Le Pain Quotidien

http://www.lepainquotidien.com/
genre: cafe bakery, organic

I went to the location in Upper East Side near museum mile (84th or 85th?). The website shows that there are many locations in the city. So make sure to check out a location near you.

At first I was attracted to the desserts on display. Our party of three was led to the communal table which by now is very familiar to me. It seems to be an efficient and cozy way of using space in the city.

The menu listed a bunch of delicious gourmet sandwiches and plenty of coffee drinks and desserts. Since everyone around me seemed to be enjoying some kind of coffee or other, I opted for a latte with whole milk. It came in a mug/bowl shaped thing and it tasted wonderful. Since I couldn't decide between the avocado sandwich with seedweed and scallion or other sandwiches with exciting ingridients, I decided to order the lunch special: tarragon chicken tartine. Apparently tartine meant open faced sandwich (I didn't find this out until later). Bob ordered a prosciutto sandwich and his bro. ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. Our sandwiches arrived on small cutting board looking slabs. And they were works of art. The portion size was just right and the open faced sandwiches were garnished with fresh greens and various other things such as cucumbers, radish slices, pickles, olives. I now wished I had my camera since I would have loved to show some pretty photos of our dishes.

Edit: I also love the roast beef sandwich as well as the Tuscan platter. The mint lemonade is heavenly (with real mint leaves) although the portion is small (small glass filled with ice) and NYC doesn't do refills.

For dessert I insisted on a French donut since I saw them through the glass display case when I walked in. The donut itself was not impressive but it was dusted with powdered sugar and the cream filling was just perfect. I would definitely go back there again for more.

Edit: the second time I had the French donut it wasn't as good as the first time. Perhaps the cream does get a bit boring after a while.

The place also sold various chocolate spreads. I almost picked up a jar except we still had a museum to goto and I didn't know if the jar would survivie the train ride home either.

Edit: On another trip there, I picked up Noisella, which is a Belgian chocolate and hazelnut spread. It's very rich and very sweet. Great for bagels, bread, or crepes. I haven't compared it with Nutella but I'm sure it's similar.

There's always a next time. I believe there are two locations in Upper West near school. Sweet!

Edit: one a block or two south of Lincoln Center and the AMC theatre. Great for before or after a movie!