Good for a Quick Casual Meal, or Coffee
Written: Aug 24 '02 (Updated Aug 25 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Comfortable, casual type of place. Bread.
Cons: Food is ok.
The Bottom Line: The Columbus Bakery is good for a quick casual meal, or a coffee.
|
|
|
| soothsayer's Full Review: Columbus Bakery |
I pass by this place often, but never had a chance to stop in until recently on my way to a (free) concert by George Kahumoku Jr. (ki ho’alu Hawaiian slack key guitar master) at this year’s Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors festival--absolutely wonderful performance, and great music if you ever get the chance to listen.
As its name suggest, the Columbus Bakery bakes bread, but as I found out, also made salads, and a variety of gourmet style entrees as well. For a quick-on-the-go casual type of place, I thought the Columbus Bakery was pretty good. There are two locations, one on Columbus Avenue a few blocks from the Museum of Natural History, as well as being near Central Park; and another location on First Avenue.
The bakery is clean, and nicely decorated. The interior has an upscale country décor with walls painted a mix of pale yellow, and rich burgundy, and furnished with bits of rustic style furniture, and marble café tables. Jazz, maybe even Sinatra, was playing over the sound system making a visit seem relaxing, and comfortable.
Like many restaurants located along Columbus Avenue, the bakery has café seating outside so diners can enjoy a coffee outdoors; traffic on the avenue is light enough so as not to be a nuisance. At the First Avenue location, diners can dine al fresco in the backyard garden.
Bread-wise, the Columbus Bakery does a good job. They have many varieties available ranging in price from $1.50 - $4.00. The crust on the raisin pumpernickel bread was sweet with a chocolate, and malt flavor mixed with rye. The crumb was a bit dry, but contained plump raisins and a few sunflower seeds. The chapeau roll, so named because it is shaped like a hat--probably a hat shaped to resemble a round roll--is just a simple sourdough bread roll. Although it was good bread, the crust was kind of chewy, and soft.
In addition to bread, they had an assortment of “health” muffins and pastries in the morning, all of which is sold off by late afternoon for just a $1.00 a piece (at the First Avenue location). Trying just one, the oatmeal cranberry muffin, it was well, like dry oatmeal with cranberries giving it a bit of tart flavor.
I also tried their 4” tarts. These sort of looked good ($4.50), and what pastry does not? But as I found out, looks can be deceiving. Trying the banana crumb tart, it reminded me of dense cookie dough topped with trail mix. The tart basically was made of pate brisee--slightly sweetened pastry dough--topped with dried rubbery banana slices, (soft) crumb topping, and chopped walnuts. The dough was sodden and heavy, and the topping was nothing special, no rum on the bananas, nothing.
I thought about trying their entrees, but decided not to. The Columbus Bakery had a variety of salads and entrees prepared fresh daily, but kept in the refrigerated case until you order--which tends to get pale looking as the day wears on--of course, nothing a little heat could not solve. The food looked nice, and it is the sort of stuff you would want to include in a Central Park picnic if you could not pack a basket in time, e.g., salmon with pasta, pear salad, grilled fish, quiche, etc. Of course, Zabar’s is located just a few blocks nearby, but if you do not want to walk far, the Columbus Bakery is fine. Entrees range from $6.95 for a small portion, to $12.00 for a large.
Service is pretty efficient and helpful. For a quick pick-me-up-on-the-go, you cannot go wrong with the Columbus Bakery. Prices at the First Avenue location are approximately 10-15% less expensive.
Address:
474 Columbus Avenue, NYC. (between 82nd, and 83rd Streets.)
954 First Avenue, NYC. (between 52nd, and 53rd Streets.)
Hours:
Until 9pm.
Website:
http://www.arkrestaurants.com/section_home.cfm?section_id=1&location_id=1&restaurant_id=32
Other Info:
The Ark Restaurants group--listed under the NASDAQ ticker, ARKR--owns the Columbus Bakery. Their portfolio also includes Lutece, America, and other upscale-style restaurants in Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New York.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.