Bon Appetit Pop up Cafe is meh
This week I just wanna be a mean motherfucker. I only have crappy things to say about places that I'm going to talk about this week. So let's get started. The Bon Appetit Pop-up Cafe is open this week during Fashion Week. Because you know, people in the fashion industry need a place to go to expense salads that they barely eat. Just look at that measly looking salad sitting on ice. It's just begging to sit in front of some a woman who's the antithesis of Joan Holloway. To each their own, I guess? But those salad options looked boring. Pre-made salads that sit on ice just don't look like good options to me. So of course I wanted a sandwich. And just like in previous years of the BA Cafe, the food options aren't a deal. They aren't things that scream out, "Hey, during a recession, I'm a good idea." But then again, neither does fashion. While Steph and I ate the sandwich, I saw a flock of bird-like women who are doomed to have osteoporosis in twenty years. There I go again though, getting away from the over-priced food. So let's get to a couple, shall we?
I present you... the $9 dollar panini by Emeril Lagasse. This sandwich was very average. Actually if I had made it at home, I'd be really proud of myself for making a sandwhich like that. But once you gotta pay $9 pre-tax for it, it becomes... fucking useless. It really does. $9 dollar sandwiches need to have one of two characteristics: 1. be really really tasty, regardless of size. 2. Be really really filling/big, regardless of taste. Some of you might argue you can find filling sandwiches that taste great, but the truth is those are really really hard to find. This panini had turkey, pesto, and red peppers. The ingredients were fine, but not to a point where you'd really go out of your way to say, &quo;I really taste the quality!" When a sandwich is neither really really tasty or really really big, it falls under the category of Just go to Subways.
Then we tried the bacon brittle by Michael Laiskonis. This sorta, kinda saved the meal but it's hard to ask bacon brittle to save your meal. Some of you might think anything with bacon will be awesome. This would fall short of the awesome category. It's sort of tasty, if you like spicy-savory desserts. I prefer my spicy-savory to not be in the dessert portion of the meal. I looked on wikipedia to see what 'brittle' really was... apparently it's just sugar. Sugar that's been heated to a certain stage, at which you add ingredients you want, and then wait for it to cool. The bacon provided the savory taste to the dish and it was definitely present... but I just don't know what it did for me. .The spiciness played with the sweetness of the sugar, but the spiciness lingered while the sweetness did not. At $2, this was actually reasonable priced since a little brittle goes a long way.
I'm not a fan of the Bon Appetit Pop-up Cafe. Looking at what Midtown Lunch had though, maybe I just tried the wrong things. I'm not sure. All I know is that if I can get an incredibly satisfying burger somewhere farther in the UWS, I probably would go the extra distance. But if you're stuck around the Lincoln Center for Fashion Week, I suppose the BA Cafe isn't such a bad choice. Just go in expecting disappointment, this way you'll like it more than I did.
Bon Appetit Pop up Cafe
20 Lincoln Center Plz.
New York, NY 10023
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@kim,
You're right, it's all about location. Sometimes you just gotta try it to confirm suspicions though... haha
@hungry,
These things are complete media drivers... Bon Appetit gets lots of press. And since it's not an operation aimed at being a huge money maker, they could even count any losses as just marketing costs. Amazing.
Danny
September 15, 2010 5:11 pm
You're basically paying for the real estate price, not the food. Might as well go to Margon to get the real deal.
kim
September 13, 2010 2:48 pm
I find these Pop Up things to be media drivers. It's more of a generic deli with high prices and famous names attached. I still go sometimes but with the idea of picking very specific things.
Ah, what can we do? We're in a city of hype.
hungry
September 14, 2010 12:48 pm
$9 is 2x spicy specials. Those are pretty big and pretty delicious. Emeril can bite it. BRING ON THE NEGATIVITY, THE BLOGOSPHERE NEEDS IT.
Nicholas
September 13, 2010 11:47 am
@FN,
Oh just you wait for tues/wed post! I'm gonna lay into 'em!
@Nicholas,
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
Danny
September 13, 2010 12:02 pm
Nice! That's what I'm talking about. My girl calls me a hater but crap is crap and saying so is the truth.
FN
September 13, 2010 10:48 am