The Brunchfast Club: Pastis

Springtime on 14th Street

So, new thing: The Brunchfast Club.  

As the weather gets warmer, and the coats get dry-cleaned and packed away until next winter (ah yes, must remember to do that), you find more and more excuses to leave the house.  In New York, one of these excuses is to go and have brunch. And so, as this is something done almost every weekend, I decided to start reporting on these places as part of my blog.

So first up, is Pastis.

Last weekend, I went to Pastis for brunch.  

A little slice of Paris in New York

Pastis is in the Meatpacking District of NY, and prides itself on its authentic French bistro atmosphere.  It is famed for being featured in Sex and the City, and for being a celeb-magnet. 

Well, while I was there I saw no hide nor hair of a celeb, or maybe I wasn't awake enough to recognize any even if they had been there.  Come to think of it, I don't think I remember anything until I had my first cup of coffee.. so I could very well have been surrounded by Mary-Kate, Lindsay and Brangelina for all I know.  

But, the imaginary fellow celebrity diners in my head is not what I liked about Pastis.  I liked the fact that even though it was packed to the rafters with people (very very beautiful people at that), and the waiters were rushing to fulfil everyones orders in a timely way, and get the queue of people seated before too much of a wait.. even though it had all the ingredients to culminate in the most stressful place on earth... somehow, it wasn't.  It maintained a chilled out Parisian vibe.  

Ooh La La

Maybe it was the relaxing, continental, and so very, very French, tones of the piano-accordian on the sound system.  Maybe it was the way that, everything down to the last detail; the tables, the cutlery, the food, the prompt service, the bottles behind the bar, the fixtures and fittings could have been right out of a cafe overlooking le Tour Eiffel, yet without any French arrogance.  Although there was a lot going on around me, it is the perfect place to sit back, sip your re-fillable coffee, graze on un omlette aux fines herbes, and watch as the world whirls around you.

le sigh