A basket is all you need

It was Friday morning in Manhattan and my husband and I were in search of food before heading over to the Central Park Zoo.  I quickly pulled out Yelp! to search for good breakfast options (other than Dunkin Donuts) and found Sarabeth's.  Reservations were recommended, but the first available per Open Table was not for a few hours and I was hungry now.  So we walked over and took a chance.  We first saw the patio hostess who told us if we wanted first available that we needed to go inside and speak to the main hostess.  Made me wonder why there was two hostesses - very confusing.

When we went inside we were a little overwhelmed by how packed the place was, but the hostess told us the wait was only twenty minutes, so we decided to give it a try.  I was looking around the front room and I saw some jars of preserves with labels that looked familiar, but it really didn't click with me that I was in fact at the famous Sarabeth's known for amazing preserves.  I can't even tell you for sure where I have seen her products before, but I will be in search of them in the near future.

After twenty or so minutes we were escorted back to our table and I think my husband and I both felt we were in a Tardis as the restaurant was ten times larger than it had appeared from the outside and the lobby.  The ambiance was a classic New York restaurant that you would see in Sex and the City, probably because the girls ate there once.

The first thing I noticed on the menu was the 26 ounce Bloody Mary. Three and a quarter cups of tomato vodka heaven.  And the pickled vegetables on top were perfectly pickled and nice variety ranging from carrots and bell peppers to jicama.  I was determined to finish the whole thing, while still having at least one cup of coffee, and I was successful.  Lucky children at the zoo since I was blitzed.  Can I get more of those veggies?

26 oz Pickled Bloody Mary (vodka, house pickled vegetables)

My husband selected the Farmer's Omelette and chose a corn muffin for his side.  The corn muffin was what you would expect - a simple corn muffin.  But the preserves made it amazing.  And the omelette was very tasty as well. It should be noted that the choices of sides were muffins (English, corn, bran, banana, pumpkin), croissant, scone or toast, all served with housemade preserves.

Farmer's Omelette (leeks, ham, potato, Gruyere)

I wanted to go with the short rib hash, as I was feeling carnivorous.  The eggs were perfectly cooked and the meat and potatoes were good, but not amazing.  I should have saved such an entree for more of a diner-style restaurant rather than a place like Sarabeth's, but it was by no means not good, just not great.

Short Rib Hash (baked eggs, poblanos, tomatillo salsa)

But it was my side that made the whole experience simple amazing.  And so my one piece of advice would be for any visitor to Sarabeth's to simply skip all of the other breakfast selections and simply choose the Basket of Sarabeth's Muffins & Legendary Preserves.  This scone was the most amazing scone I have ever had before.  It was buttery, bu not overly flaky.  It was dense like a cake, but yet moist.  And once I added even the smallest amount of the most amazing preserves on Earth, it was literally heaven.  I wanted to take some to go, not that I knew when I would be able to eat it or that I had earned the right to experience more of its high-caloric goodness, but I just didn't want to say goodbye to it.

Side scone & preserves

If you're looking for breakfast while in New York, I highly recommend Sarabeth's.  Make a reservation and get the pastries.  Oh, and don't forget the Bloody Mary.