Brunch at Marine’s: Escape From the Strollers

We are plantains! Eat us!

Several weeks ago, I decided I wanted to venture to a brunch place that provided more options for my dirty hippie of a stomach (i.e. they serve tofu scrambles). So my BF and I naively wandered down to Fifth Avenue in Park Slope on a Saturday at 2pm. We opened the restaurant’s doors and looked the group of people clustered in the entrance waiting for a table, the people crammed into long tables picking at their eggs Benedict, and the number one hazard of Park Slope brunch: strollers. (It’s not even the inhabitants of the strollers that bother me, it’s the gigantic hunks of plastic on wheels that take up more space than a set of triplets). I looked at my BF and said, “This was a bad idea.” He said, “Yep,” and then we ran away before we made eye contact with a hostess and grabbed a table at Marine’s Coffee Shop across the street.

There are times when I’m willing to wait 20 to 30 minutes for a table so I can have a particular stack of fluffy pancakes or tofu rancheroes, but there are mornings/afternoons when my blood sugar will wait for no one. Brunch is delicious, but it can be incredibly problematic. My biggest tip for brunch in NYC is always have a back up plan, in case you don’t have the energy to wait on a pack of Maclarens or your first choice place is randomly closed for asbestos removal. Marine’s is my bf and my standard back up in the Park Slope/Prospect Heights area. It’s a tiny Spanish diner that has normal American diner food, but French toast can suck it compared to Spanish breakfast. You get to pick and choose from options like fried tropical cheese, fried plantians, potatoes, sausage, bacon, eggs, etc. A plate with eggs, sausage, plantains, and cheese will be about $8. Sometimes you have to send up safety flares to get a coffee refill, but Marine’s is very rarely crowded, the food comes out fast, and they never play Fresh107 so Taylor Swift won’t get stuck in your head.

Marine’s Coffee Shop
50 5th Avenue, between Bergen and Dean Streets
[Park Slope, Brooklyn]