Clinton Street Baking Company

I have had a killer sweet tooth lately, and last night I got an overwhelming urge to have chocolate chip pancakes.  I even considered making a batch late last night, but seeing as it was 9:30pm I figured that was not the best option.  So, instead I spent the night thinking about chocolate chip pancakes and trying to figure out when I would be able to have them.  Since I finished my summer class last week, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are now free so I decided that I would take the plunge and have chocolate chip pancakes for lunch today.

When you want pancakes in the city, you must go to Clinton Street Baking Company.  I went there for the first time three years ago after reading about them incessantly online.  Since pancakes are my favorite food, I had made it my mission to find the best pancakes, and kept seeing Clinton Street's blueberry pancakes pop up.  I have never ordered blueberry pancakes because I don't like the tart flavor in my pancakes, so at first I was a little skeptical.  They also have banana walnut and chocolate chip offerings, so I decided that I would go and try out one of those options.  The first time that I went I chose to go for dinner because I had read about the crazy long waits, and the only pancakes offered at the time were blueberry.  Since I had traveled all the way to the lower east side, I put my doubts aside and try the blueberry.  They were so delicious and fluffy, that I chose to order the blueberry pancakes every time I went back, instead of my usual chocolate chip or banana.  I even went here for my birthday dinner just to have the pancakes.  While they are expensive for a stack of pancakes, they are SO worth it.  With the exception of Thomas' Diner that I previously posted about (I have hometown loyalty to them) these are the BEST pancakes I have ever had.

Anyway, to get back on point, I knew that a visit to Clinton Street was the perfect way to satisfy my chocolate chip pancake craving.  I even made sure to work out for an extra half hour this morning so that I could fully enjoy the pancakes without feeling the guilt.  When I arrived at 1130 (on a Tuesday morning) there was a 35 minute wait for one person!  While it is pretty small inside, it still goes to show you how good everything is here, because there are not many places that have that long of a wait on a weekday, and the location is pretty off the beaten path.

After waiting for about a half hour and dreaming of the pancakes, I finally got seated.  I looked at the menu simply to see what else they had for future reference, but there is no way I could ever come here and not get the pancakes.  I sat close to the kitchen, and I probably saw more than 10 stacks of blueberry pancakes leave the kitchen before I even ordered.  While it is clearly the most popular dish and what they are famous for, they also supposedly have great eggs, biscuits, and actual lunch/dinner foods like fried chicken, in case you are going with someone who is not a huge pancake lover.  I ordered pretty quickly, and after about 15 minutes my pancakes finally arrived.

Not only were there chocolate chips in the pancakes, but there was a huge pile of chocolate chunks on top of them!  You really can't get much better than that.  After I took my first bite, I was in pure bliss.  The pancake on its own is amazing, and the chocolate just makes it that much better.  All the pancakes here come with not maple syrup, but maple butter, which is basically a maple syrup/butter hybrid.  While it is very good, it is very rich so I never really use too much of it, especially since the pancakes themselves are pretty rich.  I would probably rather have maple syrup, but the maple butter is one of their signatures. 

The best part of the pancakes is the mountain of chocolate chunks in the middle that get all melty from the heat of the pancake. It is so delicious and sweet, and puts every other chocolate chip pancake to shame.  The chocolate chips were pretty concentrated in the center, so even though the outsides of the pancake were delicious, it was a bit disappointing that the chocolate wasn't more evenly distributed.  

Since they are so sweet and decadent, I was only able to get through about 1 1/2.  I, of course, was very strategic about it and ate the top pancake (the best one) and the center of the second most chocolatey one, leaving over the outsides and the third pancake.  I could not let the pancakes go to waste, so I took the rest to go.  I left feeling stuffed, yet happy that I satisfied my chocolate chip pancake craving. 

In NYC, if you want a great stack of pancakes, you really must come to Clinton Street.  There is a reason that they are on the top of every "Best of" list and have a 2 hour wait on the weekends.  The pancakes are the stars in my eyes and are the best I ever had, but they also have a ton of other delicious breakfast offerings to appeal to everyone.  They also sell baked goods that you can take home, like cakes, cookies, muffins and scones.  I have had the banana chocolate chip muffin in the past and it is delicious, but I of course could not get one today since I made basically the same thing for breakfast!  They also have "Pancake Month" in February where they feature a different specialty pancake every few days.  I didn't get a chance to go this year, but when I went two years ago they had coconut pancakes with passion fruit syrup.  Needless to say, they were heavenly.  

If my rave review of the pancakes isn't enough, just go on Yelp and read all of the reviews and look through the 1,000 pictures, and I'm sure you will be convinced to pay them a visit!

Sarabeth's

One of my favorite parts of living in the city is the whole brunch craze.  I love brunch because it gives me an excuse to eat breakfast foods for lunch!  I always have to eat breakfast pretty much immediately upon waking up, so when I say I go to brunch I just mean I order of the brunch menu but eat it as lunch.  Breakfast foods are my all time favorites and I could eat them for any meal of the day, but it is more acceptable when you mask it under the label of "brunch" for the weekends.

So, in the city you can pretty much find a brunch menu anywhere, but there are a few places that are known as special brunch destinations.  One of the most famous places is Sarabeth's, and they have a bunch of locations all over NYC.  Today, the boot camp class that my sister and I take had a special promo class in Central Park, so we decided to go to the Sarabeth's on Central Park South right after the class.  It is pretty common to expect to wait anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours to get a table at brunch, depending on where you go.  We arrived expecting the worst, seeing as there was a big crowd outside, but we pleasantly surprised to hear that the wait was only 15 minutes!  We were seated after about 10 minutes, and were taken to a table in the back room.  From the outside it does not look big, but it is very deceiving, which is probably why the wait is so short even though it is super crowded.

Once we got seated the waiter came over right away, which I always appreciate.  To go along with the brunch theme, I got coffee, which was pretty decent and my sister got tea.  The menu is pretty big and they have a wide array of breakfast and lunch foods, so you can pretty much get anything you want.  I, of course, blocked out all of the lunch items and simply looked at the pancakes, waffles, and french toast.  I had been to the Sarabeth's on the Upper West Side once and got the Almond Crusted French Toast, which was delicious, so I originally planned on getting that again.  However, the table next to us had a half eaten plate of the Fat & Fluffy French Toast on their table that looked so amazing, so I immediately knew that was what I was going to order.

Usually I am not one to get French Toast, as I always end up picking pancakes (my favorite food), but something about the French Toast at Sarabeth's just called out to me.  My sister likes protein more than carbs so she got the garden omelette (egg whites only), which has cheddar, broccoli, corn and carrots.  All of their omelettes come with the choice of muffin, croissant, toast, or scone with preserves, so my sister opted for their banana muffin.

Our order came out after about only 15 minutes, which was extremely fast considering how big the place is!  I saw the waiter walking towards the table with our plates and my nose immediately perked up to the scent of rich, warm butter.  The French Toast comes with about 2 slices of thick challah bread that are each cut in half, fresh strawberries, pure maple syrup, and butter.  I took the first bite of French Toast and was in a sweet and buttery heaven.  The challah bread is so soft and thick, and the sweetness from the powdered sugar and maple syrup really balances out the richness.  I also like that the bread is not overly soaked, so it comes out soft and crisp instead of soggy (which is my pet peeve of french toast!)  I powered through and was able to finish it after giving my sister half of a piece, but felt SUPER stuffed.  

My sister's omelette was supposedly delicious, and she would highly recommend it if you like eggs.  Her favorite part, however, was the banana muffin with the preserves.  I tried a bite and could vouch for the fact that it is a very good muffin.  Their preserves also cannot be ignored, and if you really like them you can even buy a jar to go.

Overall, I highly recommend coming to Sarabeth's for weekend brunch in the city.  They have locations on the upper west side, upper east side, central park south, tribeca, and on park ave, so there is bound to be one near you no matter where you are in the city.  My recommendation would be the fat and fluffy french toast, which I preferred over the almond crusted french toast.  Don't let the crowd outside fool you; the wait flies by and it is well worth it!