Alice's Tea Cup

Pumpkin scones in their front case, waiting for me to take
 them home! You see the shine on them? That's the
caramel sauce they put on them. Yum!

Alice's Tea Cup is the home of Jean's-not-yet-but-soon-to-be-famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake, which is superb.  Also, some really amazing, non-traditional scones.  If you ever make it there I highly recommend having a pumpkin scone and herbal chai tea; although I've never not liked one of their scones (the salted caramel and chocolate chip scone is very nice) and all their teas are amazing (if you are a black tea fan, I recommend the Margaret's Hope Darjeeling, which is spectacular darjeeling that is pretty difficult to find).  Their other food is good too.  Their BLT on pumpernickel with blue cheese is excellent, as is their tea-infused granola with plain yogurt, which they serve for breakfast and brunch.

The restaurant started out on the Upper West Side and was run by two sisters. Their mother, Jean, made the coffee cake. Once they became busy and successful, Jean handed over the cake making duties to the kitchen staff and the sisters stepped back a little. After that the service and quality slipped a bit, but it was still very good. Now, they've franchised the restaurant and since that expansion the service has gone down hill and the food isn't quite as good.  For example, they are very stingy with the icing on the coffee cake and the staff doesn't recognize regulars as reliably. They are still nice and efficient, just not nearly as good as they used to be. In addition, they are very irritating about not seating incomplete parties (it drives me nuts when the restaurant is half empty and they won't give me a table while I'm waiting for a friend to meet me.)  That said, they are almost always busy because the food is good, there are pages and pages of teas offered, and the atmosphere is so much fun!

Cafe Luxembourg

Cafe Luxembourg is an Upper West Side bistro that actually approximates a real French bistro. Their food is excellent. I've tried a number of different things, and loved everything. Their "Luxemburger" is my favorite thing on the menu, but is their fish and chips with minted peas (the peas are amazing!) is a close second. They have a nice, traditional French onion soup and good salads for appetizers. I've never tried their omelets but I've been with people who have and they all raved about them.

One of the best things about Cafe Luxembourg is their desserts. Their homemade ice cream is wonderful: a perfect texture and great flavors. I also have enjoyed every plated dessert I've had there as well. For more on their desserts see my post, Dessert at Cafe Luxembourg, on my other blog.

The atmosphere is nice, very French bistro-esque. It is often crowded and can be quite noisy--the tables are on top of each other--so probably not a place for a business dinner. Then again how many business dinners do you have on the Upper West Side?

The restaurant is almost always busy for dinner---I highly recommend making a reservation. But if you are like me, you won't think that far in advance and you'll just show up, hoping for the best. Usually they can squeeze you in at the bar if you do that. They serve the full menu at the bar and the bartenders are very nice, so I recommend that option. The table service is reliably decent. It is often better than that, but not always. Luckily the reliably excellent food makes up for any shoddy service.

Hello!

You may know me from my other blog, Pastry Place, where I chronicle my culinary adventures at home and school--I'm studying pastry arts at the French Culinary Institute.  I had a small restaurant review page on the blog, but decided I needed to devote more room to it, so I've decided move it here to a proper home.

I live in NYC, so obviously most of the restaurants I'll be talking about are based in New York, but do leave the City from time to time, so I'll be sure to write about restaurants outside the City too.