Enjoying a Good Book and Baked Eggs at Cafe Malou
A good book and a good meal have always gone hand in hand, as writers like Alice B. Toklas, James Baldwin, and Proust all knew, but few restaurants have capitalized on the close relationship between good food and reading.
What to order
- Baked eggs are a speciality here. In the gravy eggs and boudin, eggs are situated in a deep well of grits, and topped with a big, fat hunk of boudin. Also excellent: the Spanish-style huevos rotos served with speck and pimenton potatoes.
- The ricotta and satsuma toast captures the essence of the beloved southern citrus fruit, and is great to share.
- For a light bite, try the benne toffee cookies, which celebrate the sesame-like seed found in African diasporic cooking.
What to drink
Don’t skip the cardamom orange cold brew. This impossibly fragrant, sweet drink is best enjoyed on the weekend when it can be sipped slowly, without a rush.
Insider tip
With all-day breakfast and an abundance of open-face sandwich offerings, Cafe Malou is excellent for breakfast or lunchtime. Octavia Books doesn’t open until 10 a.m., so arrive at the cafe during its opening hours to enjoy an especially quiet breakfast.
