THE GLUTTON

Aside from cementing your status as a wealthy hipster or ogling a pair of adorable green suede peep-toe flats, there’s another reason to visit American Rag in the Fairfax District. Inside Maison Midi, the adjacent upscale housewares store, lies an in-store cafe that serves unusually robust and original fare.

Cafe Midi’s menu sports nearly two dozen egg dishes with inventive omelet combos (blackened chicken, fennel, tomato and Havarti) that arrive alongside perfectly executed breakfast potatoes: crisp and brown on the outside, amazingly soft inside. The Glutton cannot fail to mention the luscious banana bread or Edouard’s croque monsieur with a hefty wedge of Gorgonzola peeking out from layers of prosciutto surrounded by what tastes like fried cheese bread. American Rag should carry Marc Jacobs hospital gowns.

Not too far west, at Mauro Cafe in Melrose’s Fred Segal, the Glutton tried to live like a native and ordered the stick-armed starlet’s meal of choice: a mozzarella, tomato and avocado salad followed by vegetables sauteed in olive oil and garlic. As with the rest of their dishes, quality ingredients don’t make for memorable food. The four-cheese linguine topped with burrata was much better, though it sealed the Glutton’s doom. Never again will she slip into her size 29 jeans.

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