Sugar Sweet Sunshine & Clinton St. Baking Co.

After our night at Kyotofu, we awoke the next morning in the mood for a carb-loaded brunch. Of course, we really weren't inherently that spontaneous, because I had planned out our meals for hte weekend prior. We hopped down to the Lower East Side for brunch at the Clinton St. Baking Company, which is known for their fantastic brunch. When we arrived at noon, we were told to wait for two hours. Since we had to wait for two others to arrive, we decided to eat there anyway. But given the sugar-loaded dining options in the area, I decided to indulge in some cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine.


The case of goods.


Pumpkin cupcake 1.5

I ordered a lemon yummy, and Y ordered a pumpkin. Though I am not particularly a fan of cupcakes (I prefer muffins), my lemon yummy was indeed quite delicious. The cake was moist, the buttercream fresh and not too sweet. I found the Prevention magazine in the background and the cover article "Flatten Your Belly" a bit ironic for what we were eating, but I suppose we're rebels in that sense.


We returned to Clinton St. Baking Co. at 2, and still had to wait for another 10 minutes. This is even more ridiculous than Canteen.


Smoked Salmon Benedict with Petrossian smoked salmon 15

My favorite thing about the benedict was that they came on the flakiest, softest biscuits. I did not really know what I was missing out on, since I usually have them on English muffins. The salmon was quite succulent and moist, and it was well balanced with perfectly poached eggs and a light hollandaise. I would say that Clinton St's benedict lives up to Canteen's, though I still prefer the latter's more delicate hollandaise with that fantastic aftertaste.


Clinton St. Omelette - goat cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes 10.5

There was a bit of confusion with the omlette, for we had ordered it with red peppers and mushrooms, less the cheese. My peers found the cheese bit overpowering, with which I concurred. I was more impressed with the potato hash, which had a browned, crispy exterior and spiced with picante.


Wild Maine blueberry pancakes with warm maple butter 11

New York Mag and Village Voice have both deemed Clinton St. Baking Co as having the best pancakes in the city for the past few years. The pancakes were great, but I think their title comes from the warm maple syrup. Yes, the pancakes themselves were fluffy and the perfect texture and bursting with buttermilk flavor and whatnot, but the syrup was damned good! It really was fresh maple syrup, which is hard to find nowadays. The stack is pretty huge too.


Crab cake sandwich - jumbo lump crab meat, spicy remoulade, greens, on a brioche roll 14

But even more enjoyable than the pancakes was the crab cake sandwich, in my opinion. Initially, I had thought the crab cake looked burnt and perhaps dry, but it turned out to be one of the most flavorful, creamy crab cakes I've had. The shreds of fresh crab were generous, the roll was toasted perfectly, and the tomatoes very insanely juicy. The chips were a bit burnt, but overall the dish was great.

We were very pleased with our brunch, and we agreed that the food justified the ridiculous two hour wait. The prices were quite reasonable as well, for everything arrived in huge portions (not just by Manhattan standards, but by normal people standards).


We passed by wd-50 as we were leaving and saw Wylie Defresne looking quite irate on the phone. Perhaps he was angry he had to miss brunch.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

Clinton St. Baking Company
4 Clinton Street (btw East Houston & Stanton)
New York NY 10002