Clinton St. Baking Company
The pancakes are why people stand outside 4 Clinton Street, and Andrew Steinthal wrote in The Infatuation that a weekend brunch wait can run two hours. Come on a weekday morning.1
Why go
A husband and wife own and run it, and the room sits between East Houston and Stanton, close enough to the F train that Steinthal suggests booking an actual breakfast meeting there.21 The kitchen bakes its own buttermilk biscuits and puts the benedict on one, under a hollandaise Steinthal rates as excellent. Behind the brunch runs a full lunch and dinner menu: a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and chipotle mayo, a Black Angus cheeseburger, buttermilk fried chicken at night.1 It is also one of the survivors on this street, still going while Pig and Khao, further down Clinton at number 68, gave up its lease in June 2025.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the pancakes, in blueberry, chocolate chunk or banana walnut.1
- Order: the brioche french toast, which arrives with caramelized bananas, roasted pecans and warm maple butter, or the Spanish scramble, three eggs with chorizo, tomatoes, caramelized onions, scallions and melted monterey jack.1
- Avoid: weekend brunch.1
What locals & experts say
- Andrew Steinthal, The Infatuation NYC, on the crowd:
Why is it that Clinton Street Baking Company resembles a crowded subway car on the weekends? Ridiculous pancakes, obviously.
1 - The same review, on the fix:
Weekday breakfast was the move, and hot damn, was it ever,
becausea weekday meal means you aren't waiting around like a crazy person.
1
Good to know
- No bookings.
Verdict
could-visit — Save room for the classic hot fudge sundae: homemade fudge, whipped cream and real chocolate sprinkles.