Across Fifth Avenue from the Flatiron building, S&P Lunch (174 5th Ave., New York, NY; 212-691-8862; sandwich.place) hardly toots its own horn. A plaque in the window reads simply ‶A Great Place to Eat Since 1928.″ Judging by the crowds waiting for a seat at 11:15 on a Sunday morning, the modest luncheonette doesn’t need any more publicity than that.
We love old-fashioned luncheonettes. S&P is the real deal, boasting vinyl-clad stools along a long counter and a grill menu of eggs and sandwiches. We joined the queue that started just inside the door and ultimately scored our preferred seating. No booth in the back for us. We prefer the counter, preferably right in front of the grill.
In deference to S&P traditions, we ordered classics: a tuna melt on rye and peanut butter and bacon on whole wheat toast. We were surrounded by other diners ordering fist-thick sandwiches, often oozing with pastrami, that were good for sharing. Several couples seemed to be winding up from a Saturday night out. The grill cook never missed a beat, crushing potato chips to sprinkle on a chicken salad club (for crunch) and on lox (an inspired seasoning). He swiftly put out every order with perfect plating. It was a treat to watch someone who’s good at his work and knows it.
The madcap seating, the unrelenting drumbeat of grill orders, the jovial mood of the diners — everything clicked. It was hard to believe that the luncheonette nearly vanished when a previous owner closed it in 2018. Fortunately, new owners who cherish the working-stuff ambience of the classic luncheonette reopened in 2022. And they didn’t fix what wasn’t broken. Here’s to its centennial in five more years.
Elbow to elbow on the Upper East Side
The first thing to know about Lexington Candy Shop (1226 Lexington Ave., New York, NY; 212-288-0057; lexingtoncandyshop.com) is that it doesn’t sell candy. When the business began in 1925, the owners made chocolates in the basement. A successful breakfast and lunch trade made short work of that idea.
We were tipped to the place by a loving memoir in the New York Times Magazine. Us and a gaggle of other readers. When we arrived at 11:40 on a Saturday morning, a whole crowd of aspiring diners waited on the sidewalk at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 83rd Street, three blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Luncheonettes focus on breakfast and lunch, eschewing the dinner menu found at a diner. So the patrons are always more upbeat than the figures in Edward Hopper’s ‶Nighthawks.″ The cooks can zoom through the dishes and diners eat quickly. Tables turn every half hour or less — a remarkably efficient way to deliver both sustenance and ambience.
Burgers seem to be a specialty at LCS. David ordered a jumbo burger with fried egg, a combo once popular at luncheonettes that has all but vanished. Pat had a butter burger. At Lexington, that’s a patty with a large pat of butter melting on top. Both were good, if a little messy, but they were only an excuse to order egg creams to drink. Lexington is celebrated for its version of the New York soda fountain classic. They make their own syrups from scratch and use half-and-half rather than milk to mix with the selzer. Pat has chocolate. David had coffee.
It almost felt like 1953.