Feel at Peace with Josie's

To me, there are two kinds of brunch experiences. One is a greasy spoon (usually a diner) serving massive portions of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and french fries. The other is a exact opposite, serving egg whites with low fat cheese, fruit, and whole wheat bread. On most weekend mornings (or should I say early afternoons), I head to the first option, the diner, especially after a late night out. But, sometimes it's nice to change it up and go the healthier route.

Yesterday I had a late lunch at Josie's with a friend and her mom. While Miss Menu didn't pick out the restaurant, it definitely was a good choice. Josie's is definitely a much more appropriate atmosphere for lunch with a mom than a diner filled with hungover 20-somethings!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Josie's, it's basically a health nut or vegetarian's dream. Almost everything on the menu is all-natural/organic, and many items have a "vegetarian" designation on it. Low fat is always an option, as is whole wheat and brown rice. The dishes is interesting (I've been for dinner as well), and allows you to leave not feeling the least bit guilty about cleaning your plate.

For lunch, I had an egg white omelette with feta cheese, roasted red peppers, vidalia onions, and baby arugula, served with a side of roasted regular and sweet potatoes. It was pretty good, even though it was a little heavy on the arugula. They also bring around bread that falls somewhere between a crumb cake and whole grain muffin...very tasty though.

Some guys joke that this is a total "chick" restaurant. And, admittedly, I have to agree completely. I can't really imagine guys deciding to dine there, unless being taken by their girlfriends/wives/mothers! It has a modern decor that I would be willing to guess is some how feng shui. Would only seem fitting for this healthy zen-like restaurant.

Josie's
565 3rd Avenue
b/t 37th & 38th Streets
website
Menu Pages listing

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm with you Miss Menu. Josie's is a great place for taking the ladies in your life or for a single vegetarian. I went for brunch with mom and sister and was pretty bored with my meal. It was filling but the chocolate chip pancakes lacked heavily in the chocolate chip department and the coffee, at $2.50 a cup was warm and weak. Not cool for brunch especially if you're eating one of the hungover variety. I'll be hitting up our greasy spoons everytime.

Here's the link to my Josie's review if you want to see some pics:
http://nycfoodguy.com/2008/02/02/josies-brunch-good-effort-poor-execution/
Miss Menu said…
Chocolate chip pancakes lacking in chocolate chips? Weak! Good thing there are some good diners near both Josie's locations. Great pics...thanks!