It is not always easy to find a restaurant that is open super early on weekends, that is more than a café. One good option is to look for a restaurant nestled inside a hotel, since most of them are open from early hours for their guests. And, most of the restaurants are open for public as well, you don’t have to be staying at the hotel to be able to dine there. I found a restaurant inside JW Marriott Essex House New York, right across from the Central Park.
The inside was really big, with high ceiling and lots of natural light coming in from their large windows that goes from floor to ceiling. I liked how open and spacious it was, more than enough to cater to their hotel guests and other customers. They had a big fireplace, and had nice lounge chairs and sofas around it. A good spot to relax after breakfast.
It was decorated beautifully for the Autumn season (we visited in November). They had all kinds of seating options, from bar counter, high table tops, regular tables and a half-booth table seating. They have even more dining space behind the fireplace on the other side as well.
Just like many hotel restaurants, they offer breakfast buffet. Our server told us that we can go take a look if we want, or we can order from their set menu. We went to take a peak at the buffet, but we decided to order from their breakfast menu instead. We started with Freshly Brewed Lavazza Regular Coffee ($9). It came with free refill, and our server Randy was great, and he kept our coffee topped off at all time.
For food, I ordered Croque Madame ($26). It is made with fried egg, prosciutto di Parma, brioche, and béchamel sauce. When I saw two eggs on it, I was surprised of how big it was. Their Croque Madame was much bigger than the ones I had in the past. Almost twice as big.
And it was pretty good, the eggs were cooked just the way I like, giving me egg porn… Good amount of ham and cheese, my goodness, cheese was so nice and melty, I got cheese porn as well. The béchamel sauce was god too. Not the best Croque Madam I’ve had, but it was still tasty and satisfying. It came with thick, crunchy asparagus and a fruit cup. The fruits were in a sweet syrup, nice little sugar rush to start the day.
Another item ordered off the breakfast menu was Brioche French Toast ($23). It comes with bananas, walnuts, and pure maple syrup. This one was huge too, with lots of fruits, more than just bananas. It had nice mix of flavors and textures. Airy and fluffy brioche, soft and plump fruits, and crunchy walnut. The combination was perfect, tasty, and yes, very filling.
The last item ordered was The Farmer’s Omelet ($24) which is made with bacon, potato, mushroom, and aged cheddar. It came with fruit bowl, toasts, home fries and a tomato with pesto on top. Again, it was really big portion. The toasts that came with it were pretty burned on the other side, and our server took them back to the kitchen. They made new set of toast, not burned this time. The omelet was meaty and cheesy, generous amount of ingredients.
We enjoyed the breakfast, it was super filling, we were all very stuffed. One funny thing was that my husband who wanted to order quiche at first. Our awesome server Randy advised against it. My hubby listened to his advise, and ordered Croque Madam too. He was happy with the new choice, and we are thankful to the honesty of our server. Not all servers take care of you at this level. Thank you!
SOUTHGATE Bar & Restaurant – 154 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019