Serious Eats: New York
Breakfast at the Standard Grill: Serious Pancakes and Egg Sandwiches, But No Sign of Sex
By the time I read about the Standard Hotel promoting public sex in their promotional materials I had already had breakfast there twice. I guess that's one opportunity that's passed me by. But even without that particular sort of morning eye-opener, the morning meal at the Standard was much better than I thought it was going to be. First, the good news:
Our friendly, fresh-faced server touted the pancakes, and it turned out she knew what she was talking about. These pancakes are reasonably light, extremely tender, and had what I love in pancakes—a slighly crunchy exterior.
The egg sandwich was just about as good. An over-easy egg, high-quality cheddar cheese, good bacon on a crunchy roll. I also really liked the grapefruit brulee. The bruleed topping added some crunch and it was thinly applied. No safecracker needed.
That said, a basket of mini-muffins were dry, dull, and uninteresting. Give me Entenmann's any time at a fraction of the price. And the rest of the fruit was not only not local (how could papaya be?), but also inedibly unripe.
It may not be morning-sex good, but breakfast at the Standard definitely flew past my expectations. Of course, now that Christine Quinn has called for a halt to such activities, we may not get that free show—but stop by for the pancakes, either way.
Standard Grill
848 Washington Street, New York NY 10014 (map)
212-645-4100
thestandardgrill.com