Greenwich Café. Where New Kid On The Block Dermot Smoothly Settles In

Greenwich Café. 

Where New Kid On The Block Dermot Smoothly Settles In

There’s a mean Reuben on the menu at Greenwich these days. Chef and new owner Dermot O’Sullivan calls it “a taste of NYC on Caroline Street”. 

And his phrase also answers a question frequently put his way since he took over the former Idaho Café a few short weeks back.

The Greenwich refers to the famous “village", once offbeat now high-end, in New York, the centre of the city’s creative culture of the 1960s and where artists (Jackson Pollack for instance) and musicians (including Bob Dylan and the Clancy Brothers) did their thing. The new name has nothing to do with the Greenwich of mean time fame!

Dermot, as you may know, took over from the Jacobs (Mairéad and Richard) who had made Idaho one of the best-known and best cafés in the land. They have retained the brand and so Dermot had to find a new name and, like his predecessors here, looked west for inspiration!

And the new Greenwich is looking well. On a rare “day off” since the 25th of January takeover, Dermot took up the painting brushes and gave his Greenwich “a nice cosy warm olive green backdrop”. Some stunning @AlanHurleyArt paintings (including one of Michael D) will catch your eye as will the flowers on the curved counter and bright bunches of West Cork daffodils on the tables.

Welcome to Greenwich, a few yards from Patrick Street

Not too much change in the morning routine here as the salad leaves, freshly baked Arbutus and spiced beef are delivered to the door. And more colour with strikingly beautiful pink rhubarb (sourced from English Market) used for a topping on your porridge.

Not a porridge person? How about the Home-made Granola served with Greek yogurt and Berry Compote?

Regulars will be thrilled to see the Homemade Waffles retained on the menu. They, the waffles not the regulars, come with selection of toppings, including Chocolate sauce, Organic maple syrup and Butterscotch.

Fish Pie

You also have a couple of baps to choose from. Either a Crispy Irish Bacon and Sausage Flour Bap or a Crispy Bacon and Durrus Irish Farmhouse Cheese Melted Bap.

Lunch, if you wish, may begin with soup. Parsnip and Apple, Roasted Sweet Potato and Coconut, and Pea with Delicious Fresh Mint, have been among the early offerings and all  are served with Dermot's own wheaten bread baked that morning. We had a taste of that bread and it is excellent.

We were in for lunch and that takes me back to that Reuben. The spiced beef is from Tim Mulcahy’s Chicken Inn and is served with sauerkraut, Russian Dressing and Melted Monterey Jack, all served on Arbutus sourdough, and there’s also a small but excellent side salad. 

Thumbs up for that and also for our other main course, the Fish Pie, packed with fish from Pat O’Connell’s in the English Market. Bit of name-dropping there just to illustrate that local is high on the menu here.

The flowers on the curved counter share space with a colourful parade of tempting cakes, including Lemon and Almond, Red Velvet Cake, Coffee Cake, Caramel Squares, scones and more. 

Cake? Pic via Greenwich

We picked the Coffee and Walnut Cake, a very popular one and we could see why. Slices are generous here and we shared one along with a couple of cups of top notch coffee.

Quite a few weeks for Dermot and his friendly crew since the changeover on January 25th. Quite a lunch for we two! 

So all the best to Greenwich in the weeks and months ahead. I’m betting it just keeps getting better.