By Ava Stryker-Robbins
Perhaps the best feeling before a long, stressful day is when you wake up to the sweet aroma of bacon wafting around you. The sizzling and cracking of cooking bacon alongside boiling water for poached eggs is cathartic, no matter how simple this meal may be.
The Consulate’s Consulate Breakfast offers an enhanced version of these common breakfast items, served in a beautifully decorated dining room, with wooden tables, leather chairs, and wall decor including photos, large mirrors, and antique clocks.
Created by Alan Vargas, the Consulate’s executive chef who originally worked at Masa, a restaurant that has three Michelin and four New York Times stars, this dish contains two different types of meat, thickly sliced bacon, and pork sausage. Additionally, it has two eggs prepared any style with potatoes and salad.
The assortment made for a filling and tasty breakfast. The runny yolks of my poached eggs blended perfectly with the sweetness of the bacon and the softness of the potatoes. The salad tadded a refreshing touch to the otherwise hearty foods.
A chef who works at the Consulate shared that this dish has elements from both Spanish and French cuisine, and that, ”People react really well to it.”
Opened in 2019 by brothers Metodija and Kiril Mihajlov, the Consulate started as a brunch-only restaurant before the team started to add lunch and, eventually, breakfast items to the menu to provide additional options for customers. “We just wanted to make this menu approachable to everyone,” Metodija Mihajlov shared with West Side Rag in a phone interview.
Mihajlov, originally from Macedonia, grew up surrounded by friends and his mother who were all passionate cooks. Though he originally found cooking to be more of a hobby, he “was always a foodie.”
Mihajlov first came to the United States when a close friend of his invited him to work at restaurants with him. He then received a degree in cooking—though his role in restaurants is primarily in management—and has spent the past 13 years working at restaurants he has opened. “I just think that this is what I was designed for, to be in this industry,” he shared. “I just love it.”
Many Upper West Siders had been traveling downtown to Mihajlov’s West Village restaurant for the dining experience, so he decided to bring a restaurant uptown to them. After finding a location on the Upper West Side, Mihajlov realized there were few upscale French restaurants in the neighborhood, so he decided to serve modern French and American cuisine at the Consulate, as opposed to the Italian or Japanese food he serves at other restaurants.
Mihajlov and Vargas pride themselves on the fact that the restaurant changes its menu frequently and offers daily specials featuring cuisines from around the world. Mihajlov said he is proud to have many regular customers and that most of the Consulate’s team has been the same since day one.
Mihajlov recently opened a more formal concept of the Consulate in Midtown and hopes to open other branches as well.
The Consulate Breakfast costs $25.
The Dish: Consulate Breakfast
The Restaurant: The Consulate (519 Columbus Avenue at West 85th Street)
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