This was a tough category, producing no consensus. There were a few votes for Clinton Street Baking Company, but that lengthy wait for pancakes (even if they are the world’s best pancakes) is not so appealing to a lot of locals. A number of people mentioned Shopsin’s in the Essex Street Market, also a place with daunting lines on weekend mornings. In the absence of a clear victor, we offer two suggestions.
The first is Dimes, a tiny new cafe on Division St., near Ludlow Street. The health-conscious spot serves up good coffee and a small selection of traditional breakfast items, including eggs with greens and roasted tomatoes and oatmeal with seasonal fruit. They also have several breakfast bowls featuring akai, a berry grown in Central and South America. One version is served with strawberry, banana and house-made almond milk.
If this all sounds a little too crunchy for you, go the diner route. A few of our readers mentioned the recently remodeled Zafi’s on Grand Street, near the Abrons Arts Center.
If you don’t often find yourself on the eastern end of the LES, it’s tough to go wrong at Cup & Saucer, which has been operating from the corner of Canal and Eldridge streets for a quarter-century.
Dimes 143 Division St. 212-240-9410 Back to Best of the LES
