February 24, 2014 |
Short Order
Ground Central Café Stays Up Late
by Maria Yagoda
Escape to the small, library-like back room. Read a trashy mystery.
Ground Central, a cozy coffee shop almost hidden on 52nd between Lexington and 3rd, has stretched its ambition, adding wine and tapas to their café menu. They’ve also extended their hours to 9 pm, hoping to attract Midtown’s vast after-work lounging crowd.
Octopus and caramelized onion with goat cheese are highlights of the new tapas menu. The new wine list is concise but thoughtful, maybe a little aggressive for the laid-back setting; the cheapest bottle is the Pinot Grigio at $30, with Champagne Colin the priciest at $80. The tapas aren’t quite what you expect in this era of tapas ubitquity, but rather single slices of baguette with Spanish-inspired toppings, from bacon-wrapped dates to octopus to cured ham with manchego cheese. Crostini by any other name.
I’d call them “bites” if they weren’t quite so difficult to bite. I embarrassed myself and ruined my shirt simply trying to put the Sardina Picante, a fat, flavorful sardine atop a slice of baguette, into my mouth. Same goes for the unwieldy Marcilla and Tortilla, classic blood sausage sandwiched between potato omelet, redundantly placed on a piece of bread.
Easier to eat (and enjoy) is the Cebolla, a petite baguette slice smeared with caramelized onion and goat cheese. That dainty morsel, which pairs nicely with a glass of Argentinian Malbec, seems a bit overpriced at $3.
Will the towering French donut covered in Nutella be another cronut? I’m reminded that Ground Central has coffee shop in its DNA when I bite into the flaky, 2-inch-high house-made French donut, smeared and filled with lush Nutella. I take a sip of smooth pour-over coffee and bring my pastry to the bookshelf-lined back room, where I take my pick of paperback crime novels (settling on “Criminal Intent”) and sink into a plush armchair.
155 East 52nd Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenue. 646.964.4438