Café Edison - New York, NY

Posted By Michael Stern on February 26, 2004 4:22 PM

In the summer of 1997 when we went to Café Edison for lunch, we saw Neil Simon having matzoh ball soup with William Burroughs. And was that magician David Copperfield in the back, making his cheese blintzes disappear off the plate in record time? Everybody who eats at the Café Edison in the Edison Hotel just off Broadway looks like somebody famous, even if they’re not.

Just because celebrities eat here, do not by any means get the impression that this is a ritzy spot. It used to be, about seventy years ago, when it was the hotel’s grand ballroom; but now it is a modest coffee shop (still boasting spectacular bas relief folderol and ornate chandeliers), where the weary waitstaff gives everyone an equal-opportunity hard time. Salmon-colored walls are taped with hand-written signs advertising specials and soups of the day (goulash, split pea, Russian borscht, matzoh ball, chicken noodle, gazpacho); and there is a brisk take-out business of customers taking hot meals back to their offices.

Known to regulars as "The Polish Tea Room," this is a delicious taste of old New York that seems utterly unaffected by the Disneyfication of Times Square. So if you find yourself midtown craving Jewish food served without pomp or pretense, find a booth or a counter seat and savor braised brisket or kasha varnishkes, pickled herring or homemade gefilte fish, or blintzes that some experts consider the city's best. Prices are moderate, the food is good, and the experience is unforgettable.

Overall Rating

Russian Borscht

Matzoh Brie

Blintzes

Corned Beef Hash

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Posted By Bryan Tk on October 16, 2010 9:42 AM

Visited the Edison June, 2010. Waiter spoke broken english and was rude. It took awhile to get him to understand our order of gefilte fish and blintzes. Many of the "authentic" items were not on the regular menu. Instead they are listed on a hand written sign at the back of the resturant. Weird place. Having never eatten gefilte fish had nothing to compare it to.... but it was basically two round filets of pink fish, I assume salmon. Served cold it is salty. It came on a plate covered in iceberg lettus and a big cold motzah ball in the middle of the plate. I can eat anything so I quickly devouerd the whole thing and was instantly stuffed. Can't say it was satisfying in anyway, but now I can say I ate gefilte fish. The wife had the blintzes one cheese and two cherry. The cheese one was very rich... I would advise against three of cheese blintzes. Good but too much of a good thing. Overall I would rather have spent my limited time in NY someplace else.

Overall Rating

Blintzes

Gefilte Fish

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Posted By Matt Perlstein on December 15, 2008 12:47 PM

I love good chicken noodle soup. After reading about Cafe Edison here and a few other places on the Internet, I decided to try their chicken noodle soup. I got it take-out to bring back to my office about five blocks away. It was still very hot. They give you three packs of saltine crackers with the soup. That is the only good thing I can say about it. The taste, if one can call it that, was very bland -- basically tasteless.

They use broad noodles in the soup; these were very mushy. I actually prefer my chicken noodle soup without chicken, or with as little chicken in it as possible, a la Carnegie or Mendy's, where you can ask them to leave out the chicken. At Cafe Edison, there were big globs of red chicken in the soup. One such glob had a lot of fat, and even a big bone. I did not want to finish it.

The soup doesn't compare to the soup at such nearby places as Carnegie, Stage, Mendy's, and Ben Ash. Even your run-of-the-mill deli, the kind you see on every block, has better chicken noodle soup than Cafe Edison.

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