Daily Provisions, Your New Favorite Neighborhood Cafe, Now Open On The UWS

The Upper West Side really won the restaurant lottery this fall with the opening of Danny Meyer's excellent all-day bakery/cafe, Daily Provisions. Located on that sunny corner at 78th Street where White Gold slung meat for almost two years, Daily Provisions UWS is now serving its full menu of pastries, eggs, toasts, and coffee in the morning, and sandwiches, soups, vegetable plates, and a truly first-rate rotisserie chicken for lunch and dinner.

This is Meyer's second Daily Provisions, and it feels much more spacious than the Union Square original. There are a couple of four-tops, a counter with at least a half dozen stools looking out onto Amsterdam Avenue, more stools at the wrap-around coffee bar, plus some standing tables and a pair of benches out front. It's all counter service, with a single, central ordering station towards the back, but if things get hectic staffers are at the ready with hand-helds to speed up the line.

And if my menu description above makes Daily Provisions sound basic, know that the food here is anything but. Headed up by Amanda Wilson and new pastry chef Christine Lisa, the kitchen puts out hit after hit, both savory and sweet. The place to start, however, the gateway pastry to the whole Daily Prov experience, has to be their cruller. Renowned by me and everyone else who's ever eaten one, these super-fresh donut-shaped delights are exploding with flavor thanks to the melt-in-your-mouth glaze. And there's a new variety exclusive to the UWS, an Apple Caramel beauty that will instantly satisfy that very specific autumnal craving.

Other pastries and sweet snacks of note are the Everything Croissants stuffed with a schmear, the eggy Breakfast Gougeres, the dense Kouign-Amann, the gooey Salted Fudge Brownies, and the versatile Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies. The Egg Sandwiches are also always a good idea, or just a simple slice of sourdough-wheat Sprezzatura with housemade jam.

Solid choices abound when lunchtime rolls around, like the fat LT sandwich (you can get it with B if you want), or the Broccoli Melt with manchego, or the Tuna Salad with a kalamata olive tapenade, or whatever soup they're cooking that day. You can, of course, get any those things for dinner too, but as nighttime falls my go-to is either the rich and unapologetically greasy O.G. Patty Melt, or the Rotisserie Chicken, served with a crock of dipping jus to heighten the flavor. Get a side or three with either of these—the new Corn "Ribs" are a fun riff on elote—and you have a delicious, easily shareable weeknight dinner.

As the name implies, Daily Provisions is an extremely useful place to have in the neighborhood, serving great food in a comfortable room—or take out if you prefer—three meals a day, plus snacks in between. If you live nearby, expect to be here a lot.

The Upper West Side Daily Provisions is located at 375 Amsterdam Avenue, at the corner of 78th Street, and is now open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day (212-488-1505; dailyprovisionsnyc.com)