the weekend buzz

“Brunch at Back Forty, Day of the Dead Cooking Class, Brunch at Dovetail and Sunday Supper at Apiary”

Saturday: Brunch at Back Forty, 190 Avenue B, at 12th Street; 212-388-1990.

There’s good reason to make a date for brunch this weekend as Peter Hoffman's Back Forty is serving it for the first time starting Saturday! He and Chef de Cuisine Shanna Pacifico are baking and cooking brunch on both Saturdays and Sundays from Noon-3:30pm. Their menu mirrors dinner time with seasonal, local eats like fried chicken and waffles ($14), house-smoked trout with sweet potato pancake, crème fraiche, and cucumbers, poached egg & potato hash with black bean-pork ragu and toasts ($11), BLT&E (the classic sandwich with a fried egg added in, $10) and for dessert, fresh donuts ($5) and Peter’s wife’s out of this world seasonal pies ($8). Cherry gin and tonics, honey margaritas, and zesty Bloody Marys are served, along with a changing selection of local seasonal beers, too. Good morning!

Saturday: A Day of the Dead Cooking Class at Dos Caminos, 373 Park Avenue South, 212-331-0328.

In honor of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), executive Chefs Ivy Stark and Scott Linquist will be hold a cooking class at Dos Caminos, demonstrating how to recreate your very own Day of the Dead celebration at home with homemade cocktails, guacamole, tamales, short ribs, candied pumpkin sundaes and sugar skulls. Your menu includes Agua de Granada (a pomegranate agua fresca), Gato Negro (tequila, black currant liqueur and fresh lime juice) along with Huitlacoche Tamales, Mole Negro de Oaxaca (beef short ribs simmered in mole negro), and Candied Pumpkin Sundaes (candied pumpkin, piloncillo-rum syrup, vanilla de pampantla ice cream).

The cooking class goes from 11.30am-2.30pm and is $65 a person, which includes lunch, cocktails, recipes and a copy of the Mod Mex cookbook. To reserve your spot, call special events at 212-331-0328 for reservations.

Sunday: Brunch at Dovetail, 103 W. 77th St. (at Columbus Ave.) 212.362.3800.

If you’re on the UWS watching the Marathon on Sunday, stop in and check out the new brunch menu at Dovetail ($28 prix-fixe, served Sundays from 11:30am – 2:30pm). Chef John Fraser’s idea of brunch is a real treat because it starts out with a complimentary sweet and savory bread basket followed by four seasonal canapés (per guest)—choices like yogurt parfait, parsnip soup, cucumber tea sandwiches, and duck meatballs.

His menu offers hangover-fighting choices like a “Patty Melt Madame” fashioned from ground veal, provolone and a sunny side up egg, and a Spanish tortilla with roasted peppers, Serrano ham and eggplant, alongside more delicate eats like a scallop and shrimp salad with Brussels sprouts, beets, cauliflower, and soft scrambled eggs and gravlax, cream cheese, red onions, capers. For those feeling rich, try the shirred eggs and truffles with sweetbreads, hazelnuts, and watercress (add $16).

For dessert, pastry chef Vera Tong is serving a tasting plate of four desserts so no one has to make the difficult decision between them—root beer granité with vanilla ice cream, walnut brownie, oatmeal almond financier, and vanilla cheesecake with pineapple compote. Someone is running 26.2 miles. You need to eat for them!

Sunday: Supper at Apiary, 60 3rd Avenue, between 10th and 11th Streets, 212-254-0888.

Chef Neil Manacle is serving Sunday Supper at his new highly stylized East Village spot, Apiary. His $35 prix fixe menu (served from 6-10pm) includes hearty, seasonal dishes like fall squash soup with curried yogurt, steamed mussels with fuet sausage, citrus, herbs, pan-seared halibut with broccolini, spicy eggplant, fried caper & anchovy vinaigrette, and grilled pork loin with sweet potato puree, haricot vert with hazelnut, cider reduction. For dessert, your choices include a pumpkin crème brulee, toasted almond pound cake with roasted pear, crème fraîche, and a chocolate cashew brownie tart with cashew ice cream.

And that’s your Strong (weekend) Buzz! Be sure to check in with the Strong Buzz every day for cutting edge news, reviews, events and more! READ IT AND EAT!

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