Nestled inside the Historic Blue Blue Moon Hotel (yes, that is the actual name of the destination) at 100 Orchard Street by Delancey Street on the Lower East Side is Sweet Dreams Café, a nondescript kosher cafe that the hotel’s owner Randy Settenbrino helped develop and open in 2023.
Born in Crown Heights and raised in Borough Park, Settenbrino established the Historic Blue Moon Hotel right across from the Tenement Museum back in the 1990s. Recognized as a must-visit lodging throughout the years largely in part to the on-site decor and overall vibe of the destination, the hotel is a clear ode to the neighborhood it calls home, part and parcel of the local Jewish culture: each room has a mezuzah on the door and 14 collages made by Settenbrino himself honoring the working-class Jewish immigrants that used to call the area home are on permanent display.
The on-site restaurant and cafe, certified by Rabbi Fishelis from The Mesivta Tiferes Jerusalem (MTJ), offers a varied menu that very clearly showcases Settenbrino’s desire to serve good food that happens to be kosher.
Leaning heavily on Italian influences, the roster of culinary delights includes a number of different salads (the Caprese, with housemade mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and the artichoke salad pack a punch); sandwiches (the eggplant caponata and the mushroom with sundried tomatoes are particularly exciting); pizze; pasta dishes and more.
“We are serving a menu that reflects the warmth and artistry of the historic Blue Moon Hotel,” Settenbrino said to Jewish Link last year, also mentioning the bakery portion of the business. “We are relying on family recipes as well as an immaculate kitchen and to use the finest of ingredients and to choose healthy and wholesome ingredients. It is our intention to bake with olive oil all of our baked goods, to offer our patrons a unique, healthy and satisfying experience.”
Reminiscent of a Wes Anderson production, both the hotel and the eatery feel like the New York that once was, when Jewish immigrants set up shop in the neighborhood, figuring out how to fulfill their own American dreams. It seems like Settenbrino succeeded in doing just that.
