We spent a lovely sunny afternoon at Cafe Botanica at Snug Harbor eating brunch and making new friends.
Since the launch of our site we've gotten several e-mails from other like-minded Staten Island die-hards, some who have lived here for years, and others who, like us, moved to find more space and remarkable housing in the face of surreally escalating prices elsewhere. This morning, after going to the wonderfully warm and accommodating Bay Street Animal Hospital to check on one of our cats who is extremely sick, Cynthia and I went down to Snug Harbor to have a little breakfast. No sooner had we ordered than we made some new friends -- a nice couple sat down and struck up a conversation. It was their first trip to Staten Island and they were just the way we were a few months ago, which is to say pretty surprised that it was as green, quiet, and lovely as it is. We'd have to say something is definitely in the air.
We'd been to Cafe Botanica, the restaurant at the Staten Island Botanical Garden in Snug Harbor once or twice before, and found it to be a delicious and relaxing experience. Today wasn't much different, and although the service was molasses slow, our waitstaff was still attentive and conscientious (they notified us in advance that our food would take about twenty minutes, and asked if that was okay). I had the omelette of the day (meaty rather than fatty chunks of slab bacon, carmelized onion, cheddar cheese) which came with a nice fruit cup and a recently-baked biscuit which was lighter than air, and chewy and flaky rather than crumbly -- in a good way. It was served with whipped strawberry butter, which was really a nice combination. The omelette was about the size of a running shoe, far more than I could have eaten, though it was certainly perfectly formed. I ate about 3/4 of it, which was 1/4 more than I had intended. The coffee comes served in an individual-serving french press, although it's a bit of a ruse, since there aren't actually coffee grounds under the filter. Pretty sneaky sis. Cynthia had her usual, "Eggs in a Nest," which is two eggs poached (or more likely, baked) into two pieces of fluffy brioche. The yolks were cooked about 45 seconds short of hard, which, as fans of undercooking, we don't prefer. We guessed that this decision was more salmonella-avoidance and less flavor-maximization. We felt the whole idea of the dish was crying out for runny yolk, lawsuits be damned. We ordered a side salad as well to share, and it arrived as a buttery melange of soft mesclun with julienned carrots and a very light and tasteful oil and vinegar dressing. I'm picky about salads, but this one was as good as any I've had -- eating it with eggs reminded me of the farmer's breakfast at the Cornelia St. Cafe near my old apartment on Bleecker St. which was poached eggs (with runny yolks), slab bacon, and roasted garlic over greens. We'd prefer to see a little bit of salad served with the eggs by default, like it is at many places (though it's done best at our favorite Park Slope German place, Cafe Steinhof).
But the best part of it all was sitting out on the veranda in front of the 19th century gothic victorian house, across from the Botanical Garden greenhouse, underneath the shade of lush green centigenarian trees. Okay, that and the fact that the tab was $20 which included tax and a 25% tip (we thought it was better to leave more for the overextended waitress than to try to wait for her to give us change). The bees were out, to be sure, but that's because the flowers were too.
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