Doma Na Rohu
This past Sunday, as part of my wife Therese’s birthday weekend, we had brunch at Doma na Rohu on Morton Street in the West Village with our dear friend Tsvetta. Doma na Rohu, which means “Home on the Corner” in Czech (yes, it is on a corner), is an eastern European fusion restaurant, reflecting the owners’ ethnic backgrounds of German, Austrian, Czech and Croatian (with a little Hungarian thrown in for good measure).
Originally, the plan had been for us to have brunch at a Bulgarian restaurant, to experience the cuisine from Tsvetta’s ethnicity. However, the restaurant she had in mind has either relocated or closed down, and the Bulgarian establishments that remain in New York City tend to be bars, and thus, not open for brunch. So in searching for an alternative that would still give us a taste of the eastern Europe, Doma na Rohu came up. And as we entered the restaurant and sat down, I was immediately pleased that we had chosen it. It reminds me so much of the West Village diners and restaurants that first endeared me to the neighborhood decades ago, with its rustic wood tables, airy feeling and charming decor.
For my brunch, I kept things simple. I started with a .3 liter bottle of Czech Krušovice Light beer (light in color, not in calories). I wanted to order the corned beef hash with poached eggs, but the waitress told me the hash had a little butter in it. So instead I ordered 3 poached eggs with bacon and baked beans.
A little surprise with the baked beans – they were quite savory (not full of brown sugar the way we usually do ours), with a nice helping of paprika added. The beer went with the eggs very well – its taste was a perfect balance between bitter hops and sweet malt. All in all, it was a very lovely brunch for our birthday girl!
Karl, Therese and Tsvetta at Doma Na Rohu
Little did I know that Tsvetta had an extra surprise for us. She suggested that we go to Sugar & Plumm on Bleecker Street, not more than two blocks from Doma na Rohu.
Sugar & Plumm
We all had coffee, and the ladies shared a brownie and a big cookie. Unfortunately, the baked goods (which looked gorgeous in their display case, by the way) were off limits to me – all full of butter and milk, blech! But, like lots of sweet shops, they did have some candies that were dairy free. I bought a package of great dark chocolate chunks with almonds and candied orange, and some chocolate dipped candied orange slices. And I sampled the two candies while the ladies ate their baked goods – wow, I love the way the orange rind adds an element of bitter that is somehow very different than the edge that the dark chocolate provides. Visiting Sugar & Plumm was the perfect finish to our time together – isn’t Tsvetta a thoughtful one!
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