Another morning in NYC...another search for a breakfast place. We ended up at
The Primeburger this fine morning! This place was the real deal. It had a really long counter, a guy named Vinnie at the front cash, and the soundtrack was right out of 1965. We sat down at the most peculiar little tables. You couldn't sit across from each other, you had to sit side by side. The seats had a padded back, and a hard wooden seat, and the front of them was a cross between a school desk and an airplane seat. Each seat had a sort of oval wooden tray that swiveled open so you could sit down, and then you swung it back in front of you to eat your meal! There was a newspaper clipping on the wall that said that Sarah Jessica Parker filmed an episode of Sex and the City there in 2005! The menu was classic diner, and the P-Man and I each ordered a breakfast sandwich, and a cup of coffee. Tasty and filling, the bill came to a reasonable $ 9.69. There was a little write up on the place, on the wall near the door. It was from 2009, and it said that
The Primeburger was opened in 1930, and it was open 24 hours a day until the 1990's. It also said that it had been given a James Beard award for the best authentic restaurant in NYC. I just love the fact that the culture of the city is so intertwined with the food culture, you just can't separate the two. We finished our coffee, and set out along 5
th Avenue, for another day of shopping. The P-Man had arranged for us to go to the theatre tonight, so at about 4 pm, we decided to have a late lunch at
Bergdorf Goodman's flagship store on the corner of 59
th and 5
th overlooking Central Park, and kitty corner to the Plaza Hotel. The restaurant is on the 7
th floor, so it gets a nice view of the busy street, with the horse drawn carriages, the park, and the start of the Mansions along 5
th Avenue. We were lucky to get a table at the window so we could see it all. Another benefit of eating in a department store in NYC is that they are certainly NOT cafeterias! This was a lovely elegant place, quite the contrast to our thrifty breakfast, We each had a couple of glasses of wine, a bowl of soup, and a salad. I have to say, I really like salads in the USA. They are so historic and traditional, with simple ingredients. A real departure from today`s fussy designer greens, and exotic toppings. I chose to have the chopped salad. It consisted of finely chopped
iceberg lettuce, finely diced tomato,
Swiss cheese, ham, hard cooked egg and cooked beets. The piece
de resistance is the Thousand Island dressing. The dressing is not glopped on top, it is gently mixed into the ingredients, and presented in a large deep bowl. Not even a dark green sprig of parsley could disturb the sea of pastel colored vegetables. As I grew up eating iceburg lettuce salad smothered in Kraft Thousand Island dressing, I ate this lovely salad in a blissful haze of nostalgia! My soup was equally as good. It was ginger carrot, and it seems that listing the ginger firstwas deliberate. An indication of the heat. It was so spicy with fresh ginger, that I temporarily developed a case of
hiccups! It was wonderfully smooth and flavourful, a great contrast to the very sedate, ladylike salad. Did I mention that the salad was 25 dollars...well it was, and for an hour or two, I felt as if I had just walked down 5
th Ave from my 10 million dollar
pre-war 10 room flat, and met this really cute boy, who bought me lunch, and had great tickets to a play, and wanted me to go with him...
Another morning in NYC...another search for a breakfast place. We ended up at The Primeburger this fine morning! This place was the real deal. It had a really long counter, a guy named Vinnie at the front cash, and the soundtrack was right out of 1965. We sat down at the most peculiar little tables. You couldn't sit across from each other, you had to sit side by side. The seats had a padded back, and a hard wooden seat, and the front of them was a cross between a school desk and an airplane seat. Each seat had a sort of oval wooden tray that swiveled open so you could sit down, and then you swung it back in front of you to eat your meal! There was a newspaper clipping on the wall that said that Sarah Jessica Parker filmed an episode of Sex and the City there in 2005! The menu was classic diner, and the P-Man and I each ordered a breakfast sandwich, and a cup of coffee. Tasty and filling, the bill came to a reasonable $ 9.69. There was a little write up on the place, on the wall near the door. It was from 2009, and it said that The Primeburger was opened in 1930, and it was open 24 hours a day until the 1990's. It also said that it had been given a James Beard award for the best authentic restaurant in NYC. I just love the fact that the culture of the city is so intertwined with the food culture, you just can't separate the two. We finished our coffee, and set out along 5th Avenue, for another day of shopping. The P-Man had arranged for us to go to the theatre tonight, so at about 4 pm, we decided to have a late lunch at Bergdorf Goodman's flagship store on the corner of 59th and 5th overlooking Central Park, and kitty corner to the Plaza Hotel. The restaurant is on the 7th floor, so it gets a nice view of the busy street, with the horse drawn carriages, the park, and the start of the Mansions along 5th Avenue. We were lucky to get a table at the window so we could see it all. Another benefit of eating in a department store in NYC is that they are certainly NOT cafeterias! This was a lovely elegant place, quite the contrast to our thrifty breakfast, We each had a couple of glasses of wine, a bowl of soup, and a salad. I have to say, I really like salads in the USA. They are so historic and traditional, with simple ingredients. A real departure from today`s fussy designer greens, and exotic toppings. I chose to have the chopped salad. It consisted of finely chopped iceberg lettuce, finely diced tomato, Swiss cheese, ham, hard cooked egg and cooked beets. The piece de resistance is the Thousand Island dressing. The dressing is not glopped on top, it is gently mixed into the ingredients, and presented in a large deep bowl. Not even a dark green sprig of parsley could disturb the sea of pastel colored vegetables. As I grew up eating iceburg lettuce salad smothered in Kraft Thousand Island dressing, I ate this lovely salad in a blissful haze of nostalgia! My soup was equally as good. It was ginger carrot, and it seems that listing the ginger firstwas deliberate. An indication of the heat. It was so spicy with fresh ginger, that I temporarily developed a case of hiccups! It was wonderfully smooth and flavourful, a great contrast to the very sedate, ladylike salad. Did I mention that the salad was 25 dollars...well it was, and for an hour or two, I felt as if I had just walked down 5th Ave from my 10 million dollar pre-war 10 room flat, and met this really cute boy, who bought me lunch, and had great tickets to a play, and wanted me to go with him...
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