William Marvel: Breakfast

The week I spent at the New-York Historical Society last January was my only research trip this year. With so little travel to deduct, it may be safer to admit that my enthusiasm for research trips is heavily grounded in the social opportunities, and most of those opportunities occur at breakfast. On a trip, that’s often the only time I speak to anyone outside a library.

In an era when so many subsist on overpriced coffee and a pastry, finding a good morning restaurant can be challenging. A colleague and I made the New York trip together, and we both need enough breakfast to stave off hunger pangs until the reading room closes, but it took a long predawn walk around the city to find a likely place.