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January 21, 2006
The best thing to put on sliced bread
I had brunch today with a friend from American Ballet Theatre. Though no blood curdling news was exchanged, it was still dishy enough to remain unreported (I love my friend. I usually get one story I can dine on for a few weeks per meal.)
What is reportable is where we went for brunch - Le Pain Quotidien. There are several in the city; this one is on 19th Street off of Broadway in the building adjacent to ABC Carpets.
Le Pain Quotidien is expensive (our breakfast was $16 per person for not that generous a meal) and the service was friendly but not careful. The waitstaff didn't check frequently for empty water glasses and a request for a refill took a long time. When we asked for spoons, the waitress apologized and said they were low on spoons and would get one as soon as they had some. We smiled, and then my dishy pal said to me as soon as she was out of earshot. "I don't care. Not my problem. You don't have spoons, go and wash some." When the spoons finally came several minutes later, at least my pal's was clean.
We shared their bread basket, two side orders of ham and gruyere cheese and each had a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is quite good; hot steamed milk served in a French cafe au lait bowl with a small pitcher of chocolate syrup on the side. The assortment of breads are very good (though skimpy on butter) and the cheese and ham plates are fairly priced for the good quality of the ingredients.
It was a mixed experience, but the most fabulous thing there was the "Brunette", a Belgian praline spread that is what prompts this blog entry. It's incredible stuff, a paste the color of tahini with a smooth hazelnut taste that makes Nutella seem juvenile. It's available for sale for those who don't want to chance a meal. I should have bought a jar on the way out, but alas, I forgot.
Posted by Leigh Witchel at January 21, 2006 11:58 AM
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Comments
Hey Leigh, I love Le Pain Quotidien, especially the curry chicken. It will be a little while before I go back though, even if they did give us a free lunch the last time...
It was unfortunate that my lunch date was a big, fat roach. I know they're in every restaurant in NYC, but I don't want to see them ON the table with my food! My waitress couldn't even kill it, I had to do it for her.
At least none came home with me -- I checked. And you can tell everyone I killed my date.
Posted by: Eve at January 22, 2006 10:00 AM
We walked there on Sunday, the morning of the great snow. I did buy a jar of Brunette and left it on the table. Three hours later, on my way, to Grand Central Station,my ride stopped in all that snow and let me hop out and retrieve it, so I'll be having it here in the morning on a small lake east of Albany.
dewey
Posted by: dewey at February 13, 2006 9:22 PM