The Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant (CSBC) is an American bakery and restaurant. It is located at 4 Clinton Street (between East Houston Street and Stanton Street), on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of Manhattan,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The restaurant is noted especially for its pancakes, its burgers, and its biscuits and other fresh-baked goods. In December 2010, '' The New York Times'' described it as a "brunch magnet", and '' The New York Daily News'' said the "legendary" dining destination was "the city's hottest breakfast nook". '' Time'' called it a "cult favorite". In 2011, ''Poor Taste Magazine'' rated it # 1 in its list of the 100 Best Brunch Spots in America.

Restaurant

The restaurant seats 32 people. It is located on Clinton Street, just off Houston Street, which the ''

'' magazine described as the "hippest restaurant row" in the Lower East Side. The restaurant is next to an 1853 Romanesque Revival traditional synagogue,

Congregation Chasam Sopher Congregation Chasam Sopher is an Orthodox synagogue located at 10 Clinton Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was formed in 1892 by the merger of two congregations of immigrants from Poland. It occupies a historic Romanesque Revival ...

. It attracts a weekend brunch line that stretches around the corner of the block, which includes New York foodies and many foreign tourists.

The restaurant serves refined comfort food and baked items, which are made daily on its premises, with breakfast (which it serves all day), lunch, brunch, and dinner. Among the items that it is known for are its blueberry pancakes. ''New York'' magazine called them the best pancakes in town. February is "Pancake Month" at the restaurant. It is also noted for its fluffy buttermilk biscuit sandwich with home-made tomato jam, and lauded for its baked goods, including its scones and muffins. Its home-made desserts, including muffins, organic apple crumb, chocolate cake, maple-bourbon-pecan pie, creamy pumpkin cheesecake, and cherry pie, are topped with ice cream from the

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is an ice cream shop in Brooklyn, New York City. Its original location was a converted 1922 fireboat house at 1 Water Street, on the Fulton Ferry Landing Pier, in the Dumbo neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge. It ...

. Its meals include cage-free eggs, omelets, granola, brioches, grilled organic

free range Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, ...

chicken, buttermilk

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

, hamburgers, large warm buttermilk biscuits, cheese grits fries, salads, and market soups. Drinks include lime squash and bellinis.

Owners

It is owned by a husband-and-wife team of restaurateurs, seasoned chef Neil Kleinberg and DeDe Lahman. Kleinberg had originally planned to open the business with another partner, but Lahman, who was a former

advice columnist An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

and a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

at the time running an apparel company, bought the partner out. Kleinberg has responsibility for the restaurant's kitchen. Lahman is the restaurant's catering director and handles back-end responsibilities such as public relations.

History

The restaurant began in 2001 as a bakery and a small coffee cafe, and over time became a full-fledged seven-days-a-week restaurant with a

liquor license A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...

. Kleinberg and Lahman host free cooking and healthy eating classes at the restaurant for neighborhood children.

Awards and accolades

In December 2010, '' The New York Times'' described it as a "brunch magnet", and '' The New York Daily News'' said that the "legendary" dining destination was "the city's hottest breakfast nook". ''Time'' called it a "cult favorite". The restaurant has been one of Zagat's top picks in the Lower East Side. ''Time'' magazine cited it for having New York City's best pancakes in both 2005 and 2008. The restaurant is noted especially for its fresh-baked goods. '' USA Today'' described it as a "charming cafe with outstanding cherry pie". In January 2009, Bobby Flay challenged the owners of the restaurant to a "blueberry pancake showdown", which was filmed in an episode of ''

Throwdown! with Bobby Flay ''Throwdown! with Bobby Flay'' is a Food Network television program in which celebrity chef Bobby Flay challenges cooks renowned for a specific dish or type of cooking to a cook-off of their signature dish. At the beginning of each show, Flay rec ...

'' at the restaurant. In 2010, Kleinberg won Godiva Chocolatier's SWEETest Challenge Award for his Warm Upside Down Pear Cake with pecan ice cream, caramel sauce, and

pecan brittle Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Types It has many variations around the world, such as '' ...

at the third annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival. In 2011, ''Poor Taste Magazine'' rated it # 1 in its list of the "100 Best Brunch Spots in America". In 2011, Zagat ranked it 2nd out of 204, among traditional American restaurants in New York City.

Cookbook

The ''Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch & Beyond from New York's Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant'' (2010) was authored by Kleinberg and Lahman. The book includes what ''The New York Times'' describes as the "celebrated" pancake recipe served at the restaurant, as well as the restaurant's other most popular recipes for Eggs Benedict and other preparations. The book was identified by Julia Moskin of ''The New York Times'' as one of the year's best cookbooks, in December 2010.

Sister restaurant

The owners opened up an eco-conscious sister restaurant, named "Community Food and Juice", that also serves American food. It is located at 2893 Broadway between 112th and 113th Streets in

Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningside ...

, Manhattan, and has an open kitchen and a bi-level dining room.

In popular culture

The restaurant and its pancakes are mentioned in the 2011 book ''Where I Belong'', by Gwendolyn Heasley.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton St. Baking Company and Restaurant Restaurants established in 2001 Lower East Side Restaurants in Manhattan Bakeries of New York (state) 2001 establishments in New York City