New York's Coffeemania Serves A Lot More Than Just Coffee

Tucked away on Sixth Avenue across the street from Bryant Park lies Coffeemania, a true hidden gem. This is the first U.S. location of this casual dining concept that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. This particular idea, which was originally born in Moscow as a coffee concept before morphing into a full scale eatery with nearly 30 locations in Russia, now has become a real player in the Manhattan landscape.

The New York City outpost is designed to reflect a neighborhood location in Moscow, conceived by a French designer who spent time using the highest quality materials to create a restaurant with a mixture of tables, booths and a full barista bar and patisserie display in the back of the eclectic space.

The kitchen is run by Lee Hernandez, a Honduras-born chef who left his home in Los Angeles to apprentice at various restaurants in Kentucky and Miami before landing at Zuma Miami as their sushi chef. After stints at Zuma's New York location as well as at David Bouley's high-end sushi counter Brushstroke, he decided to switch things up and take his skills here.

While the menu has items that pay homage to its Russian roots, with dishes like borscht and a signature spa salad filled with fresh seafood, chef Hernandez has put his own stamp on the menu with items like lobster uni carbonara, a truffle burger, and a mushroom salad. Other standouts include fresh items like pan seared branzino with truffle leek foam and seasonal vegetables as well as hamachi ceviche with cucumber, avocado, onions, red Fresno chiles, topped with a grapefruit vinaigrette.

True to its name, Coffeemania also has an incredible coffee, tea and cocktail list, alongside a patisserie section with delectable pastries and desserts like a decadent chocolate mousse cake with hazelnuts. They pride themselves on the simplicity of their cocktails like gin and tonics, spritzers, and fruit-forward alcoholic beverages, but also make incredible classic cocktails, namely the negroni and old fashioned. Their coffee-related drinks are also just as innovative, with items like the matcha almond latte or their extensive specialty iced tea menu, showcasing blends like jasmine and mango, raspberry and lemongrass, and passion fruit.

Coffeemania is also looking to engage their local Bryant Park community with a series of promotions including a Monday rose and oyster special, Wine Tuesdays (where all bottles of wine are 50% off), as well as an Iced Tea Festival running throughout the month of August.