Afternoon Nook

It’s finally feeling like spring, and the front of Nook is opened to the street revealing a vista of red-brick Edward Hopper tenements and kilted schoolgirls carrying pink bouquets meandering by. Inside, there are cheerful yellow walls and knickknacks like old tinted glass seltzer bottles in a cupboard and sand art. Framed abstracts, reminiscent of Picasso, hang here and there. Out front, wooden flowerboxes hold little bits of red blooms that have been struggling to come up through this wind-chilled so-called spring. Europop for a 60s movie featuring blondes in unrevealing white two-piece swimsuits and plastic round sunglasses plays. It’s wee, but a table of eight can be accommodated if you call ahead. And Nook is open every day of the week.

Mid-afternoon, a dead zone for most spots, finds some traffic here. Folks pop in for lunches to go or iced coffees. One special today: a sandwich of mozzarella and sundried tomato ($6.50). There’s a Nook cheddar burger ($8) with spicy sauce, rosemary fries and salad, or a smoked turkey sandwich ($7) with lingonberries and gravy on a baguette.

I’m alone, but six slices of fresh crusty bread are placed before me in a lovely reddish-gold basket. I’ve asked for the Rachelle quiche, which has bacon and shallots but am told it will take a few minutes. Not that I’m in a hurry to go and do any of the things I’m probably not going to get to anyway, but I’m so hungry I opt for the asparagus quiche instead. It’s a whole plate-filling, green spear-garnished tart with tender asparagus chunks and custardy egg in a soft pastry crust with a menthol kick of finely minced fresh rosemary over top.

Konrad stops by to ask if I like it. I can’t help blurting, "I love it." It’s the best quiche I’ve ever had. He says he’ll have the Rachelle version ready for me next time. Fresh ground pepper is offered, and there’s a side of mesclun that has a superb spicy, herb-infused dressing.

Cauliflower soup ($3) is served steaming hot to a Beatle-booted person in a charcoal D&G suit and shades. On another evening, the soup is a rosy, thick butternut squash that the diner spooning it up attests is good. A special of mushroom "cigars" ($5.50) are phyllo logs of sauteed chopped mushrooms and goat cheese. That description sounds good, but doesn’t come close to doing this appetizer justice. The cigars are sumptuous and rich, and let’s all hope they land on the regular menu.

A cooked Italian salad ($5.50) is piled high with waxy green beans over crisp, vinegary capers and diced white potato cubes with sweet beets. Conversation here turns, as it does everywhere, to Jayson Blair. Can’t we all focus instead on Funny Cide, a far more inspiring New Yorker who has managed to withstand inquiry with flying colors?

A signature dish at Nook is Konrad’s goulash ($12), served with a large plateful of al dente corkscrew yellow egg noodles that stand up to the hearty tomato-paprika stew. A huge portion of long-cooked, tender, glistening beef cubes are well-complemented by bits of soft pimiento and chives; it’s good eating. Another entree is Thai marinated grilled rack of lamb with chive mashed potatoes and braised red cabbage ($18).

I overhear Konrad answering two diners’ questions—he’s been here four weeks and his "general context is a neighborhood place." Eventually he wants to stay open from early mornings for coffee service, to "quite late" at night.

It’s cash only. And byob (there’s a liquor store two blocks south), but available quenchers include limonata and aranciata ($2.50), espresso drinks and Tazo teas ($2). Frothy cappuccinos appear in short order.

Use of Callebaut on the beverages blackboard catches my eye, so, "I’ll have an iced mochaccino."

"No."

He doesn’t have the chocolate in yet (but it will arrive by your visit). He says he will bring me his "evil" dessert list instead.

There’s date and pear strudel in phyllo ($6.50) in season, and marsala-dipped lady fingers with vanilla frozen yogurt ($6). I try the raspberry truffle ($6.50), which turns out to be a large ball of chalky coffee ice cream cleverly encased in a hard-dark-chocolate, milk-chocolate-squiggled shell surrounded by sweet strawberry slices, whipped cream dollops and streams of fresh raspberry sauce. Forget the ice cream; I really prefer the berries, cream and fruit sauce part. Perhaps you can negotiate something. A 1950s goldenrod creamer accompanies the coffee ($1.50).

On another visit, I order the peanut butter pie—heady fluffy mousse over a too-stiff chocolate cookie crust adorned with more of those strawberries and cream; the young couple next to us likes it a lot too. Don’t tell him I sent you; Konrad says he doesn’t want to get "too crowded too quickly."

Nook 746 9th Ave. (betw. 50th & 51st Sts.), 212-247-5500

’wichcraft

Unless someone else is picking up your lunch tab, pass Craft, then Craftbar, then make a left into this bright new sandwich shop with its open kitchen, gleaming stainless appliances, smiling baseball-capped team and day-glo avocado signs that offer the daily menu. A stenciled logo and hanging clear bulbs serve as decor. The balcony dining area sports a pressed tin ceiling, loud orange wall and comfortable, attractive dark cherry chairs at contrasting light tables over whitewashed flooring. On its first day, there is some confusion behind the counter, but ultimately everyone seems to walk away with what they’ve ordered.

Breakfast sandwiches are served all day, and a bountiful enamel tray of breakfast pastries, like brioche cinnamon rolls ($2.50) and blueberry scones ($2), sit atop the counter. High-sided rhubarb muffins ($2.50), the cashier’s favorites, are fruity and wholesome and thoroughly moist. A reinvented quintessential New York breakfast: a fried egg sandwich ($6) has bacon, gorgonzola and frisee on a ciabatta roll. I’d have thought there was no place for frisee in a fried egg sandwich, but turns out I’d have been wrong; it’s not overbearing and adds texture and color. The roll is light and crunchily toasted, the gorgonzola merges with the soft side of the bread while keeping things interesting; the bacon is wonderful—cooked down to its smoky essence but still pliable and not reduced to char. A grinding of black pepper hurts nothing. Unlike many of its forebears, this is not a greasy sandwich. You could also keep it simple in the morning with prosciutto and butter on a baguette ($5).

Warm and cold lunch sandwiches are available after 11 a.m. Soup of the day ($4) comes with homemade golden grissini. Your lunch is served via industrial grade aluminum trays on uncoated picnic paper plates of yesteryear. A braised flank steak sandwich ($9) has roasted red onion, melt-in-the-mouth marinated peppers and flavorful gruyere, grilled on unsoggy country bread. The meat, juicy and stringy (as it should be) and the warm gooey cheese make for a mess, but it’s well worth it.

An avocado sandwich ($8) comes with celery, goat cheese, plenty of watercress and an almost undetectable walnut pesto. This vegetarian option is kept filling by the use of nubby brown bitter-crusted multigrain bread laden with raw oats and other things that get stuck in your teeth. The fresh cheese adds lushness, but the flavor of the avocado gets lost in the greenery and extra bread. The sandwich is too bland, and tastes too healthy. Other choices include roasted pork loin, coppa, pickled pepper relish and fontina on grilled country bread ($9), a grilled mozzarella, provolone and tomato preserve on pullman white bread ($5.50) and grilled cheddar, bacon, and apple on pumpernickel ($6).

For beverages, there’s a refrigerator case with Naked juice, varieties of Teas’ Tea, and little glass bottles of Diet Coke. Iced coffee is made fresh and strong ($1.75). There are homey afterschool treats to supplement your coffee drinks: A delicate lemon bar ($1.50) is a sweet square of sugared crackle-topped shortbread layers with a thin spreading of tangy lemon gel within; brownies ($1.50) go well with the rich, slightly smoky, yet still mellow coffee; or go for chocolate-nut biscotti or the two flattened, brown-sugared, thin toasty peanut butter cookies ($2) that are spread with a soft peanut butter frosting. These "peanut butter’wiches" are crispy and seem light, but it’s a deceptively rich combo, a lot better than Nutter Butters, and I have fallen under their spell.

’wichcraft 49 E. 19th St. (betw. B’way & Park Ave. S.), 212-780-0577.