Épicerie Boulud reminds of suburbia...

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Épicerie Boulud
1900 Broadway
Lincoln Square (Multiple other locations)
Open since: 2011
Price: $
What to order: Try whatever
Jeff's Rating: 6.4/10

A standard cafe with a celebrity name attached. 

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This week, we begin by journeying to a time and place far beyond the confines of modern New York City.

Imagine a land where the rules are different, where the sun shines bright from morning to night, where iguanas fall from trees and alligators wander into swimming pools, where people use bath salts for more than cleaning, and where the men have stirred up enough news stories to generate nationwide infamy.  Head too far west, and you’ll find airboat captains in cowboy hats roaming the swamps of the Everglades, machete in hand, hunting pythons for money and sport. Go east and find an ecosystem in equilibrium – Instagram models, beach bums, and leathery tanning addicts coexisting in hot clubs and on even hotter beaches. Hold a conch shell to your ear, and hear not the sounds of the ocean, but the sound of Pitbull howling before he starts in on his newest verse. Welcome to South Florida. Your grandma says hello.

It's March of 2012. Mitt Romney is locking up the Republican nomination. “Rolling in the Deep” is storming up the Billboard charts. The new trailer for Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 just dropped (if you weren’t team Edward by this point, something was wrong).

It’s a Saturday afternoon, I’m in my junior year of high school, and though I technically have off from school, there’s plenty of homework to keep me busy. After a brief discussion via Facebook comment thread, my friends and I decide to meet at the local Barnes and Noble to study. Turns out I missed the memo on lunch, so I drive a couple of minutes down the street to pick up a sandwich. Parking is a breeze, and I soon enter everyone’s favorite suburban café: Panera Bread.

A blast of A/C envelops me as I open the door and gaze over the warm, wood-paneled interior. Breads and pastries of various shapes, sizes, and textures line the back wall behind the register as I wander over to the menu board and decide what to order. My eyes settle on the Sierra Turkey, a delightful combination of sliced turkey breast, red onion, lettuce, and what would soon come to more commonly be called “aioli”, all served on an asiago focaccia. It’s a serviceable sandwich, dependable, never rocking the boat but always carrying the consumer comfortably over to their next meal. Because it’s unseasonably warm out, I opt not to get a cup of tomato soup, and I head out into the Florida sunshine – my glasses immediately fogging up from the heat – and on to Barnes and Noble. Overall, a forgettable experience, but it gets the job done.

Fast forward to March of 2022, New York, New York. Mitt Romney, now a Senator, has moved to Utah. Olivia Rodrigo owns the pop charts, and Robert Pattinson has reprised his role as Edward Cullen in the new Batman movie. Panera Bread has discontinued the Sierra Turkey.

Things have changed in the past decade. A new era of foodie culture has swept the nation. Food has evolved to be more than just a meal, but an experience. We clamor for the newest, most unique restaurants so we can post them on our stories and bathe in the replies. Artisan, farm to table, seasonal, and made-to-order meals rule the day. Restaurateurs and chefs rise to local or national prominence as they build their empires on the streets of America’s cities. Anyone who deigns to eat at the chains of the 2000s and 2010s is ruled a plebeian by default.

Épicerie Boulud stands at the vanguard of this cultural movement. Daniel Boulud, one of New York’s brightest culinary lights, aimed to change the game for the casual café. The restaurant’s website emphasizes “seasonal, house-made ingredients,” “fresh bread and viennoiserie” and “candies and artisanal products inspired by Daniel and his chefs in their world travels.” Sounds promising, if not a bit pretentious.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and I’m out for a walk around the Upper West Side. A stiff breeze cuts through the heat of the sun and sends a chill through my scarf. Men in coats pace behind their street stalls, selling used books and records. Tourists take pictures by Lincoln Center as a flock of pigeons gathers around an older couple spreading feed. An idyllic afternoon in early spring. Then I feel it: the buzz in my pocket.

Though I technically have off from work, a flurry of emails still manages to find its way into my inbox. A three-restaurant Boulud megacomplex sits at the foot of an apartment building in Lincoln Square. I’ve passed by about a hundred times, and I need a place to sit down and start billing, so I figure now is the time to check it out. I walk in to the “épicerie.”

A blast of heat envelopes me and my glasses begin to fog up under my mask as I open the door and gaze over the cool, white, modern interior. Breads and pastries of various shapes, sizes, and textures sit carefully preserved in glass windows next to the register as I wander over to the menu board and decide what to order. My eyes settle on the “forager,” some sort of cranberry-turkey concoction that looks unique compared to the rest of the menu. “Sorry, we’re out of that one for the day.” Turns out artisan sandwiches aren’t all fun and games. No matter. I settle on the sirloin sandwich, a simple combination of meat, cheese, and hints of horseradish. Because it’s still quite cold out, I opt for the soup too – butternut squash today.

The steak is hot, fresh out of the toaster oven, and seems like a serviceable sandwich, dependable (when it’s in stock), nothing to write home about but definitely edible. The flavors are not particularly complex, and by 2022 aiolis have become blasé, even if this one packs a bit of a kick. The soup is thick, creamy, and inviting, an autumnal orange color with hints of clove. But these qualities, while admirable, fail to distinguish it from the innumerable soups I’ve had around town. Overall, a forgettable experience, but it gets the job done.

I can’t help thinking (and maybe you’ve picked up on this by now) that the whole experience seems sort of familiar. Despite the appeals to freshness and culinary craftsmanship, despite the vague urban elitism, Épicerie Boulud’s food is heavily reminiscent of, and only marginally better than, Panera Bread.

Have I been duped? Has the culinary renaissance of the last decade amounted to nothing but a sham? Or is this merely the nature of the café? Perhaps certain types of cuisine can only be elevated so much.

Certainly not, on both counts. The New York food scene continues to test new boundaries and create new flavors and experiences. Incredible sandwich shops (likely the subject of future newsletters) inhabit every neighborhood. There are indeed levels to the culinary profession, and I remain appreciative that Panera Bread and its ilk are not the only options available to me for lunch. Nevertheless, Épicerie Boulud talks a big game, but doesn’t amount to much more than I could get back in 2012 suburbia.  

There’s a Barnes and Noble just fifteen minutes up Broadway – might as well stop by.