In a blow to good coffee in downtown Manhattan, Blue bottle recently left their Tribeca perma-pop-up inside of All Good Things. On the plus side, in a month or two they will be opening a new location inside Gotham West Market, a fancy concept-y food-hall at the base of a new retail tower in Hell’s Kitchen–adding to the growing number of places serving quality coffee to midtown. The problem is, they needed something for all their TribeCa staff to do in the interim.
Luckily, they found safe landing running a full-service popup inside Old Bowery Station, a relatively new multi-use pop-up incubator sort of space.
The best part is, they’re sharing the tastefully “raw” space with a pop-up named Manousheh, named after the Lebanese flatbreads they serve.
A manousheh is a traditional breakfast or lunch item, served with a variety of different toppings. They handily lay it out for you:
They’re cooked on a traditional domed griddle called a saj. The result is somewhere between a French crepe and an Ethiopian injera, with a warm chewiness and an irresistible almost sourdough-y tang.
Unfortunately I had just had a big bowl of ramen before coming, so I wasn’t in the mood for a ton of food. I chose to have the simple zaatar topping–a blend of olive-oil and thyme that was zesty and bright. The chef said I had to come back and try full on classic breakfast experience with the vegetables, “it’s a whole new experience”.
Tucked into the window of the bar is a full Blue Bottle setup, including espresso on a 1-group La Marzocco Linea, their signature Bonmac dripper pour-over service, and a selection of their pastries.
I had a cup of their Three Africans blend–a pleasantly fruity blend that went nicely with the tangy zaatar.
You should head on down to the Bowery and check the situation out while you can–Blue Bottle will be there for only a month or two. I’m dying to try the full on vegetables and everything experience, and the nutella covered sweet option Manousheh has cooked up paired with a nice juicy african blend sounds like a super hollerable and frankly #deloshes situation.
Alex Bernson (@AlexBernson) is the assistant editor at Sprudge.com. Read more Bernson here.
