PrintBest Bread Baskets in America (Starting With New York)
I love bread baskets, don't you? The ones with a bunch of different choices sometimes wrapped in a cloth napkin to keep them warm. Bread baskets seem to have gone out of style in restaurants. What is currently favored in fancy-pants restaurants is a server coming around with a silver platter with two or three options he or she offers you with a pair of tongs. That, my friends, is not a bread basket. All of those options may be delicious, but great options does not a bread basket make. At Bouley they bring around a bread trolley with many different house-baked breads and rolls on them. Delicious, yes. Bread basket, no. I don't want my bread bestowed upon me by a server. I want to feel and smell the often warm bread combinations that nestle ever so sweetly in a basket.
There are still a few places that rightfully take great pride in their bread baskets, and I would like to compile a list of them around the country so that no matter where you are, you will know where the nearest great bread basket is. My list as I write this only comprises New York restaurants, so I am depending on my fellow Serious Eaters to fill in the rest of the country.
One thing I've noticed in New York is that brunch bread baskets are often superior to those served at lunch and dinner, so the list that follows includes three brunch bread baskets and even a breakfast bread basket.
Bread baskets of every conceivable variety are gratefully accepted.
BALTHAZAR
It's not free, but the breakfast bread basket here is substantial enough to be a morning meal for two, and it's populated by many wonderful things baked by Balthazar Bakery bread guru Paula Oleand. The sticky bun rocks, and the rest of the breads and rolls are never less than stellar. 80 Spring Street, New York NY 10012 (b/n Broadway and Crosby streets); 212-965-1414; balthazarny.com
DEL POSTO
Perhaps my favorite lunch or dinner bread basket anywhere. Pliant bread sticks, warm foccacia, a roll or two, accompanied by fantastic butter and whipped lardo. Deliciouso. 85 Tenth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (b/n 15th and 16th streets); 212-497-8090; delposto.com
MESA GRILL
An excellent Southwestern-themed brunch bread basket features all kinds of corn things studded with corn kernels that are moist and pack a flavor wallop. 102 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (b/n 15th and 16th streets); 212-807-7400; mesagrill.com. There are also locations in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace and at the Cove Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
OUEST
A truly inspired homey brunch bread basket with scones, coffee cake, muffins, and sweet breads. 2315 Broadway, New York NY 10023 (b/n 83rd and 84th streets); 212-580-8700; ouestny.com
PETER LUGER
Even though I know I am going to be stuffed with the red meat and carb festival that follows, I still can't resist the salt sticks, onion pockets, and rye crescents that comprise the Peter Luger bread basket. 178 Broadway, Brooklyn NY 11211 (at Driggs Avenue); 718-387-7400; peterluger.com. Second location at 255 Northern Boulevard, Great Neck, NY 11021; 516-487-8800. Last time I was there many years ago the bread basket was not identical to the original location's.
TELEPAN
The brunch bread basket features astonishingly moist and flavorful scones, coffee cake, and killer banana bread. 72 West 69th Street, New York, NY 10023 (at Columbus Avenue); 212-580-4300; telepan-ny.com
Photograph from Robyn Lee on Flickr
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12 Comments:
Dizzy's on 9th street in park slope has a wonderful brunch bread basket. muffins, biscuits, strawberry butter. good stuff.
alktraz at 9:43AM on 10/05/07
Has E.A.T. closed and does it still do that heart-stopping brunch bread basket? I still dream about the raisin-walnut.
lemons at 10:08AM on 10/05/07
Norma's in the Parker Meridien has an excellent bread basket which can be ordered from the menu. It includes both sweet and savory breads.
izzy's mama at 10:27AM on 10/05/07
My dad won't go to a restaurant if it doesn't have a bread basket. One of his all-time favorites is the Publick House, in Sturbridge, MA: http://www.publickhouse.com/historicinndining.htm. It comes with cornbread and sweet rolls. I remember going as a little girl: sticky buns as an appetizer!
Lucy Baker at 11:30AM on 10/05/07
I agree that the ritual of a waiter daintily placing one bread roll on your plate is...so not the same as having a buldging bread basket to pluck from. Screw that; I WANT MY BASKET.
I haven't been to Spring Street Natural in a while, but I remember loving their bread basket mostly because of their tomato bread (my friends and I onced asked for an extra basket). I think I liked that bread more than their food.
roboppy at 12:21PM on 10/05/07
Blue Ribbon Bakery! Bacon bread. Enough said.
I heartily second Balthazar and Ouest. I also like Devin Tavern (excellent muffins, not so much the croissants) and Nice Matin.
Cafe at Country is pretty good, too, had a fabulous raspberry tart-type item.
kathryn at 1:35PM on 10/05/07
My house is much loved for the bread basket on holidays. Other than my house I love good NJ diner bread basket especially Mastoris in Bordentown NJ. If you have not been there you have to go.
JerzeeTomato at 2:37PM on 10/05/07
I agree...Blue Ribbon, so good! Anyone know of a place with parker house rolls? 11 Madison Park usesd to do gougeres, delish!
NYminknit at 3:20PM on 10/05/07
I too dig Blue Ribbon Bakery's basket but I also like the simple rosemary focaccia from Via Emilia...oh yes I love the cornbread basket at Amy Ruth's and if you ask nicely they'll bring you more!
Lexie at 4:21PM on 10/05/07
The basket at Mastoris is awesome - I agree! Also, the Robin's Nest in Mt. Holly, NJ has fabulous breads. EVERYTHING they bake is to die for!
jerseygirl at 8:09PM on 10/06/07
I shared the Balthazar bread basket with Robyn a while back, and I thought it was okay. The sticky bun itself was hard (although it was covered up by the caramel syrup). Maybe I would have liked it more if it were $6 rather than $16. Yikes.
I love the bread basket at the Modern Bar Room. I have no shame, and I asked them to pack the leftovers. Instead, I got a whole new bread basket to take home. Now that's what I call service!
thesu at 9:46PM on 10/06/07
i love the bread at noho star: slices of amy's baguette and health bread from eli's, served with excellent sweet butter.
cybercita at 10:23PM on 12/21/07