Turning Back the Clocks at EJ's Luncheonette

Maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I think it’s safe to judge NYC brunch spots by the number of customers lined up outside. You could probably just drive around on a Saturday or Sunday around 11 AM and pick the best place this way. These people are tired and hungry…yet willing to wait for good grub. According to these standards, EJ’s Luncheonette is a clear favorite, here on the Upper East Side.

The Saturday we recently went, it was a familiar scene: there were a lots of people patiently waiting, many of them wearing team shirts from a race in Central Park. We put our name on the list and joined the ranks outside next to a whole fleet of delivery bikes. The wait wasn’t bad, and before we knew it, we were seated in a tiny two-person booth in the sunny room adjacent to the sidewalk, the ideal spot for people-watching, right at the corner at 3rd and 73rd.

EJ’s only opened 17 years ago, but, based on the throwback décor, you’d think they’d been around since the 50’s: checkered floor, stools at the counter, vintage signage and black and white photos of girls in poodle skirts. I like how the food runners at EJ’s wear the old-school paper hats and on my way past, I took note of the well-stocked pie case.

Lots of items on the menu caught my eye, like the Multigrain Flapjacks with honeycrunch wheat germ and flax seeds, and the patriotic Red, White, and Blue Cheese Blintzes with ricotta, strawberries, bananas and blueberries. I was also tempted by the Sweet Potato Flapjacks. However, I opted for my standby omelet with mushrooms and swiss with Canadian bacon on the side. My fiancé ordered the Huevos Racheros Wrap and enjoyed it. His Challah toast (pictured below) screamed to me from across the table, but I somehow managed to resist.

Everything was tasty, the servings were substantial, and our waiter, Shahen from Bangladesh, didn’t miss a beat. Our coffee was refilled (and refilled, and refilled…) without our having to request it.

There’s actually another location across the park on Amsterdam and 82nd that has also been around since the early 1990’s. Co-owner Robert Eby is proud of how much of a “neighborhood, small-town feeling” EJ’s has. He says they have regulars who come by as often as seven times a week and sometimes twice a day. They have an e-mail list of 1000 customers who receive the dinner specials around noon on a daily basis.

The concept behind EJ’s has always been to offer large portions at affordable prices. Their blue plate dinners include a Meatloaf Platter ($14.50) with gravy, mashed potatoes and a vegetable, a Roasted Lemon Herb Half Chicken ($14.95), also with mashed potatoes and vegetable.

This summer, they decided to roll back the clock and offer a Recession Buster, meaning that they have been offering all their Blue Plate dinners for just $9.95 on Monday and Tuesday nights, which is their pricing from 1992, when they opened. Granted, not exactly 1950’s pricing, but a great value for the city. I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to pull my hair back in a pony, bust out some saddle shoes, and sidle up to that counter. And, yes, in case you were wondering, they do offer milkshakes, malteds and egg creams…

59th Street Bridge: An Ode

I’ve driven across you and sat, suspended, in your traffic.

I’ve cursed all the early morning horn-honking you inspired directly under my bedroom window and rued the congestion you created on the Upper East Side.

But…of course I’ve always appreciated your absence of tolls.

For some reason, you have long been one of my favorite landmarks, a symbol of city living.

I’ve gazed at you from below and sped past on the FDR.

I spotted you from a plane, floated under you in a boat on the East River, and glided alongside you in the tram.

I opened the curtains of a nearby hotel room to see your steady stream of headlights, winking.

I’ve shopped in your beautiful market, taken a tennis lesson under your wing. Had a drink (or a few) in your elegant (though now private) cavern.

I’ve cheered marathoners across your flank, and tapped my toe to Simon and Garfunkle’s groovy tribute.

I watched you get a makeover then get slowly revealed from under that tarp.

You turned 100 this June and I applaud you for carrying thousands of commuters to and from Queens and beyond, everyday, for all those years.

Soon, I will travel across you on the way to my wedding. I can’t think of a better bridge to connect me from Here to There.

East Side Story: Scavengers on the Loose!

If you were out on the town last Saturday night, you may have witnessed something resembling a “rumble” scene from West Side Story. The difference is that the combatants were wearing dresses and heels, they were not exactly gang members, and the weapons were digital cameras. The occasion was my bachelorette party, hosted by my friends and organized down to the tiniest details by a longtime and very dear friend from out-of-town. To my surprise and extreme delight, it was an Upper East Side scavenger hunt. They know me so well…

The ten of us started at Molly Pitchers at 2nd and 85th where we scored the empty back room. This was a perfect (and relatively private) place for me to don the elegant headpiece I had received earlier in the afternoon from another friend at the cookie-themed wedding shower downtown. It had lots of bling and came with a lovely veil (pictured, above). This is where we also received and modeled our official t-shirts for the event: in my favorite color (green) and with my favorite decoration (polka dots).

Next, we were handed instruction scrolls and learned the rules, including the fact that we would receive bonus points if we could snap pictures of another team in action. We broke into three teams and raced all over the UES.

The face-off happened on 85th between 1st and York on our way to New York Pipe Dreams, a surf, skate and snowboard shop included in the hunt to commemorate the year I snowboarded my way through Colorado. I spotted another team walking toward us then they quickly disappeared behind potted plants and cars. While trying to scatter (and one of my teammates attempting to conceal herself behind an extremely skinny tree, ha!), a camera emerged from behind a delivery van and, flash! – we were caught.

Then, while sprinting and laughing, we caught sight of the third team and took some blurry action shots. They held their hands in front of their faces as if we were the paparazzi. We were the last group to arrive at the snowboard shop, so the super laid-back guys expected us, “Scavenger hunt?” they asked with amusement then stepped aside so we could do a photo shoot with jackets and a board. (By the way, I noticed they’re having some excellent summer sales right now.)

From there, we went to my beloved Marimekko boutique in honor of my predilection for (obsession with?) polka dots. My dear friend tried to explain this sickness as a result of being from Delaware, where the state bug is the handsomely patterned…ladybug.

As instructed, we next snagged a coffee cuff from a java joint, then went down to the Pig n Whistle Irish Pub on 3rd between 55th and 56th in honor of the summer I spent in Ireland.

Next was Gourmet Garage – that wonderful “epicurean depot” where I have often bought cheese to satisfy the Wisconsonite in me – this is the state where I spent my earliest years.

Finally, we took a cab back uptown to meet with the rest of the group at the tiny Cipolla Rossa on 1st between 91st and 92nd. (They have another location on 1st between 60th and 61st.) Here, another battle ensued: each of us contended that we'd won. One team even awarded themselves a certificate of victory drawn up on a napkin. The other team had also done some impressive work, especially in wrangling a picture of a teammate in the driver’s seat of an NYC cab for bonus points. I felt my team deserved a little bit of extra credit for crossing the finish line in our t-shirts. (Denied). But really, aren’t we all winners? We shared our respective tales and laughed at each other’s snapshots, especially the hilarious ones from our 85th street showdown.

Our group took up most of Cipolla Rossa’s 20 or so seats. Though having so many of my lifelong girlfriends at one table distracted me a bit from the food, I noticed that a lot of it did in fact include red onions. I enjoyed the mushroom risotto starter (one of that night’s specials) the Caprese, and the asparagus wrapped in proscuitto. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals. Fortunately, one of our scavenger hunt directives was to stop by a liquor store to pick up some wine because the place is BYOB (way to think ahead.)

In all, it was a fabulous day from beginning to end – thanks to my girls for an unforgettable party!