Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Agnes Bourne Bridge Gallery and Lester and Enid Morse Garden Room

Part of the Museum Food Series

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.  2 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128.  212-849-8400.

The museum coffee shop also described as the Agnes Bourne Bridge Gallery and Lester and Enid Morse Garden Room is about a quarter the size of its name.  It's a tiny place with few tables, but a beautiful location in a windowed and plant lined corridor.  With a little imagination it is possible to make believe that you live in the mansion and that you are having afternoon tea in the garden room. 

The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is housed in the sixty-four-room mansion of Andrew Carnegie.  The museum is operated by the Smithsonian Institution.  It still feels like a mansion and it is easy to imagine seeing men in tuxedos and women in ball gowns strolling through the huge rooms.  The Smithsonian makes excellent use of the space without destroying the aura of the original purpose of the building.  My favorite place in the museum is the conservatory which is next door to the coffee shop.  It's tiny with only one table and a couple of uncomfortable chairs, but the space is enjoyable to experience.

The Coffee shop has few tables and lots of traffic.  Around lunch time you will want to eat and leave.  Later in the afternoon, competition for tables drops off and it becomes a pleasant waiting place.  The menu is limited, but adequate.  If you are in the mood for a full lunch walk down the street to the Metropolitan Musuem.