Cafe Luka: With A Menu As Long As Your Arm

Cafe Luka's name might fool you.  It's not a cafe where you share stories while sipping martinis or a fine Cabernet.  Cafe Luka is simply one of New York's better coffe shops, aka diner. When you're in the neighborhood, you go there for a quick, tasty, hearty meal, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.  If you live nearby, you can phone for delivery.  Food arrives promptly, and hot.

Prices are moderate for a coffee shop, and  inexpensive measured by other restaurat prices. The daily specials are an excellent value.  I have enjoyed soup and a shrimp salad sandwich and coffee. Including  tip and tax, the bill came to about $15.  I also like the small  Greek salad ($9.95) which is huge.

The tough problem is deciding what to order.  The breakfast menu has it all from the standards to classy choices such as Eggs Benedict or Florentine.  Blintzes, steak and eggs and smoked salmon on a bagel or in an omelet are on the menu, too.

For lunch or dinner, choose from  about a dozen entree salads,, five kinds of burgers, or a long list of sandwiches.  Keep reading the menu and consider seafood, steak, turkey, brisket, ham or roast beef.  Would you rather have an Italian dish?  Order pasta, veal or eggplant parmigiana, ravioli or lasagne.  Thinking  Turkish or Greek? Have the spinach pie or Chicken kebab. 

Whatever you choose, it will be fresh and the portion wil be large. 

 Ambiance? Charm? What ambiance? What charm?  Cafe Luka is a place to eat alone or with friends, but is not a place for fancy 'shmancy' dining. Service is speedy, although you can linger indefinitely, while the competant waiter keeps refilling you coffee cup at no additional charge.  The pretty cashier in the front, is a charmer, with a friendly word and smile for everyone.

CAFE LUKA

1419 First Avenue (between 70th and 71st Streets)

(212) 585 2205

FOR FOLKS VISITING NEW YORK, here are definitions of what a Manhattan coffee shop is...and is not.

THE NEW YORK COFFEE SHOP - Cafe Luka is typical, but with better food that many of the others scattered throughout the city.  It  is casual, has a large menu, and opens for breakfast and continues through dinner. A coffee shop is also called a diner.  Think Seinfeld re-runs and you'll know Cafe Luka.

STARBUCKS, OHRENS AND OTHERS  - They primarily sell coffee, but most New Yorkers refer to them by name, rather than as  a coffee shop. i.e. " Let's  meet  at the Starbucks on 57th.". They  would  not say,  "Let's meet  at the coffee shop on 57th."

THE AMSTERDAM COFFEE SHOP  -- In the Netherlands, coffee shops  are licensed to legallly sell marajuana. You can make a purchase  to take home  with you (you cannot  smoke outdoors), or to smoke pot in the shop. A sign above the counter displays  choices and prices.  They do not sell coffee. 

           

Comments

[Lynn Seldon]

This is a great wake-me-up...thanks for the tips!