podunk tea room, and scattering friends

I had tea last night with two of my friends, Anri and Christina, who are leaving the fair city of New York for Brazil and San Francisco, respectively, in search of adventure, oppportunity, romance. Well, that, and they decided they were tired of me. So, in honor of all these things, I organized a little tea gathering at Podunk Tearoom, and I think we found a real gem amid the grimey hum of the East Village.

When I arrived, the warm lighting and mismatched furniture was a welcome refuge from the darkening skies overhead, and Christina reported that a women called Elspeth, clad in a floral smock and baker's cap -- the proprietor of the place -- welcomed her into the tearoom well before our meeting time so that Tina could escape the rain.

We ordered the "Old Friends Tea" set menu to share, which promised of scones (plain and strawberry), cakes (cardomam and cupcake), cookies (small chocolate chip) and cucumber sandwiches. It was yummy, and a tray for two was plenty for the three of us. We spent about $20 each, and sat for more than two hours together. Well worth every penny, and hopefully justified the trek for my friends down to the East Village.

The place was wonderful, and the conversation lovely, and I am sad that I won't be able to make our visit to Podunk a weekly gathering. But if you are in the East Village, and looking for a place to camp down with a new book or an old friend, this is your place.

More about Podunk's 2002 opening here. And a little blog piece, on my second favorite New York blog, Gothamist, here.