Background: Opened in Greenwich Village in February of this year, Freud is an Austrian restaurant opened by Eduard Frauneder, a Vienna native. Frauneder also owns two East Village joints, Edi & The Wolf and The Third man. In an incredible stroke of luck, they had just opened for brunch service on the day we stopped in. Kismet!
Eat This: We had just landed for our less than 48 hour visit in NY, and we had made sure to come hungry. On the other hand, we knew we had a lot of food stops left to make before flying out the next day, so we kept it fairly light. Jason had the Rhubarb Pancakes, served with whipped sour cream. Jason (thinks he) does not like sour cream, but even he was willing to take a chance on this one. He actually had ordered the bagel, but when we saw someone at the table next to us with these pancakes, he knew he had made a grave mistake. Luckily, they happily changed his order and the pancakes were divine--light and fluffy, not too sweet.
I ordered the Albacore Confit, served with cucumbers, dill, and crispy elephant garlic, along with some toast points. They have a similar option on their dinner menu, but this dish was just the perfect thing for a light lunch. It was very #norwegianfood.
Other options that looked delicious included the bread basket and the egg options (baked, sunny, scrambled, poached).
Dessert: No dessert here, but we did head to Rice to Riches immediately after.
Drink: Even though Jason was running the NY Half Marathon the next day, he still indulged in a Freudian Cocktail with me! I had the Tomatillo Bloody Mary, which was very different from any other bloody I’ve tried. It had chunks of tomato in it, which I know would not be everyone’s cup of tea (vodka), but I really enjoyed it. It could have been a tad spicier, though.
Jason had the Nirvana, a pink concoction (duh) with Pisco, Aperol and blood orange juice. His drink was the winner between the two. They also have a cocktail called the Libido. Psych jokes abound.
Atmosphere: The space is very zen and has a European cafe feel. It’s outfitted in wood paneling and lush greenery, and there are psych books scattered about. They tacked up current newspaper front pages to the wall, including some fun tabloids. The bathroom shelves were lined with tons of tea candles, which rather shocked me. I saw this practice several times on this visit, and I had second-hand anxiety over the potential lawsuit/fire hazard. It looks cool though, for sure.
Viennese Hospitality: The servers were so kind and even asked us what we thought of the brunch, as it was their first day trying it out. There was not a big crowd when we went, but all of the staff was super attentive without being ingratiating.
Frankie’s Notes: I would like for Jason to keep running races in fabulous locales for the rest of our lives; People who think they don’t like things like sour cream or mayonnaise when they really don’t know what they like; Chunky cocktails versus pink cocktails is the new Batman vs Superman; It’s been hard to write blog posts during tax season, but we’re back, internet!
Rating: 5 out of 5
560 LaGuardia Place
New York, New York 10012