Abraço lives up to the hype!

I have a real love/hate relationship with food media. On the one hand, I can't get enough of it. On the other hand, I'm always so disappointed when a place that the food establishment loves turns out to be sub par, which happens all too often. Luckily, Abraço lived up to all of my (very high) expectations.

Finding myself with time to kill in the East Village this morning, I walked over to 7th Street and 1st Avenue. Abraço, for those of you who don't know, is more of a storefront than a cafe. There are no seats, just a kitchen, a counter, and a table outside that you can saddle up to. After much deliberation I ordered a cappuccino (no decaf espresso, to my chagrin), an almond rose cookie, and one of their famed brined olive shortbread cookies. All to go.

Sitting on the stoop of a brownstone on East 7th, enjoying my goodies and the street scape made for a wonderful New York morning. The almond rose cookie was just shy of tasting like perfume - a common complaint I have with rose flavored things - and had a wonderful crunchy texture from the almonds. The olive shortbread may have altered my eating habits permanently. I'm usually a forager. I pick out the morsels in a cookie and leave the cookie part. That's a mistake here. The olives alone are too salty. But in combination with the sweet, flaky cookie, it's really something special.

The coffee too was eye-opening. And only because I usually order decaf. It's strong but not bitter or overpowering with perfectly smooth, not airy foamed milk. They're purists. You won't find Splenda or skim, but you won't miss it either.

If only every day could start like this.