Serious Eats: New York
Lunch for One: Peace & Love Cafe in Tribeca
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
I've avoided this Tribeca cafe, on the corner of Greenwich Street and North Moore, for quite a while. The turnoff was in the cheesy name and somewhat generic-looking exterior. I walk past it at least once a day for work, and you should see the crowds out here during lunch hour. It's simply never empty. Tribeca moms with kids in strollers, students from the nearby school and the men and women from the Citibank building across the street.
Peace & Love, true to name, has a distinctly hippie vibe, very un-New York. The service is casual and friendly; the mood is laid back. High ceilings, lazy seats, and newspapers laying about. I ordered their pear and honey yogurt shake ($4.45) to begin. It was huge and syrupy sweet with clumps of solidified honey caught in the cold mass. Canned pears. Pass. I barely touched it.
A redeeming dessert, after the jump.
They do salad and they do sandwiches, all of which sound decent, if plain. So I took at peek at the list of specials for the day and opted for the beef chili taco salad ($8.50). The menu description led one to believe it was mostly chili and chips, less salad. But it arrived as 90% salad, with a scoop of guacamole, fresh, though undersalted. The chips, a thin layer in the middle of the of the bowl, were smothered in chunks of cheddar cheese, halfway melted, and chili that consisted more of beans than beef. Fresh salsa and a chipotle mayo dressing on the side with a multigrain roll. Underwhelming and forgettable, especially where there are so many good, cheap neighborhood eats close by.
To redeem the meal on a bright note, take your sweet tooth directly across the street and into Locanda Verde, where Karen DeMasco's Apple Cider Cake Doughnuts ($2) are available to-go from the bakery counter. Gently spiced, with nutmeg notes coming through most clearly, each doughnut bite has a moist interior meeting an crisp surface with just the slightest crunch, lightly glazed.
Peace & Love Cafe
378 1/2 Greenwich Street, New York NY 10013 (map)
212-349-8500