Brunch has arrived at The Queens Kickshaw in Astoria

Image source: The Queens Kickshaw – Layered Potato Cake

This week we had the pleasure of trying out some of the new brunch items at The Queens Kickshaw, a much-beloved, newer Astoria restaurant known for its expertly-made grilled cheese sandwiches, delicious coffee, and extensive craft beer selection. Brunch starts today, Saturday November 24, and will be served on the weekends and holidays between 9am and 4pm. Their brunch items include plenty of eggs, as well as french toast, and a beet salad.

On to the food! First, is the french toast – it’s made with brioche bread, and topped with a hard cider pear compote and a spicy frico, which is a cheese crisp made with a few different cheeses and chili. The french toast has a wonderful custardy texture – something that is hard to find in NYC, to be honest.

Next is the restaurant’s variant on a scotch egg, which is usually made with meat. Their version is made with a quail egg wrapped with a sweet potato and tofu mixture and served atop a leek and garlic confit. The outside of the eggs has a nice crunch to it.

They serve two omelettes – one is a four-cheese number made with gruyere, manchego, cheddar, and ricotta, seasoned with caramelized onions and shallots; the other is a simple farmer’s omelette, with gruyere, red pepper, tomato, and shallots. They are served as little round discs and are topped with a crisp fried basil leaf.

The four cheese omelette

The classic omelette

Two deli-style salads are on the menu – a creamy egg salad, and a slightly tangy pickled beet and potato salad. They are served with homemade flatbreads.

For those of you that love potatoes, their egg with roasted vegetables dish is on the mark. It is loaded with beautifully roasted fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts done right (roasted cut side down to that they can caramelize). It’s served with a sunny side up egg on top.

A light egg custard is also a delight. It’s fluffy and warm, served in a coffee cup. It is flavored with gruyere, ricotta, and red pepper, and is topped with bits of asparagus.

Perhaps the most unusual dish on the menu is the cold poached eggs. The eggs sit on toasted cranberry walnut bread with pickled mustard seeds, and miso butter, which is a phenomenal condiment. It’s a serious savory bomb, and by the end of the meal you may find yourself wanting to put it on everything. The whole dish works wonderfully.

Brunch cocktails are also on the menu, and will be wine and beer based, since the restaurant doesn’t have the ability to serve hard liquor. Cocktails include a michelada, which is a spicy beer cocktail with origins in Mexico; the Augua de Astoria, made with sparkling cider and fresh orange juice; and a shandy, made with pilsner, ginger, and fresh lemon and lime juice.

We really enjoyed all the dishes we sampled and were particularly impressed with the texture of the French toast, the balanced nature of the beet-potato salad, and the poached eggs with that incredible miso butter.

So stop on by and let us know what you think. The owners are pretty psyched about starting up brunch service, and we hope you really enjoy the food. We sure did.

The Queens Kickshaw, 40-17 Broadway, Astoria, NY 11103; (718) 777-0913; thequeenskickshaw.com

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