Sunday, January 15, 2012

Melba's for some Southern Comfort Food

After we opted out of the dumpling crawl that our fellow crawlers went for, we went up to Melba's in Harlem. Did I say I was happy to *finally* get there? The food smelled so good from just the aroma wafting around that I was just absolutely starving for it then. Service was wonderfully attentive and there were two birthdays in there that night; we joined in clapping and singing. Melba's gets a plus for their service.

Barb decided on the turkey meatloaf. I'm not a big meatloaf fan. That said; this was really some incredible meatloaf. Did I mention I have a NYSC coupon somewhere that I need to find? Well, I do. And the reason is all this eating I've been doing like I was a bear just before I go into hibernation. 

The meatloaf was tender, well seasoned. Can someone get the recipe please? Turkey is not always done right but Melba's did! I never really ate collard greens before but their collard greens was lip-smacking good. And if I had metabolism of a 5 year old, I would be eating this stuff every single day except for when I'm eating other stuff.

The incredible edible *turkey* meatloaf
I just had to have their southern fried chicken and waffles. And boy, did they serve it up! A large crispy breast and wing combo with three...yes three fluffy waffles and maple syrup on the side.

Chicken and waffles, Melba style
The chicken was crispy but moist - not dry. It was lightly seasoned and perfectly cooked. It is definitely a hands on food. I tried to be neat and use my knife and fork though. The mini waffles were very fluffy and the powdered sugar meant you only needed a bit of the maple syrup. It was just satisfying. I could not finish the whole thing - left about 1.5 waffles behind and just a bit of chicken. I was saving room for dessert...

A good test of a bakery is the red velvet cake which seems to be standard in every NYC bakery. C'mon, folks, you can't really mess that up...unless you were me. Although, I am not a fan of the red dye so many places like to use. Be natural - use something else. Like beets - which Carousel Bakery uses in their red velvet.

Barb got their red velvet cake and like all sweets, she left it to be wrapped home - consuming about 40% of it. Did I mention, we still had the red velvet from the Little Cupcake Bakeshop which is way better than overly sweet crumbs? Yeah, that's right. I hate Crumbs.

Moist, rich red velvet cake
This was a moist and rich cake. Very delicious. 40% is a record for Barb so that's really saying something.

I was waffling between either the Coconut layer cake and the sweet potato pie. I ended up with the sweet potato pie because Barb said it was very light - just what I wanted after a day of too much indulgence.
Melba's Sweet Potato Pie
She was right. The filling was like eating lightly sweetened, sweet potato flavored air. It really was that light - I ate almost the whole thing. The crust was so soft and it was served up warm with a bit of whipped cream. Truly a masterpiece - with some cinnamon and even a hint of cardamom. Quite delicious.

If you like southern food done right, you might want to hop that train into Harlem and indulge in some terrific food at Melba's. No, they didn't pay me to say that. It's just that good.

Melba's
300 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10026
Tel.212.864.7777
Hours:
Tues - Fri: 5 pm - 11 pm
Sat & Sun: 10 am - 3 pm and 5 pm - 10 pm
Mon: Closed

Melba's on Urbanspoon

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