The French Connection
For a blend of healthy eats, baked treats and excellent coffee, check out Maman, a French-inspired café on the Avenue. This popular eatery, which got its start in SoHo and expanded to locations around the city, Canada and pop-ups in Paris and St. Barth’s, has put down roots in town. What’s in store: pastries, soups, salads, tartines, coffee drinks and cocktails served in a charming French-country café with rustic furnishings and blue-and-white china reminiscent of grandma’s house. Even the to-go cups are Instagram-worthy, with their sweet floral pattern.
Maman draws a crowd for its coffee and hot drinks, including the honey-lavender latte, the pumpkin chai latte and the pumpkin milk dark hot chocolate. Many Maman classics on the menu have a breakfast bent, among them the granola parfait, make-your-own omelette, Brenda’s Belgian waffles, the Mediterranean breakfast bowl and a classic breakfast sandwich with avocado. For lunch, the café features a range of sandwiches on sourdough or baguette as well as soups and salads, with plenty of gluten-free and vegan options.
The new seasonal winter menu includes dishes such as Rosario’s Squash Salad, with kale, black rice, roasted squash, goat cheese, pomegranate and pumpkin seeds; Ashley’s veggie Reuben with roasted turmeric cauliflower subbing for the meat; and Elisa’s breakfast bowl that mixes Greek salad-style veggies with farro and egg.
If a well-earned cocktail is more your speed, try one of the seasonal favorites like the ultimate winter pick-me-up called Sweater Weather, with hot ginger tea, bay leaf simple syrup, pear and cognac liqueur, steamed pistachio milk and cinnamon.
Perhaps the No. 1 indulgences are Maman’s nutty-chocolate chip cookies, which earned a spot on Oprah’s Favorite Things list and can be shipped around the country.
98 Greenwich Avenue, 203-489-3162; mamannyc.com
Photographs: @isabelle.n.photography