Where to eat in Troy NY: The BEST brunch @ Nighthawks

I love NYC more than I have loved any place I have lived, but there are things about not living in a city I miss. One of those things I miss is the farm-fresh produce, meat, and dairy available in little oases surrounded by rich farmland and the restaurants that put it to good use, like Nighthawks, a farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Troy, New York.

John, the owner of the Garnder Farm Inn (aka coziest bed and breakfast I’ve ever stayed in), named Nighthawks as a dinner recommendation the evening we checked in. Then the next morning at breakfast, one of the B&B guests gave a glowing review of what she claimed was the freshest, best burger she had ever eaten. The chef, she said, was maybe vegan or vegetarian. My partner has a strong preference for vegan foods when accessible so that meant we had to go.

It was a beautiful morning of blue skies blanketed by thick winter clouds. A cold front moved in after the weekly rainstorms though, so I wanted to sit inside to keep warm. As luck had it though, 10:30AM on a Sunday meant Nighthawks was almost full. The only open table was outside. Nothing a jacket and blanket can't fix.

Service at Nighthawks was very slow. We wondered a few times if they had forgotten about us all outside because as far as I could tell it was slow for all four of the outside parties. Eventually our sweet potato and pecan muffin with whipped bourbon honey butter ($6) came.

It came with the appropriate amount of butter! A cause for celebration! The muffin crunchy pecan-studded top was the best part, but the entire muffin was so moist that eating the other part was almost as much of a joy. The sweetness was spot on. A yellow jacket who kept returning for seconds on the butter agreed with me: Nighthawks has to be one of the best brunches I've had in a while.

The crumb somewhat open, and uniform. The muffin definitely had some chew to it density-wise, and it had spring-back spongeyness. What made it this way? An egg substitution? Unsure but no complaints here.

When my partner sunk into his veggie burger with a fried egg on top ($15.50), his first full-mouth words were “Oh fuck.”

Nighthawks housemade veggie patty was a mixture of local beans, grains, and mushrooms. It fell apart easily. Someone pressed it on the griddle for just long enough to get crispy, but remain soft inside. The cheese oozed. My partner deemed the egg perfect: runny yolk surrounded by crisped whites. When I lingered open-mouthed over the burger, calculating the best point of entry, the fresh buttered toast scent of the bun filled my nose.

I ordered the fried green tomatoes, creamy bacon grits, pickled okra and corn, poached egg, house hot sauce ($21).

This is a more upright version of something I make at home: two strips of bacon used to shovel a mixture of grits, a shredded fried egg, copious amounts of vinegar heavy hot sauce into my mouth. The fried green tomatoes were cut so thickly they didn't get lost in the coating. The bland coating, along with the pickled okra, helped cut the rich saltiness and of the creamy bacon grits. Also microgreens were a nice touch nutrients-wise.

My partner and I spirited away a bottle of Poor Devil Pepper Co.'s Mountain Mama hot sauce we found on the empty table. My partner loved the balance of fruity and slight spice so much that we asked the server if there was a place nearby we could buy the hot sauce. I was less into it, being someone who loves likes the pain of spicy hot sauce.

My partner liked Troy NY so much he mentioned moving there eventually, once we tired of city life (HA!). One of my requirements for living somewhere is the town/city should have at least once place with good food. Nighthawks fulfills that requirement.