La Bonbonniere. Where do I even begin? When I first stumbled upon this diner a few months ago it was in the late morning on a weekend – Primetime brunch time. Every seat was taken inside. There was even a line surrounding the tables and outside of La Bonbonniere where everyone appeared to be salivating looking at the plates of those lucky enough to already be seated.

That Aroma of French Toast

Jordan and I said we must try this place. We loved that it was under the radar for the most part and wasn’t super publicized. Plus it is only a few blocks down from our apartment. I would have to say we talk about trying new places constantly but La Bonbonniere was a frequent place for us to discuss. Maybe because when you are one block away you can smell the griddle going with their infamous challah french toast, pancakes and hash browns. The smell, if anything, lures in more customers for them. And I may or may not purposely walk past this diner on the daily just so I can smell what they’re cooking (pathetic maybe but no shame here).

Well the time finally came for Jordan and I to venture down to La Bonbonniere. Now we aren’t your typical brunch couple as we wake up relatively early and the thought of waiting until 12:00 to eat our first meal just doesn’t work for us.

So we decided to do breakfast for lunch this past weekend. We went around 11:45 and every seat was taken. Luckily the service there is the fastest I have ever seen. Seriously it was just as quick if not quicker than a fast food restaurant. We waited for maybe 4 minutes for a table and there were even 2 couples ahead of us.

As soon as we sat down we were given water, silverware and the menu. After counting down to try their pancakes Jordan was having second thoughts. “Do we get challah french toast?” “Do I definitely want to go with pancakes?” And you’re probably saying “um hello get 1 of each” but two carbo loaded dishes just isn’t how I roll (Jordan probably would have if I wasn’t with him).

Super Fast at La Bonbonniere

We decided to share a stack of fluffy pancakes and Jord got a side of well done bacon to go with the meal. After we placed our order, it took a maximum of 2 minutes before the pancakes were sitting in front of us.

They served the bacon and pancakes on one plate and gave us an extra to share. For someone who doesn’t eat meat, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the pancakes touching the bacon (yes I am that crazy) but nothing was stopping these pancakes from being everything we were dreaming of.

I think we spent a total of 20 minutes in La Bonbonniere. Super fast, super delicious and definitely going to be a reoccurring breakfast food ‘go-to’ for us.

Just remember to bring cash here – no credit cards welcomed.

La Bonbonniere – 28 8th Avenue, NY, NY