Company for Dinner

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The New York Sun

A line still forms every weekend morning for the cozy unpretentious breakfast at Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant, way up at the top of the street’s burgeoning restaurant row. Though breakfast was the restaurant’s initial mandate, it has gradually branched out (with occasional guidance from Clinton Street patriarch Dewey Dufresne) and now, after a hesitant start, has begun to serve a top-notch dinner as well.


A gaggle of youthful servers compensate for any lack of finesse with warm, bounteous hospitality that makes any homely errors easy to tolerate. The space is comfortably free of frills and gleams with polished wood; pretty baked goods glow in a case by the door. Baking is a key component of any meal here, from breakfast muffins and scones, to jalapeno cornbread with dinner, to a wealth of cakes and pies for dessert. The restaurant’s smoothly competent home-style American cooking harbors few surprises but plenty of pleasures.


Breakfast and brunch options include homemade granola with yogurt and fruit ($5) and oatmeal with caramelized apples and brown sugar ($4.75), as well as a host of egg dishes. Truffled fried eggs ($14.50) stand out, perfectly cooked and served with artichoke hearts and thick-cut bacon. The restaurant’s take on eggs Benedict ($11.95) impresses as well, with lemony hollandaise and slabs of rosy country ham, served atop matchless buttermilk biscuits. These same biscuits, buttery and moist and just delicate enough to not crumble into bits, form the foundation of the best breakfast choice: a sandwich of fluffy, rich scrambled eggs and melted cheddar cheese, lent depth by dense tomato jam and piquancy by salty bacon. The best choice is also the best deal, at $8.95, or $6.95 without bacon. (Omitting the bacon is a mistake.)


Sweeter breakfast choices can be less rewarding: pancakes ($9.95), though adequate, have a bready texture that detracts from their delicacy, although the accompanying warm maple-butter blend would make even the worst pancakes delicious. A thick brioche French toast ($11.95) with fresh berries and the same maple butter fares better. The pancakes also feature on the dinner menu, for nighttime breakfast fans.


Dinner, which focuses on a few basic dishes with a rotating cast of daily specials, maintains the skillful standard set at breakfast, while upping the spice ante. Buttermilk fried chicken’s crunchy, battery crust encases remarkably juicy meat; an ingenious honey-Tabasco blend provides a nuanced dip ($15.95). A Cajun-style blackened whole fish of the day ($17.50) manages a fine balance between the mild flesh of the market-fresh fish (on one recent visit, milky, sea-bass-like escolar) and its fiery, savory exterior. Sweet potato fries and fresh corn add sweetness to the dish.


Macaroni and cheese ($15.75), doused in a creamy white sauce and baked with a crunchy crumb topping, has chunks of halibut interspersed throughout. The simple white fish, a welcome alternative to the now common truffle-accented macaroni and cheese, blends excellently with the noodles, contributing flavor and richness but leaving the dish’s substance intact. Sandwiches, too, turn simplicity into virtue with elegant twists: a po’ boy ($10.95) made with fried yellowtail flounder drips with tart tartar sauce; the perfect roll, and the side of house-made potato chips, make it special. A fried oyster sandwich on brioche ($12.50) likewise excels, the oysters hot, crisp, and mild, and dressed with a tangy, substantial jalapeno remoulade.


The magnitude of the dinner portions makes appetizers almost unnecessary, but they are there for the ordering: a rich butcher’s salad ($8.95) of tomatoes, string beans, bacon, and plenty of blue cheese; half a dozen fried oysters on a bed of lightly creamed spinach ($11.50); and a choice of beautiful daily soups ($5.50).


Persons of normal capacity might do better, though, to save room for dessert. Cranberry brown-butter pie ($4.95) immerses sour cranberries in a classic “brown butter” filling, which is sort of a dense custard; not purely butter, as the name might imply, but hardly butter-shy either. Pumpkin cheesecake ($5.95) gives the warmly spicy flavor of pumpkin pie to light, firm cheesecake; this and tart key lime meringue pie ($4.95) are among the best of the restaurant’s offerings. An array of sundaes and ice-cream drinks, made with the products of the esteemed Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, rounds out the offering of sweets. Whole pies and cakes, and pints of ice cream, can also be bought to go.


To draw business on a quiet night, the restaurant now offers all its wines at half-price on Tuesdays. The list is very small but includes such favorites as Oregon’s lush, concentrated A To Z pinot gris (regularly $8.50/glass, $31/bottle) and an elegant Castle Rock pinot noir ($9/$32). A full bar offers seasonal specialty cocktails like bourbon cobbler ($8), made with apple brandy and lemon juice.


Making delicious, home-style cooking look easy, Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant has ably proven itself as a breakfast joint. The kitchen’s sure touch with hearty, savory flavors makes it terrific for dinner as well.


Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant, 4 Clinton St., 646-602-6263.


The New York Sun

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