Out on the Town: August

Friday afternoon I had the special treat of having lunch with my mother. Being unemployed, I was downtown getting my haircut. My mother was supposed to be working in Albany but came home to escape the ice storms that are affecting the Northeast. We went to August, on Bleeker Street between Charles and West Tenth. We had been there once before for dinner, and this was my second time there for lunch. I have yet to be disappointed.

The front of August is deceivingly small and dark. If you continue walking through the restaurant, past the kitchen and wood-burning stove, you come to a sunlight-filled enclosed garden seating area that is lovely any time of year. Particularly during lunch in the wintertime, a view of the bright sky is more than welcome. Being a random weekday, we had our choice of seats and opted for a cozy corner table. The waitress was attentive and accommodating.

I had the Grilled Chorizo with fried egg, manchego cheese, coriander pesto, and country bread. As Bon Appetit recently pointed out, putting an egg on top of dishes was one of the top culinary trends of the year - and with good reason. The chorizo, which was split and grilled, was seasoned more like merguez than your standard Spanish sausage. The fried egg could easily make this a brunch dish, and the thick country bread was spread with coriander pesto and razer thin manchego, two of my favorite foods. In fact, when we were last here for dinner we had the mussels, which came with toast with coriander pesto, and it was love at first taste. It prompted me to make my own cilantro pesto, now one of my standards.

Prompted by a discussion on our love of French Fries, we asked the waitress if we might have a side of them. She said that although that usually was not offered (even though they come with the burger...) since it was not busy she could probably make that happen. And she did. And it was worth it. The fries are seasoned and perfectly crisp, and come with homemade mayonnaise, a little on the vinegary side and delicious.

My mother had the soup and sandwich. The sandwich was a Salumi Panini, and it came with curried Pumpkin Soup. The soup, which was beautifully presented (sorry I didn't get a close-up) had a kick that offset the sweetness of the pumpkin.

August has their own pastry chef who prepares desserts on site daily. To satisfy our sweet tooth we split the Chocolate Pot de Crème. This is a super thick, rich, luxurious mousse topped with an equally decadent whipped cream. We could barely finish it between the two of us.