Sunnyside Up, a new elevated breakfast and lunch café offering a variety of specialty sandwiches, has opened its doors on Queens Boulevard at the site formerly occupied by neighborhood staple Alpha Donuts.
The new café, a joint venture by Sunnyside businessman Mircea Pirvu and chef Jason Potter, celebrated its grand opening Tuesday after opening in the neighborhood earlier in May.
Potter, the co-owner and culinary director of upscale restaurant Foster in the Long Island village of Sea Cliff, said Sunnyside Up aims to bring high-quality ingredients and recipes to traditional breakfast and lunch options.
“It’s all approachable food, but it’s done to a higher level,” Potter, a former Blue Ribbon chef, said.
An array of selections at the new Sunnyside Up Café. Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up
The menu has also been crafted to reflect Sunnyside’s diversity, Pirvu added, pointing to sandwiches packed with Eastern European, Asian and Latin American flavors.
“We’re trying to cover the variety of people in Sunnyside,” Pirvu said. “Because it’s a huge mix.”
Sunnyside Up’s specialty breakfast sandwiches include an Egyptian-inspired creation featuring lamb sausage, feta eggs and hummus; a breakfast burrito packed with turkey sausage, quinoa, scrambled eggs, avocodo, feta and pico de gallo; and a Japanese-inspired egg custard sandwich with miso mayo, gruyére and chili crisp.
Other specialty breakfast sandwiches include a truffle egg toast creation featuring gruyére, mushrooms and truffle and a breakfast wrap packed with sausage, bacon, ham, scrambled egg and hash browns.
Egyptian-inspired Walk Like an Egyptian breakfast sandwich. Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up Café
The new café also serves a wide range of breakfast classics, including oatmeal, French toast, avocado toast, bagels and spreads, and egg and cheese rolls.
Specialty sandwiches are available for between $15-16, with classic breakfast items ranging from $4.50 to $13.
Lunch options include burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, pita pockets and a salmon BLT.
Japanese-inspired breakfast sandwich at Sunnyside Up. Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up
Additionally, Sunnyside Up boasts a broad selection of grab & go items and pastries in addition to a wide choice of coffees, teas and juices.
Potter is striving to bring high-quality ingredients to all menu items, baking homemade bread at his Long Island restaurant for the café’s sandwich selection.
“A lot of the stuff that we’re doing is trying to mix a bunch of different flavors,” Potter said. “We make brioche breads at Foster. Other breads we source locally.”
Buenos Dias breakfast burrito. Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up Café
The café also aims to fill a hole in the neighborhood left by the abrupt closure of Alpha Donuts three years ago. The no-frills diner, located just steps from the Sunnyside Arch, opened 24 hours a day and proved immensely popular with local cabbies over its 50-year history.
Pirvu, who owns the adjacent Allegria Brokerage, saw an opportunity to bring in “something new” after the Sunnyside staple went out of business three years ago. He then partnered with Potter after eating in Foster and being impressed by the quality of the Sea Cliff restaurant.
“The location has very good visibility and I think he (Potter) is going to do great,” Pirvu said.
Strawberry Matcha at Sunnyside Up. Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up Café
Sunnyside Up will not follow in Alpha Donuts’ footsteps by becoming a 24-hour location, however. For now, Pirvu and Potter plan to open the joint from 6 a.m. until 2 or 3 p.m., focusing exclusively on breakfast and lunch.
“We’re not trying to attack dinner yet,” Pirvu said. “We want to have our niche with breakfast and lunch.”
Jason Potter (left) and Mircea Pirvu (center left) at the newly-opened Sunnyside Up Café. Photo by Shane O’Brien
Dirk McCall de Palomá, executive director of the Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District (BID), described the opening of Sunnyside Up as an “amazing investment in the community.”
“They have made this space absolutely modern and gorgeous with an amazing array of food options,” McCall de Palomá said.
Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up Café
He also credited Pirvu and Potter for making a commitment to hire local, with the café set to employ eight staff in the early stages before adding more staff as it establishes a foothold in the neighborhood. McCall de Palomá further praised Sunnyside Up for reactivating a space “beloved” by the local community.
“This fills the hole left in our hearts by Alpha Donuts… but Sunnyside Up is going to be a really wonderful addition,” McCall de Palomá said. “Look at the sandwiches. Look at the grab-and-go. They have lunch stuff. They have breakfast stuff. They have all the iced coffees. This is amazing.”
Photo courtesy of Sunnyside Up Café