Servers certainly make a difference. That was the case at brunch recently at Friend of a Farmer. I arrived a few minutes ahead to secure a table.

The hostess wouldn’t seat me until my friends arrived. That would have made sense if the restaurant wasn’t empty. Once they arrived and we were seated, our server was quick to come by to take our order. We weren’t ready as we just sat down.

I ordered well-drained poached eggs for the Boomer Special ($24) with lemon ricotta pancakes and crisp bacon ($24). One friend did the same.

“We serve them well-drained,” Joseph explained. “Otherwise, the homemade cheddar biscuit would get soggy in the Hollandaise.” Hearing the biscuit ($4.50) was made in-house, we added that to our order.

Our server mistakenly served iced tea instead of iced coffee ($5.75). “They look so similar.”  While waiting for our food, we received some tasty cornbread and apple chutney as an amuse-bouche and our coffee. We smiled as we sipped the wonderful aromatic French press decaf ($16).  So flavorful.

 The brioche French toast came topped with blueberries & raspberries ($19) and a side of syrup; my friend added an egg ($4).

When we received our entrees, we both laughed as we needed to drain the water from the poached eggs. Joseph had forgotten syrup for our pancakes, the biscuit and salt & pepper. Since he didn’t return to the table, we flagged down another server.

We only saw him again when he handed us our bill and, after paying, asked us to leave as he needed the table.

Farmers are unusually more hospitable than that.

Friend of a Farmer
Gramercy
77 Irving Place
NY 10003
(212) 477-2188
friendofthefarmer