From the outside, Bonfiglio & Bread looks like the perfect place to spend the morning with a steaming cup of coffee and a couple of slices of sourdough toast and local jam i.e. your ideal New York neighborhood café. However, this place is 2 hours away from New York in the beautiful, quiet, artsy town of Hudson, and, as soon as you step inside the little red door, you realize this place is better than any New York neighborhood café you have dreamed of.
The number of people crammed inside, more people than you've seen the whole weekend you've been in this town, testifies to the greatness of this bakery-café. Loaves of bread line the back shelves, in a glass cabinet are what remain of the day's pastries, and over the counter comes plate after bowl after plate of freshly cooked, stunning, and mouth-watering food. The blackboard menu is a bad-decision-maker's worst nightmare: B and I debated the merits of almost everything on there for far, far too long. I apologize to everyone who was stuck waiting behind us as we changed our minds again, and again, and again.
Eventually we settled: poached eggs with avocado, yoghurt, croutons, bacon, homemade chilli oil and lime zest for me, and a slow-cooked pork, chili relish, mayonnaise sourdough sandwich for him. We elbowed our way into a tiny bit of counter space (hey, you Americans need to learn you to make an orderly queue line), admiring everyone else's pizzas, open sandwiches and bagels as we did so.
We reluctantly surrendered our standing space to some waiting customers, and left with an onion pinwheel in a bag which we tore apart alongside a glass of wine that evening. It was tricky to force ourselves to eat elsewhere for the rest of the trip.
Bonfiglio & Bread, 748 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
No comments:
Post a Comment