The sight of a splendid white La Marzocco machine at one bench and a bench full of pastries and cakes at another was enough to momentarily snap me out of some incredible jetlag. We had just arrived in The States with a few hours in LA before getting back on a plane to Boston and my amazing cousin had picked us up and brought us to heaven on earth.
Not one of us had been for brunch this early in memory. We were so early we had to wait until 9am to see a brunch menu. We waited in the knowledge the pastries and cakes would not be going anywhere! Besides, the coffee was enough for now. Really beautiful deep savoury espresso. I was at home on the other side of the world at Superba Food + Bread.
The airy cafe is carefully designed, glass with green frame combining with wooden beams in another version of stripped back warehouse, with plenty of seating outside too. Behind my back I hadn’t noticed how busy it had gotten as we chatted to my cousin. She had earlier spotted Nicole Richie but that was nothing compared to hearing some stories of a famous rock band she met in Nice just weeks before!
We turned to the menu and it is split into toasties, breakfasty things and lunchy things. Sascha chose from the toasties, getting an open scrambled with cheese that she said was great. Catherine had the breakfast sandwich which had a beautiful slow cooked egg, delicious linguica sausage, braised kale, and pain au lait. I almost ordered that too but instead went for Paul’s Big Boy Breakfast.
The big breakfast was two fried eggs, a large piece of sourdough toast, bacon steak, kale, hot sauce and maple syrup. The sauces came separate which was good and the hot sauce had particularly good punch that became addictive with the eggs. The bacon steak was smoked beautifully to get a deep flavour, classing up from the usual.
The service was helpful and relaxed, and the personality of the cafe was confident – assured of the quality on offer. The pastry chef explained the cakes on offer at the front in detail and I was sold.
It was 10am in LA but late at night in Melbourne so there was no guilt in ordering a sparking wine! As we finished off our glasses we all shared two cakes. The Chocolate Delice was described as decadent and indeed it was with salted caramel oozing out of the chocolate exterior. The Superba Candy Bar was the best though! Layer upon layer of chocolate, soft and inviting, and melting away delightfully with each bite.
On a perfect sunny morning it was easy to see why the crowd had flocked here but I have the feeling that it would be just as inviting on a cold wintry day.
Going to an American deli five minutes after getting back from the States seems a rather odd thing to do. Circumstances led to my visit to Bowery To Williamsburg and one of those circumstances was nothing more than the restaurant having been on my short list for a reasonably lengthy time.
It was still busy enough at 2pm on a Saturday for us to have to wait about ten minutes. The staff warned that they “were under the pump” and mitigated any expectation that we would be served quickly.
A couple of Brooklyn Lagers (strangely lager is misspelled on the menu) came out quickly enough, and despite having been in the States and Brazil for three weeks, several of the options were jumping off the page at me. With my mate having chosen the Reuben over the sandwich of the day (today with salmon) I went with my second choice of the BBQ Pork Roll.
The medium sized roll itself was delicious – nicely toasted giving a nice crunch to each bite. Full of delicious BBQ pork and a slaw dominated by cabbage and parsley, it was hard to imagine having menu envy, but my mate’s Reuben was apparently at least equally delicious.
There’s no real fuss made here, and it is in so many respects the definition of an American style deli. My only disappointment was the Mac and Cheese being sold out but as our waitperson said “you need to get here early for that!” Something to look forward to next time.
The service was helpful and relaxed, and the personality of the cafe was confident – assured of the quality on offer. The pastry chef explained the cakes on offer at the front in detail and I was sold.
It was 10am in LA but late at night in Melbourne so there was no guilt in ordering a sparking wine! As we finished off our glasses we all shared two cakes. The Chocolate Delice was described as decadent and indeed it was with salted caramel oozing out of the chocolate exterior. The Superba Candy Bar was the best though! Layer upon layer of chocolate, soft and inviting, and melting away delightfully with each bite.
On a perfect sunny morning it was easy to see why the crowd had flocked here but I have the feeling that it would be just as inviting on a cold wintry day.
