New hotel restaurants are high on our radar so with the renovation and re-opening of Public came the subsequent craving for menu novelty. We grabbed our good friend L, brushed past the bikini sun worshippers at Bar Tropicana, and laid into their $35 multi-course brunch offering. We ran through her visit to the W Barcelona over bottomless mimosas (a HotelCrush occasional indulgence) which came straight from the juicer in perfect champagne/orange proportion.
The space is arranged like a French bistro stirred into an English countryside dining room, with twisted horns displayed next to staid portraits and chalkboard cheese specials. Gone is the dark formality of the Dakota dining room, with its speakeasy booths and club seating. Cafe chairs and pub tables congregate under the aged ceiling mural of serpent unicorns swimming around the Roosevelt Hotel logo, and the effect is bright, breezy, and cozy as afternoon tea.
The brunch menu is organized as a pre-fixe inviting diners to select one starter, one main, one side, and a dessert. Starters range from our choice of the crabcake, to asparagus salad, hummus, or burrata on pain vert. We selected diver scallops as our main, though we could have chosen skirt steak, lemon ricotta pancakes, or one of the eggs benedict options (duck confit hash qualifying as the most haute). Our side of mixed berries was delicious – ripe, sweet, and as perfect-looking as a cereal ad. We loved the warm cinnamon and nutmeg coated Berliners for dessert, and resolved to hit the W Barcelona, rooftop pool or (gasp!) no rooftop pool.