Alice's Tea Cup

My dear friend Kelly's birthday presented the perfect opportunity to get out of Brooklyn on a cold and rainy Sunday and return to one of Manhattan's favorite girlie brunch locals this weekend-- Alice's Tea Cup.

We arrived in wind and rain, and happily settled into pink velvet banquettes to sip the famous 'birthday tea' with fluffy scones, tea-egg sandwiches, and pumpkin pancakes. We squealed like school girls at the butterfly tea stopper, the antique saucers, and the hand painted rabbit holes.

Amidst faerie wings and teacakes and swirls of glittered roses, our conversation inevitably turned from work and wedding plans to lighter topics like Betsy and Tacy, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and of course our own Eloise. We quoted Lewis Carroll as I snapped away at my gorgeous friends who dressed the part.

The charm of Alice's Tea Cup, however, isn't in the theme or the food or even that famous tea. The charm lies in the complete lack of polish. This isn't a glossy, fancy, perfect Upper East Side Sunday Brunch hot spot, as one might expect. It's shabby and low-budget, and very handmade. Like Magnolia Bakery was before it hit Midtown. It's as if the proverbial roses have been painted red by paintbrush-toting cards. It's thrown together and wonky, and--well-- curiouser and curiouser...

And doesn't our birthday girl Kelly make just the most darling Alice? Happy un-birthday, m'dear :)