Midtown Lunch

We’ve been anticipating the first offshoot of rightfully popular Breads Bakery for some weeks now, but I had only seen carpentry happening at the kiosk site on the northwest corner of Bryant Park. No need to hold your breath any longer, because as of last Wednesday, they’re open for business AND looks like we’re getting a reprieve for today from the deluge!

Of course the Bryant Park menu is an abbreviated version of their Union Square offerings, but fear not. Their addictive chocolate nutella babka is available if you’re young rebellious enough to make dessert a lunch. For the more conservative, savory lunch options for under $10 are also available. You’ve got cheese or potato burekas, cheese and olive (bread)sticks, and a medley of sandwiches on some amazing bread. They have a slightly odd pricing structure of $1 more for sandwiches on whole wheat (vs. white).

The round buns look a bit too small for a full meal, and not super exciting with the prevalent Egg Salad, Smoked Salmon/cream cheese, and Tuna Salad fillings, so I went with the only large sandwich on a long roll, the Tunisian. It’s also a tuna sandwich, but WAY more interesting with spicy harissa sauce, sliced potatoes, parsley, hard boiled eggs, olives, and tomato. It reminded me vaguely of a nicoise salad squished between some rustic bread.

The price seemed a bit hefty at $9.95 for a pre-made sandwich swathed in cling wrap, stickered with a Use By date and time. However, the freshness could not be more evident. In fact, I had problems finishing the sandwich, so I had to revisit it a few hours after the Use By date. Let me just say, I like ladyfingers soaked in my tiramisu, but not harissa soaked in my bread.

There appeared to be no oven on site in the cramped space. Then again, one could have been hiding with three employees nearly elbow to elbow, and a tower of freshly made goods from their original location already covering up part of the menu.

Had I known about the burekas before ordering my Tunisian sandwich, I might have gone that route. Go try out the kiosk and let us know what you think. At the very least, the sweets that make Breads Bakery famous are now easily accessible for a post-lunch dessert with coffee in Midtown’s Bryant Park oasis.