Manhattan goes Southern

Being from the south I was immediately drawn to Southern Hospitality, that and it is owned by the sexiest man alive, Justin Timberlake, and its two blocks away from my Hell’s Kitchen apartment. The quaint, corner restaurant has that smooth, warm glow of what I picture to be a grandma’s kitchen, with a flair for bluegrass of course. A group of three very good looking musicians are sitting on barstools strumming banjos, guitars, and a tin can full of beans singing “Wagon Wheel,” they obviously know how to win over my heart.

We sit down at a two-topper right by the door where our bouncing server (she had just moved to Manhattan, she’ll get the edges in a month or two) handed us menus and said those magic words “Do you want all you can drink Mimosas?” To which my response was “What kind of question is that?” My friends and I have dubbed ourselves the Boozy Brunch Squad for a reason. Out of all of the brunch spots in Manhattan, Southern Hospitality has one of the lowest prices on 9th Avenue for the all you can drink specials on Mimosas and Bellini’s.

Our stemless wine glasses filled almost to the brim with champagne and a splash of orange juice (just the way I like it) arrived in no time and our food not long after. I ordered the Southern Style Fried Chicken and Biscuits and my sister, the Southern Benedict. Each dish came doubled up so we split down the middle. The fried chicken was almost as good as my grandmothers. The obviously homemade, perfectly crispy with a melt in your mouth taste was wedged between two southern sized, buttered biscuits. I say wedged because, in true southern fashion, everything is bigger and bigger is better.

Lets not forget the Southern Benedict. The classic taste of a poached egg and hollandaise sauce that is never very surprising is suddenly brought back from brunch purgatory all the way to the number one spot when they added smoked brisket instead of ham and that golden brown, buttered biscuit. The different dynamic of the brisket added a bold new flavor on this traditional brunch special. It was perfectly crisp, juicy – everything southern mixed with everything brunch.

For being one of those restaurants with high expectations just because of the owner, Southern Hospitality exceeded all of them. Not only is the food on point, but your champagne glass is never, ever empty. All though you may have to wait a little bit if you don’t make reservations, Southern Hospitality should be on our list of Brunch Beats.