Max Brenner Presents Chocolates with Loopy Presentations

Down around Union Square, there is a restaurant with a waiting area, full of chocolate. The idea is that you can support the Bald Man’s chocolate factory while waiting to consume the chef’s creative, chocolatey bounty. Max Brenner’s menu is as pricey as it is mouthwatering.

The creative presentation of the food is mainly in the cookware: pressed sandwiches cut on the diagonal, presented on wooden trays, bowls of cake served on small marble slabs designed to look like lined notebook paper, and chemistry viles full of caramel, raspberry, and/or chocolate sauce. The spiced waffle fries are served with an herby aioli sauce.

The feeling of the place is festive, a little old-world, and, due to the large population of tourists, tolerably kitschy (or maybe that is just the New Yorker in me whining). Breakfast is an odd experience, as it may as well be dessert and is an excellent way to use your dinner-time calories. All the better for weekend crowds: they are open morning to morning on Fridays and Saturdays, closing shop at 1 a.m.

Max Brenner: 841 Broadway between 13th & 14th streets, NYC