Dining in DUPAV – BashfulAdventurer.com

Manhattan’s Pershing Square Café Offers a Glimpse of History

Pershing Square Cafe, right across from Grand Central Station in Manhattan, beckons business types and tourists alike. Photo credit: V. Laino — Pershing Square Cafe, right across from Grand Central Station in Manhattan, beckons business types and tourists alike.
Photo credit: V. Laino

“It’s not often I eat beneath a bridge,” the Youthful Adventurer remarks as we marvel at the sound of taxis passing over our heads as we await our lunch at Pershing Square, the restaurant tucked beneath the Park Avenue Viaduct right across from Grand Central Station.

We feel a bit of history in the old-time décor of the place, café up front, restaurant in the back, bustle all around as business folks and tourists grab a lunchtime bite. Back in 1918, “hotel man” John McE. Bowman proposed that the Grand Central Terminal zone be named Pershing Square in honor of General John Pershing, who led U.S. efforts in France in World War I. Wants ‘Pershing Square,’ N.Y. Times, July 22, 1918, at 9. A few uses and some interesting developments later, and the Pershing Square Café opened in 1999 down underneath the Park Avenue viaduct (hence, DUPAV).

Pershing Square Cafe, Manhattan — Grab a quick snack or a coffee at the cafe at Pershing Square, or linger a bit longer in the dining room.
Photo credit: V. Laino

I’ve been here for business breakfasts on occasion, but this is the Youthful Adventurer’s first visit. We immediately appreciate the speedy service; this is a place where office sorts can most definitely get in and out in less than an hour.

I delight in the vegetable pot pie while the youthful one enjoys a sandwich. I like that there are several options for the herbivores among us. We are not rushed when we decide to linger a bit longer over cappuccinos and realize that we need to start visiting this place more often.