The Morning After, A Syrcls Brunch Review: Fada

Let’s face it, the last thing you want to do when you wake up from a long (and possibly regrettable) night out is to get out of bed & cook yourself something awesome to make yourself feel more human again. At least for people like me, who pretty much don’t cook at all, going out to brunch is pretty much your best friend. So that’s why I’m here: to share my tales of urban brunching— tales of caution, and/or tales of awesome.

On this past 3-day holiday weekend, I had a cousin staying with me, a zillion birthdays (seriously, everyone’s parents must have been getting busy for reals in the spring!), and a Brooklyn Iron Chef competition (for which I had my roommate 80% make me a salad I passed off as entirely my own). It was exhausting, and I still needed to follow through with a brunch date I had made with Foxy, a friend I hadn’t seen since before the New Year. We both live in the northern part of Brooklyn, though she lives in Greenpoint and I live more towards the east, around Bushwick. I figured Fada-- a French place I had been to before and had their amazing fries and seriously, the best mussels I’ve had in NY-- conveniently located right off the Bedford stop on the L on Driggs, was the easiest solution.

I got there shortly before Foxy, about five minutes before one. The place was about half full, though there only appeared to be one waitress working. I sat down at the bar, which was nice so I wouldn’t have to crowd the entrance area. When Foxy arrived, we started to make our way to the waitress, when I was intercepted by some random lady asking me what the address to this place was. I have no idea why people always think I know where everything is, much less exact addresses of places. Foxy found a business card & gave it to her, which was probably a better solution than my answer of “Uhhhhh, I dunno, like, Driggs…” Then I realized after we were seated that the waitress and I were wearing similar outfits, and had similar coloring. I also frequently get mistaken for waitresses or retail “sales associates,” which is ironic, because I am probably the worst sales associate and/or waitress ever.

Anywho, Foxy and I are vegetarians. When I say I’m a vegetarian, I mean, I totally eat shellfish, fish, and occasionally turkey on Thanksgiving. So, yeah, I’m basically a fake-believe vegetarian. But Foxy is for real. Fada has a great brunch menu that I much prefer over nearby French places Juliette and Fabianne. Juliette is kind of limited, especially for vegetarians (even fake-believe ones!), and has way too much fried shit for my taste, and though Fabianne’s menu is pretty good and eclectic, it’s always crowded and you have to go up to the front to order. Barbaric, right? Ha. It is if you’re a lazy ass on the weekends (and weekdays, my roommate would argue) like me. Fada is also the best deal of those three, because it’s about $11 that includes OJ and coffee and/or tea with your brunch. Their Bloody Marys & Mimosas are $6, which is not too bad if you have all that other stuff too. Oh, and their tea comes in these gigantic saucer bowl things, which are cool because you get more hot water, but kind of annoying if you have a small table.

Foxy and I both ordered the Veggie Croque—which is melted gruyere & country bread, served with a green side salad. I feel like it strikes a good balance between healthy/fiber-y, and super indulgent. Does the cheese cancel the healthy out? Whatevs. It’s pretty good. Though, I had to really restrain myself from getting the mussels for the eighty billionth time. Since Fada is cuisine more from Marseilles, you can imagine the standard of mussels. Seriously. Amazing.


The only thing that kinda sucked about this experience was that because there was really only one girl there working, it took a while to get our food, and Foxy barely got coffee after asking no less than four times. Also, they only type of credit cards they take is American Express, which is weird. But luckily, they have an ATM inside.

Overall, I would say this place has good food, portions that really hit the spot without making you feel either still ravenous, nor overstuffed and disgusting. Plus, they keep you pretty hydrated with the amount of drinks included with the brunch, which is always good. It’s also pretty convenient if you live in the area, or want to meet up somewhere easily reachable by subway station location. And MUSSELS, MUSSELS, MUSSELS!! Did I mention that?