Commendable Café Orlin - NYC

Nestled among the gaudy Asian restaurants and storefronts of St. Mark’s Place, Café Orlin’s unadorned exterior screams city-sleek and café-chic in a wasteland of neon lights, bubble letters, and the more garish garb of the far east. In this case, Café Orlin’s middle east tragically trumps the far east in all matters of taste. I think its namesake is a mountain range near Bosnia, a sensible inspiration for the minimalist wooden-table, bare-floor décor. I, for one, truly appreciated Café Orlin’s lack of bright lights. It’s always too sunny the day after your friend’s bachelorette party, and the dimmer lighting inside was a relished retreat from the stifling sun.

My Poached Eggs over Potato Cake was perfect for the post-bachelorette, crispy-without-being-crunchy and fried in just the right amount of grease to help it down. The poached eggs provide protein, with runny yolk (the way poached egg yolks should be!) pouring between the cracks of stacked potato. I didn’t think I’d find smoked salmon appealing as the first meal of the day, but it turned out to be surprisingly refreshing, a break from the compact carbs.

With the Goat Cheese Tomato and Spinach Omelet, Café Orlin achieved the impossible. They made the perfect omelet. Each bite packed a harmonious combination of ingredients that meld into one explosive mouthful, with a distribution of filling that seems quite impossible, even for the most skillful of chefs.

The Labna cheese zaatar from the Middle Eastern Breakfast is a tasty pita topper and doubles as a way for the middle east to screw over the far east. That rich cheese concoction is a lactose-intolerant Asian’s nightmare - forgive me for using lactose-intolerant and Asian together as the terms are rather redundant.

I’ve never really bought brunch with dessert, considering the pancakes and French toast offerings will give diabetes to even the most insulin-independent, but for the birthday boy there was Banana Bread with an amazing gelato. The banana bread actually tasted homemade with real banana and chunky chocolate chips. You want to have your cake and eat it? I had someone else’s cake and ate it.

Café Orlin embodies the so-awesome-I-don’t-take-reservations swagger of the cool brunch offerings of NYC. Outdoor seating lets you soak up the sun while sitting in the shade, and the garden-level indoor dining is smoothly sheltered from the smells and snippets of pedestrian noise. Even after the sweaty seventy-minute wait, these little midday-meal Meccas will secure your love.