Remember being a kid? Remember getting up at around 6 am or 7 am on Saturday and sitting through at least 4 hours of cartoons? How about gorging on the sweetest cereal this side of Willy Wonka’s breakfast nook? Or how about tuning into your favorite primetime shows while heating up a TV dinner? Well, in New York City, one such place that offers up your favorite childhood memories with your favorite foods is Big Daddy’s Cafe, which specializes in some of the best comfort food this side of your own kitchen combined with a smattering of retro nostalgia that will tickle your inner child!
The walls and shelves of Big Daddy are adorned with the finest in kiddie nostalgia that any child of the 1960’s, 70’s or 80’s should remember, quite vividly. The most noticeable items on display are vintage cereal boxes. But we aren’t talking your average box of Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, or Froot Loops. These cereal boxes come from days gone by. Back to a time when cartoons dominated Saturday mornings, you feasted on bowls of the most delicious forbidden fruit that you hoped your mother would buy. These nearly forgotten Saturday morning mascots always greeted you with a wink and a smile from your mom’s kitchen. You do remember Count Chocula, right? Remember Frute Brute? Yummy Mummy? Well, how about Sugar Pops Pete? Newton the Hoot-hoot owl? Well, these nearly-forgotten remnants of your youth live on in this delightful diner. For me, my favorites are the boxes of Mr. T cereal and Quangaroos. That’s right. Clubber Lang himself had his own breakfast cereal! Well, it was just Cap’n Crunch shaped like upper-case T’s, but who cares?! And you may recall the rivalry between Quisp and Quake, two competing breakfast cereals made by Quaker who dueled each other for breakfast supremacy in the 1960’s and 1970’s. What made them even more memorable were the commercials wherein the two rivals playfully fought one another over who had the better bowlful. Also, the commercials were made by none other than Jay Ward, the man who gave the world Rocky and Bullwinkle. In the 1970’s, to give Quake the upper hand in besting Quisp, the titular mountain man introduced kids to his new sidekick, Simon the Orange Quangaroo. This cereal was puffed up orange-flavored nuggets that promised a whole day’s worth of vitamin C. In spite of this, Quisp won over John Q. Public, and Quake retreated to under the Earth. It is here inside Big Daddy’s that you can stare at these shelves at marvel at used to be a time when cartoons and cereals made every day feel like Saturday!
But don’t think for a second that the retro items and choice vinyl records are the only attractions here. The menu reads like a who’s who and what’s what of the best in comfort food that all are named after your favorite stars of yesteryear. Instead of a monte cristo, how about a “Monty Hall” cristo?! A “Green Acres” salad? Ok, you probably get the idea. But this place serves two things that no other diner does: alphabet soup and tater tots! Welcome back to childhood! On a serious note, the soup is really good and you may just order up that alone. On a frigid day in NYC when the wind is howling and Jack Frost is at his iciest, a hot bowl of this comforting classic will really hit the spot! And tater tots? YES, please! Hot, crispy, and moist on the inside, they are a clear reminder that these may have been the only good things your school cafeteria ever served you! But admit it: they were better when your mom made them!
Don’t forget that breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Big Daddy’s offers up a colorful assortment of dishes for breakfast, but don’t think for a second they stop at plain eggs and bacon. “What about Bob?” gives the hungriest diner an entire breakfast on a roll by serving up scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar, and a whole hash brown on a buttered bun. For the die-hard fans of Adventure Time, order a short stack of their salty/sweet bacon pancakes! And if you stop by around St. Patrick’s Day, be sure to check out their one-of-a-kind Lucky Charms pancakes, which are stuffed with the most magically delicious cereal marshmallows in the world! They’re magically delicious!
For dessert, save room for their frozen hot chocolate! That’s right: a frozen hot chocolate! A giant goblet of a hot chocolate, served chilled in a slush-like form, topped with a mound of whipped cream! Be sure to share it with someone, as it is really filling. Then again, it is so good, you may just wanna hog it all to your self! Or for a simpler choice, just order their moist chocolate cake served with a tall glass of cold milk! Why shell out more than $50 dollars for a box of Godiva’s or a sampling of expensive tarts at Citarella, when you can satisfy your decadent sweet tooth with something so simple and yet, so good! Oh, and don’t think for a second I forgot about good old American apple pie?! Served a la mode with caramel!
All in all, this is a fun place to dine and reminisce about your favorite bygone memories. While you’re inside, be sure and keep an eye out on the wall for a vinyl copy of Men at Work’s 1982 debut album, Business as Usual. Not only is this one of the greatest pop/rock albums of the 1980’s, but I own this same album on vinyl as well! Oh, and don’t miss Big Daddy’s colorful wall of trademark iconic logos and titles like Pan Am, Franco American, Twisted Sister, Hong Kong Phooey, Bubble Tape, and Yugo. Remember, Yugo? That really, puny brand of compact car from Yugoslavia in the 1980’s? No? Neither do we! Anyhoo, bring your big appetite to Big Daddy’s!
www.bigdaddysnyc.com
Big Daddy’s Upper West Side
2454 Broadway
New York, NY 10024–(212) 677-2004
Big Daddy’s Upper East Side
1596 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10028–(212) 717-2020
Big Daddy’s Gramercy Park
239 Park Ave S
New York, NY 10003–(212) 477-1500
