Cafe Macchiato

Funky Chic/Good Eats

Sam Tanenhaus, in an appreciation of the novels of Saul Bellow in the New York Times Book Review a few weeks ago, noted the great writer’s many shortcomings, but then skidded into a 180-degree “So what?” turn with an terse, elegant (much like Bellow) meditation on perfection. “Nature doesn’t owe us perfection. Novelists don’t either. Who among us would even recognize perfection if we saw it?”

Who among us indeed?

Tanenhaus’s larger point was that sometimes criticism was beside the point—that appreciation, enjoyment was enough. This idea was actually knocking around in my head, as Lee Anne and I had eaten lunch at Caffe Macchiato in Newburgh earlier in the day. Tanenhaus’s note on the uselessness of perfection crystallized my scattered impressions of our meal in Newburgh.

Located two blocks south of Broadway at 99 Liberty Street, across from the Washington’s Headquarters historic site, Caffe Macchiato is not situated in a very auspicious location—the neighborhood is on the uptick from the general economic desolation that infects the Broadway area in Newburgh, but slowly—but that doesn’t seem to hurt business. We dropped in around 2pm and the place was jumping. A converted storefront with seating for 30 at a dozen mismatched tables, the breakfast and lunch joint (no dinner) is a nexus of some hip peeps in Newburgh. In the hour we spent there, we shared a room with some nattily yet casually dressed folks who would not have looked out of place promenading in Williamsburg.

As for pertinent details regarding the restaurant’s provenance, I am woefully uninformed—I believe the same Italian woman who was bustling around the narrow room is the owner, and that she’s been open for a bit more than a year. The place is known for its pastries and chocolates, which we did not sample. What we did sample, however, was quite good. I ordered baked eggs with eggplant and parmesan cheese, in a light tomato sauce; Lee Anne ordered a simple mozzarella and tomato panini.

Here’s where the question of perfection comes in. The food was well presented, tasty—the panini tried to be no more than it was, achieving an elegant simplicity; the baked eggs a delightful molten breakfast excursion into the unfamiliar (it’s not often I eat eggs with eggplant and tomato sauce)—and the space was quirky and cute. But the service was poor and ambivalent at best. And it took 30 minutes for our food to come out. And I didn’t know the place was cash-only and I had no cash and I had to run out to an ATM four blocks away in 20-degree weather. And every time the waiter cleared the metal filter-basket of the espresso machine, he thumped it so hard on garbage can that it cause me to jump out of my seat in a sudden panic. (Surely there is less frightening way to make espresso.)

All these shortcomings were duly noted, especially by me, the most judgmental person in any room. That being said, I really liked the place. It’s got a funky, honest chic that none of the over-hyped eateries just blocks away on Newburgh’s waterfront possess. (Although Tom Settino’s cool wine shop, Vino 100, located next to Yellow Bird Gallery on Front Street, does possess it.) The seafood salad I saw whiz by me was loaded with aesthetically pleasing pieces of shellfish dressed in a modest vinaigrette piled high on salad greens that will draw me back to Caffe Macchiato for that dish alone. The place ain’t perfect. Don’t expect it to be. But it is a wonderful addition to the Newburgh restaurant scene.