BLUE WAIT SPECIAL
You might want to snack before braving the crowds at Tiffany’s luxe new restaurant
IN the 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Audrey Hepburn opined that “nothing very bad could happen” at the famed Fifth Avenue jewelry store. But, then again, she didn’t have to wait in line for two hours to devour her croissant and coffee in the presence of the shop’s sparkling jewels.
Fifty-six years after Hepburn’s sprightly party girl Holly Golightly wolfed down a croissant outside the shop’s windows, fans can now enjoy their very own breakfast at Tiffany’s — but inside.
That is, if they don’t die of hunger first.
On Friday, Tiffany unveiled its new Blue Box Cafe, offering, yes, coffee and croissants, as well as lunch and tea service. By the time the doors opened, at 10 a.m. there was a line down the block.
“It might be 40 minutes, it might be two hours, but I’m going in,” says Joe Rashbaum, a 45-year-old ad radio specialist, who says he rearranged his entire week to dine at the new spot. Rashbaum first saw the film when he was 9 and has since dreamed of re-creating its classic breakfast scene.
“It’s one of my top 10 bucket-list items,” says the Marlton, NJ, resident. “I’ve been researching how to do it for years.”
The Blue Box Cafe is Tiffany’s first restaurant, timed to the release of the brand’s line of “everyday objects,” including a $350 gold vermeil crazy straw and a $1,500 sterling-silver “coffee can.” According to its press release, the cafe’s “playful and unexpected touches sit harmoniously alongside elegant finishes like herringbone marble and amazonite stone, reflecting the new Home & Accessories collection’s emphasis on everyday luxury.”
The restaurant’s walls are painted Tiffany’s signature robin’s-egg-blue hue, and a window overlooks Central Park. Servers in bow ties and crisp white shirts glide around the tiny jewel-boxlike space carrying precious, modernist colorblocked china — and admonishing anyone they believe has ventured past the (actual) velvet rope ahead of their turn.
Speaking of luxury, your morning joe at Tiffany’s will cost you far more than Holly Golightly’s street-cart fare. Breakfast will set you back $29 for coffee, a croissant and your choice of avocado toast, truffle eggs, a smokedsalmon-and-bagel stack or buttermilk waffles. If you’re feeling flush, a two-course lunch is $39, and the tea service, which comes with a selection of finger sandwiches, costs $49.
But for fans of the film, it’s all about the experience. “I hope it will be like a movie,” says Phoebe Kuo, a 25-yearold Ditmas Park resident, who works in politics. “I want to sit there and feel like Holly Golightly, finding love, enjoying my life and enjoying New York.”
Blue Box Cafe, 727 Fifth Ave.; 212-605-4270. No reservations.