London & Martin Co. — Restaurant in New York

Wow. I've been pretty underwhelmed by the lunch scene down here, but they finally provided me with an option that hits it out of the park. I noticed this place maybe a month ago right around when it opened, and I hired a chum to walk over to do a little recon - aka physically take a picture of the menu since there wasn't a website yet. It looked intriguing, and after giving it a few weeks to settle in (and at the strong urging of my chum), this past Friday's gloominess seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out without worrying about hordes of people roaming around in there.

We were both pretty impressed by the interior. From outside, it certainly doesn't look BAD but it also doesn't really set itself apart from any of a number of NYC bar/restaurants. It definitely feels more like a recently renovated, sleek gastropub, but it also has some older touches, including a fascinating cavernous wooden booth towards the front that reminded me of a confessional. Luckily because the place was almost empty, we actually got to sit in there for the meal. I'm probably going to be disappointed every time I don't get to eat in the confessional, but it DOES comfortably seat about six people so I should probably just enjoy the ride when I can.

I decided to go a little Taylor Swift and order the Bad Blood ($16) from the cocktail menu, which featured bourbon and blood orange-infused honey. Very, very tasty. The garnish (I think an orange; that would make sense) was literally still on fire when it showed up, and smoky definitely enhances this drink. I may have accidentally ordered a second one, with no regrets. And they're not skimping on the bourbon - Bulleit is a fave, and super smooth. The Evian of spirits. I'll take that any day.

The menu item that intrigued us enough to warrant the Friday visit was the Mango Hot Honey Popcorn Chicken off the app section ($17). My palate was fresh off a Thai adventure the day before, but it didn't take a lot of arm-twisting here. It was delicious. A very decent portion, and the shaved mango draped on the top of the dish was a great complement to the spicier chicken. Additionally - and I think this is where a lot of bars go astray with the apps - it was perfectly cooked, with just the right amount of crispness, but not overly fried/crunchy. I'd get that again without hesitation.

I'm not sure how either of us still had the intestinal fortitude to continue ingesting food, but we also split a Diavola pizza pie ($20). If I WERE going to ding this place for anything (and I'm not), it's that their pizza offerings are limited and somehow they don't have a plain option. I imagine it wouldn't have been difficult to order one off menu, but I honestly don't remember the last time I saw a pizza menu that didn't include it. A LITTLE snooty in my opinion. That said, it was also on theme in that it was very good - the spicy soppressata gave it a nice edgy tinge, almost like a much higher class version of pepperoni, and the crust was crispy and on the thinner side. My chum commented that it seemed like they were trying to make their own upper crust spin on a bar pie, which is pretty accurate. And it had a nice char to it, which is a personal preference.

We had zero qualms about the service. Our waiter was attentive without being oppressive, and was easy to track down when we wanted to get the check. All of our food/drinks came out promptly as well. Yes, there were maybe two other customers in the entire place but we've all seen service crash and burn regardless of the number of other patrons in an establishment. Also, I thought the price point was pretty on par for the area - you're in FiDi in an inflationary environment so this isn't cheap by any means, but there are restaurants nearby absolutely charging several more dollars for all of these items, without the benefit of high quality service or environment. Hopefully the good times keep rolling here, but this is a fantastic start for...

Popped by London and Martin for brunch. Despite walking everyday in the area we had not seen this place before. Let me tell you the brunch was phenomenal.

The inside is a beautiful classy interior with two window tables that were open when we visited that made our dining experience feel outdoorsy even though we were indoors. Service was excellent we were able to chat some with our server (sorry, I didn’t catch her name, blonde hair, incredibly warm and friendly from Ireland. We all Had a friendly chat as my partner is from Dublin so they reminisced how the rain during brunch was just like home).

We both ordered the L&M burger because let’s be real nothing hits like a weekend burger. Had to do the bottomless brunch and let me tell you the Yuzu Mimosa honestly may be the best cocktail I’ve had. Just the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and citrus. It was so refreshing!! I would come back just for the drink.

But alas we come to yet another star. The burger! Wowza. The menu reads it is a Wagyu patty and the flavor with the duo of cheeses and peach glazed bacon were just perfectly balanced. Incredible. But the potatoes. Lemme tell you the attention to detail. Normally I don’t like thicker cut fries because the outside is crispy but the inside can sometimes have that raw undercooked mealy taste. These were crispy and if you look close they are actually hollowed out almost like a potato spoon so you have equal parts of crispy outside and soft pillowy inside. So fantastic!

The only sad part was we noticed they have not built up a following yet as there were only three other couples inside. They opened relatively recently it appears but if they maintain the same level of food and drink and awesome service this place will be up there as one of our neighborhood gems. Though I should probably gatekeep this place as I’m sure the next time we pop round they will be so busy it will be hard to grab a seat.

Overall, incredible food, drink, and service. Actually may move into our top three neighborhood spots now. Only thing that could make it better would be some outdoor seating, but with the gorgeous windows open it was all the joys of outdoors...

Overall, the place was a good time. The performances were fun and exciting. The ladies did a great job getting the crowd engaged and keeping things very lively.

Servers/workers: The hostess at the front door yesterday had an attitude which I didn't appreciate. We asked this one waitress with dark hair for some plates for our food. Instead of responding, she walked off, came back with the plates and handed them to else. No words were exchanged, her demeanor however was rude. She had an energy about her that screamed don't bother me and I can't believe you're asking for plates. Her facial expression and body language was stand offish. We had another waitress, a blonde who was alright. It's certainly hard to get ahold of someone when you need assistance with your drinks and food.

Food: We ordered the Royal Brunch which was about $110 for two people and it included a mimosas with oj'yuzu. A frozen ball of yuzu is placed in the middle of the tea cup while champagne is poured on top. Very cute idea. Looked adorable. Very bad tasting yuzu. It honestly tasted like what I would expect a cleaning product like pinesol to taste. Weird. The French toast bites were unfortunately cold..we tried to get ahold of a waitress but it was extremely hard and by the time one came by it was the lady with the attitude who gave us our plates and we decided to tough it out. Had they been warm, they would've been good! The waffles with the chicken on top was very flavorful. I personally wasn't a fan of the British sausage roll or the scotch egg, the other girls in my party liked it so it really was one of those foods of preference. I can't say it was bad, it just wasn't my thing. The macaroons were bite sized and cute. All were presented in a very pretty fashion, on a tower .

The performance and the crowd engagement was by far my favorite and made the...