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El Rey Coffee Bar & Luncheonette Bringing SoCal Sensibility To The LES
By
Nell Casey
Published Feb 4, 2014
Modified Feb 4, 2014
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By
Nell Casey
Published Feb 4, 2014
Modified Feb 4, 2014
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Coffee shops grow like weeds, a perfect infestation for caffeine-addicted city dwellers. Lower East Siders will have another one to pluck once El Rey Coffee Bar & Luncheonette opens its doors this Thursday. The casual service lunch spot comes from Goat Town's Nicholas Morgenstern and head chef Gerardo Gonzalez, who've put together a SoCal vibe and menu of healthful, flavorful eats to fuel the day.
First and foremost, they're doing espresso, drip and pour over brews from Counter Culture Coffee, which you can order with sweet baked goods like Sour Plum & Ginger Danish, Banana Sesame Bread or a bowl of granola. The lunch menu, which runs from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., features bowls of Cashew Grits topped with either braised pork or mustard greens; seasonally rotating flavors of falafel; and "Lost Bread" egg frittatas, whipped up behind the marble-topped luncheonette counter.
Raw salads like Kale with shaved almonds and almond vinaigrette, hand pies in flavors like Duck Confit & Cherries and little bites including cheese sticks and beet pickled eggs are available anytime after 11 a.m. So too are draft beers—Fullers, Westbrook and Evil Twin are a few breweries on hand—wines, and house-made aguas frescas like the "gin-less fizz" made with cucumber limeade and juniper seltzer.
100 Stanton Street (between Ludlow and Orchard), (212) 260-3950; elreynyc.com
El Rey Coffee Bar & Luncheonette Menu
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Lower East Side
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Nell Casey
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