Introduction
Weee how are we almost to the end of the year? To date, we have written five diary entries of of NYC’s best pancakes, yet only three for the breakfast dessert that is the French Toast. Oh no! Allow us to remedy this terrible neglect asap with the following fourth volume of scrumptious French Toasts for your brunch dreaming! Enjoy!
Laughing for Nutella
Dessert destination: Banter, Greenwich Village / Soho, Manhattan. - Short and sweet story: Nutella French Toast ($17 + tip/tax). We have been meaning to visit the Australian-accented Banter in forever, and when we finally visited this summer, we were in for a treat. Its French toast — oozing with nutella and showered in crunchy granola — is just…delicious.
A dream of mangoes
- Dessert destination: Bar Tulix, Soho, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Stuffed French Toast ($22 + tip/tax). Bedecked in jewel tones and rich warm woods, Bar Tulix is one of the most glamourous places to dine in Soho. Its Mexican-accented food has all the joyful energy of the cuisine, and its French Toast — sandwiching plaintains and lashed with mango puree — makes for a perfect wake-me-up during brunch hour.
Soaring heights of sugar
- Dessert destination: Cathedrale, East Village, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Circular Pain Perdu ($22+ tip/tax). With its breathtakingly soaring ceilings and moody sculptural lighting, Cathedrale is one of our favourite date night restaurants. It’s a place to visit when you want to impress. Cathedrale also offers brunch, albeit in an adjacent sunny atrium setting filled with leafy plants. Glazed with a citrus marmalade, its French Toast is cut into a thick circle, and is surrounded by a moat of maple syrup. It’s insanely sweet, and a decadent start to a New York weekend.
Better with banana and butterscotch
- Dessert destination: Citizens of Chelsea, Chelsea, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Banana Bread French Toast ($15 + tip/tax). Citizens of Chelsea is one-third of a brunch cafe chain — its other sibling cafes go by the names of Citizens of Gramercy and Soho, respectively. The brunch fare is not particularly inventive, and the ambience not particularly distinctive from other NYC cafes — rather, you visit for when you want something reliable. Its French Toast is our favourite of the brunch menu, and we always dream of that splatter pool of of miso butterscotch and caramelized morsels of banana.
Thick as a brick
- Dessert destination: Sadelle’s, Soho, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Giant French Toast ($24 + tip/tax). Can you believe that it took us almost six years of living in NYC to visit Sadelle’s? :O Similar to Sundays in Brooklyn or Bubby’s, Sadelle’s is one of those select few brunch spots that would be considered a New York icon. Many will come here for the bagel tower, but we visited for the French Toast. You could build a house out of that French Toast — two slabs are served up on a big white plate, and both are brick-size. They are decadently moist on the inside, and crispy on the outside.
A slice of sunshine
- Dessert destination: Davelle, East Village / Lower East Side, Manhattan.
- Short and sweet story: Honey Lemon Toast ($12 + tip/tax). Aside from perhaps the cupcake/coffee shop, Urban Backyard, Davelle is perhaps the other smallest cafe we have encountered in NYC. A Japanese-style cafe, its chicken karage and don bowls are a great weekend lunch idea. But our hearts belong to its photogenic selection of sweet toast slices. Yes, $12++ is exorbitant for a slice of bread, but that bread is thickly-cut, and that tangy honey glaze, well…at least it has inspired us to re-energize our own breakfast-making at home. 🙂
Dessert Correspondents 