On Fridays, we brunch: UWS edition
Jewish, French, Mediterranean, Kids
We’ve kept up the tradition that we started in September of Friday brunch. For October, we didn’t venture far. This is everywhere we ate on the Upper West Side.
Barney Greengrass (86th and Amsterdam Avenue)
“The best breakfast in the universe” according to Anthony Bourdain. I’ve been meaning to pay a visit since I moved to the Upper West Side and today is the day. Barney Greengrass is an authentic Jewish deli and cafe. It looks old but it’s genuinely old. It’s not “old style”, it’s not done up to look old. This was confirmed by the waitress who told us that the patterned wallpaper (which depicts scenes from New Orleans) was the original wallpaper on the walls when they moved to this premises in 1929. Every single surface is brown or a brownish yellow. The walls, the ceiling, the tiled floors, the formica-top tables. Perhaps they were a different colour in 1929, but not any more.
Arriving at 10am, we beat the rush and are seated immediately. When we leave by 11:15, the deli is cramped with people waiting to be seated in the cafe. I overhear some people complain about the system - or lack thereof - while others shrug and say “Whaddu you expect, it’s Barney Greengrass”.
“Would you like to start with latkes?” the waitress asks as soon as we are seated. “They're not on the menu”. This is a wonderful sales technique because I immediately wanted the secret latkes that the waitress told us about upfront without anyone asking. What's better than surprise secret latkes? Surprise secret latkes that come with apple sauce and sour cream. Four big lumps of latke. I ate two and we got two wrapped.
There was a full menu but the choice was easy. “The Sturgeon King” is what is written beside ‘Barney Greengrass’ on the sign outside so sturgeon it was. On a bagel, with coffee.
Nice Matin (79th and Amsterdam Avenue)
I passed this elegant-looking French restaurant and side-walk cafe as I walked home from Barney Greengrass so when a friend texted the following day to say she was in town and could we brunch, I knew exactly the place. Nice Matin is on the ground floor of the Lucerne Hotel, on the corner of 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
It was a sunny day and we took our place on the sidewalk. When I say side-walk cafe, I mean: a good portion of the seating is on the footpath. The doors open up from the inside dining room into the outdoor seating area, however, so you feel a part of the whole restaurant experience. You can pretend you’re a glamorous Parisienne rather than feeling like an unappreciated afterthought, sitting in the unconnected plastic outhouse that was erected by a restaurant owner with nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.
A ginormous potted fern ties everything together nicely (the outside and the inside that is). Em, why do I suddenly sound like I’m doing the fashion segment on the Afternoon Show? “And with breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, Nice Matin could indeed…take you from day to night”.
I myself was suitably attired in a French-style striped top but only because even a broken clock is right twice a day and I'm never not wearing a striped top. This is a fact I wasn’t aware of until I once asked my husband if he liked my new top and he said “Yeah well…it’s just another stripey top, you have a million”. I could not believe this until I counted them and yes, I have 10.
Our 3 year old successfully identified another French restaurant because as soon as we entered, she declared “Oh là là”. I had the French toast because…when in Rome. It was excellent. It's not difficult to get French toast right and yet so many manage to get it completely wrong. This was an excellent French toast.
The kids were provided with crayons and puzzles and I would only dock points for the whole experience because my friend ordered a cappuccino that she unbelievably had to ask for…seven more times before it finally came (right as we were leaving).
Miriam (74th and Amsterdam Avenue)
When we first moved to New York, a friend bought us a voucher for her favourite Brooklyn brunch spot, Miriam. As luck would have it, Miriam opened a branch of their restaurant on the Upper West Side the same year we moved here. It was the first place we went out to by ourselves, when, a few weeks in, my brother kindly offered to babysit. After 2 months in a small apartment with a 3 year old and an 18 month old, traipsing round apartment viewings and to IKEA with them, it was a very welcome night out. Though it coincided with the day our couch arrived so it was bittersweet: all we really wanted to do was stay home and lie on the couch. We headed out anyway and loved Miriam. Great food, great vibe, very buzzy. Not in a loud or obnoxious way but in a perfect way: with the sound of conversation and with cocktails being made.
I'd been back for brunch since with my mother and enjoyed a really nice breakfast. Today, I had the shakshuka which is served with a bowl of hummus and warm pitas in a brown paper bag. The pita and hummus were amazing. The eggs were okay and the whole experience this time just lacked some lustre. The decor is modern but is safe and without character and it all felt a bit Upper West Side: nice but boring.
Alice’s Tea Cup (73rd and Colombus Avenue)
It’s hard to get through a school week without the school being closed for some reason and this week, the day off fell on a Friday so we had an interloper on our Friday morning brunch: the 5 year old. Actually, it was two days for Rosh Hashanah (Thursday and Friday) and we had an Alice in Wonderland-themed long weekend.
Alice in Wonderland has quite a presence in New York for a story with no connection to it. On the east side of Central Park, at 75th street, there is a bronze statue of Alice and other characters from the book. It is pretty but more importantly, is perfect for climbing. The walls of the 50th Street subway station are decorated with Alice in Wonderland mosaics and you don’t even have to get off the train to see them. It’s just a nice treat waiting for you on the walls as the doors of the train open and close at 50th Street.
On Thursday, we visited an Alice in Wonderland-themed display at the New York Botanical Garden. This is one of my favourite places to visit with the kids. The staff is so helpful and knowledgeable and excellent at engaging with children.
It’s free for NY residents to visit on Wednesdays and there is something different there every season. There are free activities every day as well as extra seasonal activities. We visited the pumpkin patch last October, the holiday train show at Christmas and the Orchid Show in Spring.
After touring the Alice in Wonderland display all around NYBG, we had lunch back on the UWS in Alice’s Tea Cup on 73rd street, an Alice in Wonderland-themed cafe. There are Alice decorations on the walls, the ceiling, the mirrors, in the bathroom, on the tables and it is very child-friendly. On entering the cafe, kids are offered fairy wings to wear for the duration of their stay and asked if they would like to make a wish. They’re then invited to close their eyes and wiggle their fingers while glitter is sprinkled on them with a make-up brush. It is very simple but very adorable.
The girls had grilled cheese sandwiches with apple juice and chocolate milk and a side of sliced apples with Nutella, partly because it was a nutritious side dish they would actually eat, partly because it was the Jewish New Year and one of the only things I knew about it was that it is celebrated with apples.
When I ordered a Croque Madame, the server told me they were out of gruyère but had American cheese instead. I asked what was American cheese, the spray stuff in a can? The server sort of scoffed and said “No it’s not Easy Cheese!” and I go “Oh it’s the square, sliced, packaged, processed cheese?” and he somewhat ashamedly said yes. Sometimes America brings out the greatest snob in me that I didn’t even know was there.
I opted for a BLT with a blue cheese spread and a pot of tea which on the receipt was listed as “English breakfast, extra fancy” and I hope it was because it was $9.
We finished off the weekend watching Disney’s Alice in Wonderland for “Family Movie Night”. My kids love Family Movie Night and if you happened to overhear them talking about it, you might presume that it is the one time in the week that they get to watch TV. It is not. They watch a lot of TV. And not good TV either. I can’t get them to watch anything that’s recommended like Daniel Tiger or Sesame Street. They like anything low quality, high stim. We watch so much Netflix that sometimes Netflix speaks back to us with notifications saying “Hello? Are you still there? We dont believe somebody could be watching TV this long so we wanted to check if you are?” Thank you Netflix, yes we are. There's a lot of TV. But the difference with family movie night is that we close the blinds, turn off the lights and watch the telly while eating popcorn under a blanket. It’s cute. I recommend it.
Nice Matin and Barney Greengrass are my two favorites so I'm glad you enjoyed! Strange about the cappucino at Nice Matin; I can assure you that's never happened to me and I've been going there for twenty years.