Celebrities-favored restaurants are like quantum physics – you don’t have to understand, just simply accept it. Why are all the actors, musicians, media people and wannabe artists accumulating on the corner of Seventeenth and Seventh, Lord only knows. Well, the elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves.
Cafeteria is ear-splitting like combine harvester testing area; relatively expensive, with tiny, slimy tables, moody personnel, absurd waiting times (40 minutes is no oddity) and painfully untamed pubescent clientele. Kids are scanning around, so as not to miss some semi-famous face that might appear. The food is absolutely divine.
I dive into my goat cheese & tuna salad and not come out before the plate is completely licked clean. The last thing I savor is a perfectly seared tuna steak – a piece of meat surprisingly, notably thick. Just like the waiter, who forgets half of the orders and comes with water after 45 minutes.
To die for: Cafeteria is open 24 hours and the food is unbeatable. Pure and breathtaking.
Turn off: if you’re a bit sensitive, don’t even try it. The staff are uniquely blunt and if they don’t like you, you might leave in tears.
Cafeteria, 119 7th Ave (at 17th Street), New York
