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Eating lunch in New York was harder than I expected. Ok, maybe that sounds weird with the huge number of delis, street vendors and the fast food. Lunch was actually the meal I had the best chance of being able to make a plan for, but I had a hard time finding someplace I wanted to go. I rolled the dice amongst 3 places – Cafeteria, Rickshaw Dumpling Shop and Gramercy Tavern. Admittedly, these places all over the culinary map. Imagine my disappointment when I picked wrong.
Although the place is past its trendy hey-day, I had high hopes for its comfort food approach. In concept, it’s the kind of place that takes the diner menu up a notch with delicious comfort food after a long night out. But it sort of looked like it had had a long night out– although well lit with natural light, the booths and walls were marked up and slightly worn. While the place filled up at lunch, and is probably packed on weekends for breakfast, it had the feel of a place that was hot in 1997 and hasn’t quite come into the new millennium.
I’ve been missing chicken and waffles from Roscoe’s in LA something fierce, so when I heard it was on the menu, I went for it. For $14, I ended up with bland fried chicken and flabby waffles. The half a grilled cheese sammie with a cup of tomato soup was probably a better choice. And a salad that was delivered to another table looked fresh, but thought to myself, Tyler Florence once worked this kitchen?