Serendipity 3 - New York's First Coffee Shop Boutique

On a recent trip to New York City, I had the opportunity to stop into Serendipity 3, which is New York's first coffee shop boutique. The restaurant is located at 225 east 60^th Street, and it's so small, you'll likely pass it by if you're not on the lookout.

Upon entering, you'll instantly appreciate the welcoming charm. The small round tables and nook-like seating arrangements are wonderfully cute! Serendipity 3 is also way more than just a coffee house; they have a fantastic, large menu with everything from appetizers, breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees, as well as a huge selection of specialty drinks and desserts!

The restaurant, and the menu itself, are both absolutely adorable! Appetizers include Blue Corn Nachos, Hot Spring Wings and Chicken Not So Little Soup. They also offer a few varieties of salad, such as A Shrimp Stuffed Avocado and Pasta Salad De Jour. They have a selection of casseroles; our favorite was the Curried Chicken Almondine but the Chicken Pot Pie sure was tempting!

Serendipity 3 opens at 11:30am every day, so for brunch, try one of their gourmet omelettes. They offer a wide range of delectable choices such as Fine Herb and Caviar & Sour Cream as well as more traditional varieties including Cheddar and Sausage & Peppers. Another fabulous pick would be a crepe or Challah French Toast, they both looked delicious!

For lunch, they serve awesome hamburgers, for example, the Caviar Burger, served with sour cream and cucumber slices. The menu also includes a wide variety of topping for your hamburger such as chili, Muenster cheese, and buttery sweet Jarlsberg Swiss. Or try a foot-long hot dog, topped with bacon & cheddar cheese or chili and raw onions. Each platter is served with French fries, cole law, lettuce and tomato. Other sandwich options include Catcher and the Rye, which is a yummy chicken BLT with Muenster cheese, and Russian dressing on rye or the High Heel Pump, a sandwich of melted Brie and proscuitto with Russian dressing on delicious pumpernickel bread dotted with raisins. Mmmmm...

For dinner, try the Country Meatloaf, a down-south favorite served with mashed potatoes and gravy or Chicken Char-Char, a fabulous open-faced sandwich of honey charbroiled chicken, greens and deep-fried parsnips on a oh-so good garlic rye. The Mixed Grill is perfect for sharing, as it's a combination of charbroiled honey chicken, Cajun sausage and Roumanian steak, served with onions and peppers. There are also a few seafood options, including a Bamboo Basket of steamed lemon sole, salmon or shrimp and veggies with ginger or Shrimp and Vegetable Brochette served with Saffron rice. The pasta dishes were also an excellent choice; we loved the bit of Cheese Ravioli we tasted, served in a creamy tomato basil sauce. Madame Butterfly, a dish of sautéed asparagus, artichokes and red peppers tossed with farfalle pasta in a cheesy garlic sauce was equally as tasty. There are other dishes that would be delightful for a vegetarian diner, such as the All Vegetable Chili or The Alamo, a kicked-up burger of black beans, served with salsa.

Dessert is THE reason to stop by. The Frrrozen Drinks are dessert alone! They're HUGE! We ordered a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, and it was like heaven in a big giant cup! Slightly slushy, but very creamy, and really chocolate-y, it was the best frozen drink I've ever had! It's not a bad idea to share - they really are quite large! Friends of mine got the Peanut Butter Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and the Apricot Smush and both were also incredibly creamy and delicious. We also all shared our cake choices, my favorites were the Karo Pecan Pie, the Creme De La Creme Cream Cheese Cake and my original pick, the Celestial Carrot Cake, which consisted of moist spiced cake with bits of carrot and the creamiest cream cheese icing on the planet. Other samplings I tried included a taste of the Strawberry Fields Sundae, which is a gigantic serving of strawberry ice cream topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream and the Humble Pie with it's a graham cracker crust and creamy peanut butter center that, come to think of it, I probably could have eaten ten more slices of, it was so delicious.

After all those frozen drinks, we had to warm up with a hot beverage before heading back out to explore the city. The menu offers the Tiffany, an espresso with whipped cream and teensy chocolate non-peril candies, Cinnamon Sticks which is espresso served with a cinnamon stick for stirring and also little pots of tea, choices ranging from Earl Gray and Lemon to Jasmine and Chamomile Herbal. My choice was a Chocolaccino; a warm, tasty cappuccino topped with shipped cream and shaved chocolate.

The prices aren't bad for New York City and the servings fairly large. The staff was very helpful and friendly, and although there was a line of customer waiting for a table, we didn't start to feel rushed until we'd finished our drinks and were simply sitting there chatting. The entire experience was fabulous, I'll definitely visit Serendipity 3 when I'm in New York again.