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Cafe Gitane Order

French–Moroccan, served all day

The Cafe Gitane NYC menu

The Cafe Gitane NYC menu never changed much, which was the point. French–Moroccan cafe food, served all day, priced to let you sit.

What follows is a description of the dishes the kitchen became known for over thirty years at Mott Street, compiled from press coverage, the 30th-anniversary book and archived menus. It is not a live menu and carries no prices. The original location is closed; where a dish is still available in Brooklyn, that is noted.

A terracotta tagine beside a dish garnished with egg and sliced baguette
A terracotta tagine served with toasted baguette on the blue-rimmed house china.

The signature: avocado toast

Mashed avocado on grilled bread, dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and red chilli flakes. That is the whole thing. It appeared on the menu in the mid-nineties as a snack to have with coffee, and it is widely reported as the first avocado toast served in a New York restaurant.

The detail people forget is how plain it was. No poached egg, no feta, no sourdough branding, no seventeen-dollar price tag. The recipe is printed in Cafe Gitane: 30 Years for anyone who wants to reproduce it, and the version in Brooklyn is still the same dish.

Avocado toast scattered with red chilli flakes on a white plate
The avocado toast — mashed avocado, lemon and red chilli flakes on grilled bread. Widely reported as the first served in New York.

The Moroccan side of the kitchen

  • Signature

    Couscous with merguez

    Steamed couscous with vegetables and merguez sausage, raisins and pine nuts. The dish David Bowie is said to have had delivered to his apartment.

  • Moroccan

    Spicy meatball tagine

    Meatballs cooked down in a spiced tomato sauce and served in the terracotta tagine, with bread to finish the sauce.

  • Moroccan

    Grilled eggplant

    Charred eggplant with warm spices and olive oil — one of the recipes reproduced in the anniversary book.

  • Moroccan

    Spicy oranges and olives

    A cold plate of sliced orange with olives, chilli and oil. Bright, sharp and very Casablanca.

  • All day

    Baked eggs

    Eggs baked in a spiced tomato base with bread — the brunch order that held the room on weekend mornings.

The French cafe side

  • Cafe classic

    Roasted chicken sandwich

    Roast chicken with chipotle mayonnaise and Parmesan. Ordered constantly for twenty years without ever becoming the thing the cafe was famous for.

  • Signature

    Smoked trout bowl

    Smoked trout dressed and served as a salad bowl. A frequent pick in reviews, and still on the Brooklyn menu.

  • Salad

    Heart of palm salad

    Heart of palm with citrus and oil — light, and one of the recipes in the 30th-anniversary book.

  • Small plate

    Baked feta

    Feta baked with tomato, olives and thyme. It carried over to the Jane Hotel outpost more or less unchanged.

  • Dinner

    Pomegranate glazed salmon

    Salmon under a pomegranate glaze — the dinner end of the menu, when the room shifted from coffee to wine.

  • Morning

    Tartines and pastries

    Open sandwiches and a pastry counter — croissants, tarts — that ran from opening through the afternoon.

Coffee, and the economics of sitting still

Espresso was the spine of the business in the way it is for a Paris cafe rather than an American coffee shop: small, quick, and an excuse to occupy a chair. Cappuccino, café au lait and espresso were served from the counter machine all day, alongside pastries in the morning and wine and cocktails at night.

The room ran the full menu at any hour, which is unusual and was a large part of the appeal. You could order couscous at eleven in the morning or avocado toast at ten at night and nobody commented.

An espresso in a small cup and saucer on a dark cafe table
Espresso on one of the dark round tables that filled the room.
A cappuccino with latte art on a dark round table beside a green banquette
Cappuccino at a window table beside the green banquette, 2020.
A croissant with butter and jam beside a cup of coffee and a teapot
Croissant, butter and jam — the French half of the kitchen, before noon.

Where you can still order this food

The Vinegar Hill cafe in Brooklyn runs a shorter version of the same kitchen, weighted towards brunch and snacks: avocado toast, couscous, egg and merguez sandwich, carrot salad, beet and cheese salad, veggie burger, smoked trout salad. Beer and wine are served. Details are on the Brooklyn page.

The Tokyo branch in Ebisu runs a broader menu that adds dry-aged rib-eye, a grass-fed burger, kale and fig salad and truffle fries to the Gitane standards, plus Japanese-style lunch sets.

Menus change. Everything above is a historical description, not a current listing. Check directly with the Brooklyn or Tokyo locations before planning a visit around a specific dish.