New York Daily Photo Analytics

Friday, March 24, 2006

Olive Tree Cafe


My favorite Middle Eastern place closed a few years ago, so in desperation and with trepidation, I decided to try the Olive Tree on MacDougal Street. Pleasantly surprised, I found Syrian cooks preparing fresh authentic dishes, and became a regular. Like MacDougal itself, the place is always packed with a student and tourist crowd. They show Chaplin silent films on a large screen and provide chalk to draw on the slate tables. The restaurant also serves the comedy club in the cellar. MacDougal Street has a noble history as a folk center of the sixties, Dylan and such played the small clubs there, and it still shows some vestiges of its glory days. There's something very relaxing and nostalgic about it - it's like a slice out of time when the city was a little homier. Here's another look at the dark atmosphere lit by sixties stained glass.

7 comments:

Sam said...

Very nice atmosphere!
I love Lebanese food (I suppose Syrian would be the same) Half my family is Lebanese and when they make a dinner, they call it 'a feast'. LOL

nebel said...

That looks like a really cool place!

Denton said...

I really liked your link to the second photo showing "the dark atmosphere lit by sixties stained glass".

Brian Dubé said...

Thanks for the kind words.
Actually we both liked the second photo more, but the first had more information in it, like the Chaplin screen,so we went with the other one for the post opening...sometimes it's a toss up when it's content or visual...next time we will go for the visual one to open the post..
Lucy

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Your are Nice. And so is your site! Maybe you need some more pictures. Will return in the near future.
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Anonymous said...

Nice pic. By the way, I worked there for yrs. The cooks are all Egyptian or Moroccan. There isn't a Syrian among them. FYI.