Saturday Morning Granola

This morning for breakfast we walked up to Le Pain Quotidien at 67th and 2nd. We have been to the location on 57th by Central Park a number of times and always liked it, but this was our first time venturing to a different location.

We found the upper east side version more conveniently located for us, but also much less crowded and without a line to wait for a table at breakfast time. Another thing I didn't miss from the Central Park location was the strange behavior of the wait staff. At Central Park, from entering to being seated you get an appropriately French feel, usually with a sleekly dressed, attractive host with just the right dash of arrogance. Once seated, though, I was always strtuck by the odd and often unpredictable behavior of the waiters and waitresses. Perhaps they had a lot of turnover or else had a knack for picking out unusually absentminded applicants. I'm pretty sure we never had the same person twice. Whatever the reason, we had more than our share of incidents with staff forgetting things, abandoning us for long periods of time, wandering away in mid conversation when taking orders, etc. Not in a charmingly French way, either. If not for the fact that the food had always been really good, we wouldn't have gone back.

Thankfully things were different the upper east side location. It could be just that it's much less busy, but I don't think that's the only reason. There was an underlying impression of competence in the approach and behavior that is definitely missing from the Central Park place, something you don't really know you'll miss until it's gone.

My wife enjoyed her usual soft-boiled egg and bread, and I enjoyed the granola and yogurt parfait. Little J tried the coque suisse, which is like a French cinnamon roll. The only problem was that he wanted it without raisins, so I had to spend a few minutes trying to extract as many raisins as possible from it. The surface raisins were easy, but trying too hard to get those inside risked the structural integrity of the roll, threatening to leave a pile of crumbs. I managed to do a good enough job that J was content to eat it.

The only thing I don't like about the food is that hot drinks are served in cups without handles (some might call them bowls). There is actually a good reason for the handles; they tend to make it so that you don't burn your hands when holding the vessel full of near-boiling hot liquid. It's a small thing that I overlook, though, and we will certainly continue to be regular customers.