so, s and i, schemers that we are, decide to get up really early and get down there when it opens. according to the website, the restaurant opens at 8:00am. just for clarity, we would need to wake up at 7:00am (on our day off) so we can make it there by 8:00 for breakfast. s really loves pancakes and i must really love him.
after much negotiation, the alarm was set and we actually wake up at that scary hour. second note for clarity, i don't even wake up this early for work. anyhow, we arrive at the restaurant around 8:15 and are greeted by bars on the windows and not a soul in sight. there is some tense discussion until s presses his face against the door only to be told that they don't open until 10:00am.
this presents a number of issues. first, very little is open on a monday in the lower east side at 8:15am. second, it is freezing outside and the wind is not letting up. we regroup and end up going to a bakery around the corner for coffee and to taste their cupcakes for the wedding. (total home run, by the way, sugar sweet sunshine bakery on rivington may have my new favorite cupcake - pumpkin spice). s then has a great idea that we should pick up bialys from kossars since we don't often make it to the lower east side when they are open. bialys are only second to pumpkin cupcakes. at this point we have managed to kill enough time so that we can get back to the restaurant around 9:50.
congratulating ourselves for being such geniuses, we skip down clinton street, hungry and excited. our skip slows to a defeated walk when we get there only to realize the line is around the corner. my first question is, aren't people working? followed quickly by, can anything possibly be worth this wait?
but we had waited this long already and there was no way i was coming back, so we get in line and decide to see how long the wait is. the magical doors open, customers rush in and we finally get to see the tall bearded man who controls this establishment (in a benevolent way, of course). the tall man informs us that our wait will be 30 minutes. under normal circumstances, 30 minutes in a popular manhattan restaurant isn't atrocious. however, s and i have actually been waiting for close to two hours already. there is more tense discussion and we finally decide to stay.
the wait is actually amusing. well, it would have been more amusing had it not have been 30 degrees and windy. people are constantly coming in and out. they walk in with a hopeful look on their face and walk out defeated, muttering "one hour wait? two hour wait?" people are turned away for trying to bring dogs in the restaurant. people try to sneak in to wait inside. every 10 minutes the tall bearded man sweeps the restaurant and hungry people come rushing outside. the coffee shop across the street makes more money on the people waiting outside than it does on customers coming in to sit and eat.
we are seated in about 45 minutes. it was so cold outside that neither us removed our jackets during breakfast because we couldn't get warm. inside, the restaurant is cute, very small, and seemingly only decorated with framed articles extolling the virtues of the food. every magazine, newspaper and tour book has written about this place place. it certainly explains the crowds.
s and i decide to split two entrees, blueberry pancakes (which are supposed to be heaven on earth) and a southern breakfast (eggs, bacon, grits, fried green tomato). we also get a side of chorizo. the food is very good. i preferred the eggs, chorizo and grits and found the pancakes to be a bit too much like dessert. s really liked everything except the fried tomato, which was boring and not spiced well. sadly, the service wasn't that great. no one came to refill my coffee and the entire time i was eating, i felt rushed because there is a line of shivering people outside staring at you willing you to finish eating.
conclusion: i wouldn't go back and wait for the breakfast. if they expand, or the lines magically stop, it would be a nice meal. unfortunately there are too many great brunch places in new york to merit waiting that long for pancakes and eggs. but it was an adventure and s and i had fun so it was definitely worth it. once.
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