were a culinary feat —a total of 18 onions were cut, cooked and caramelized for these two tarts, some real blood, sweat and tears!  So what exactly is a savory tart?  Imagine if a quiche and a Chinese egg custard tart (“dan tat”) had a lovechild.  A very delicious lovechild.  Tucked within a buttery crust was a silken, custard-like, otherworldly egg filling.  The delicate filling coaxed out the complimentary flavors of sweet, golden brown threads of caramelized onion and robust gruyere cheese.  Throw in some cherry tomatoes and chives, and I was eating one killer savory tart.  For those who preferred a sweeter brunch option, Georgie helmed the stove and whipped up a delicious made-to-order french toast.  Made with fresh brioche, each slice was lightly washed with egg, browned in a cast iron pan, and sent off with a dusting of powdered sugar.  Unlike the hefty, dense french toast served at some brunch venues, this toast had a crispy, crunchy exterior with a light and ethereal interior.

Thanks to the Plates and Records crew, brunch is no longer a distant college memory.  Alright, so I’m not old enough to miss college yet, but I am susceptible to occasional bouts of nostalgia.  Find updates on the next supper club gathering and a recipe for Ram’s savory tart at the Plates and Records blog.  And if you’re in the hood, swing by and visit Joann and 50+ vendors at the monthly Greenpoint Food Market this Saturday, May 22, for some sweet treats and good eats.  Cheers to a warm spring and summer with backyard bbqs and park picnics aplenty!

In the heart of Little Poland– what most of us know as Greenpoint, Brooklyn– is Bakery Rzeszowska, a neighborhood Polish bakery. Large pastries pregnant with fruit and poppy seed filling await beneath a glass case. Plump loaves of babka glow with yellow-brown goodness, ready to fly off their racks as waves of neighborhood regulars quickly come and go.

During my first visit, I asked the woman behind the counter, “What is something quintessentially Polish?”.  She responded with a confused expression. “Everything is Polish”, she said in a thick accent. I decided to point to a few pastries and ask her if they were especially good. Since she replied with “yes” to all of them, it was up to me to choose from the rows of nondescript sugar-topped buns and bulbous egg-washed twists. I ultimately decided to sample their twisted pastry with poppy seed filling and what she described as a donut filled with cherry plum jelly.

Cherry and Plum jelly filled pączek

Pączek, akin to the jelly donut, is fried dough made with eggs, butter, lard, sugar, and cream.  Authentic paczki (plural) have fruity fillings such as prunes or rosebud marmalade, but can come in different flavor variations, like cherry plum. The outside of the pączek is sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar and a touch of orange zest. Since their basic ingredients are forbidden during Lent, paczki are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent. However, many Polish Americans reserve this treat for Fat Tuesday. I quickly saw that devouring this fried wonder is a perfect way to celebrate Mardi Gras. Forget the parties, give me some paczki and a napkin, I’ve gone forty whole days without them. The pączek from Bakery Rzeszowska was a heavenly balance of spongy, soft, sweet and tart.  I was expecting the dough to be slightly dry and dense, thinking back to some disappointing encounters with Czech pastries in Prague. But the pączek was spongy and moist, with subtly tart bits of cherry plum filling encased in the sweet, pillowy dough.

Twist with poppy seed filling

After I POLISHed off the pączek, I moved onto the long twist with the poppy seed filling. The twisted pastry can be more accurately described as a bread. Polish baked goods tend to all share an egg-heavy dough, which creates a yellow-tinged appearance and a texture that is dense yet soft and buoyant, a bit like Challah. My twist was filled with a traditional paste made with poppy seeds ground in a special grinder. The black paste was sweet and nutty, teasing my taste buds with flavors hinting almonds and coconut.  Each slice of this pastry presented a small, concentrated wad of poppy seed paste wrapped in eggy bread, ready to deliver one delicious big bite.

Try your hand at making your own paczki !

Bakery Rzeskowzka
948 Manhattan Ave
(between India St & Java St)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383-8142