Breakfast at Tiffany’s is back — and it’s just what Fifth Avenue needed

Break out the blue balloons — after a four-year absence, breakfast at Tiffany’s is back.

There’s a ton of turquoise at the new, sixth-floor Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud — the latest bauble to debut as part of the Fifth Avenue luxury jeweler’s flagship renovation. But the restaurant is happily no replica of its fourth-floor predecessor, which looked better than the food tasted.

Despite what Truman Capote’s 1958 novella and the famed 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn promised, there wasn’t any such thing as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” at least not in the officially sanctioned sense, until 2017.

Instead, the title alludes to Texas-bred party girl Holly Golightly’s penchant for munching on pastry while peering through the iconic Fifth Avenue store’s windows — a moment that put the expression on the map.

And while I found Hepburn’s flighty character in the Oscar-winning flick annoying and Mickey Rooney’s racist portrayal of Holly’s Japanese landlord reprehensible, I won’t let old grudges stand in the way of a scrambled egg from heaven — the statuette-worthy star of the Blue Box prix-fixe breakfast menu ($58).

With the great Boulud in charge, each of the seven items turned out by executive chef Raphaëlle Bergeon tasted fine — far removed from the country-clubby sandwich-and-salad offerings at the original Blue Box, which shuttered in 2019.

Careful, though — a meal can be as expensive as at some of Boulud’s full-scale restaurants. But this is Tiffany & Co. Fifth Avenue, not a suburban discount outlet, and you don’t expect its pleasures to come cheap.

Besides the morning feast, the menu also includes an elaborate, traditional afternoon tea service ($98), as well as a la carte “seasonal” main courses ($18 to $42). Desserts ordered separately are $18 each; a coffee is $8. For penny-savers and skinnies, a $39 “Holly’s Favorites” option includes a croissant and a madeleine, fresh juice and coffee or hot chocolate. You may choose any of the menus at any time.

The breakfast set arrives on a three-tier tower that I saw on most other tables, all of them occupied by fashionably dressed women who, on one visit, outnumbered my lone male self 30 to 1.

The scrambled egg, in a shell crowned with caviar, was lusciously decadent. Other yummies included a small but ridiculously perfect croissant, fresh from Boulud’s downtown baking kitchen, a madeleine with dreamy cream and jam, and raspberry parfait with yogurt and granola.

A summery pineapple-strawberry rosette might have been more at home on the afternoon tea menu. So would the fruity, apricot Danish. I’d like it if Boulud would add a waffle or French toast to the “breakfast.”

I also ventured into a la carte territory to try a wonderfully unpretentious cheeseburger, its Wagyu-blend beef perfectly medium rare and topped with cheddar.

The room, designed by architect Peter Marino, more closely resembles a fancy luncheonette than the jewel-like setting it should be, despite hundreds of tiny turquoise jewel boxes hung from the ceiling.

The boxes add a welcome touch of whimsy, but the windowed, 46-seat dining room, with comfy vinyl seats and seven-seat bar, ache for more accents than ceramicist Molly Hatch’s hand-painted earthenware plates, arrayed on walls in brooch-like shapes.

The floor’s a curiously bland, concrete tile, with multicolor blotches — like a child’s finger painting.

Service is warm, but doesn’t yet sparkle like the jewels in Tiffany’s display cases. They twice asked if we were still “working on” glasses of orange juice that had plenty of OJ left in them.

Not what we expect at a Boulud place, but it’s only days old, and we’ll cut them some slack.

Blue Box boasts a 1,200-name waiting list for reservations, but you can take your chances as a walk-in. You’ll at least get to see the rest of the store — proof that the city’s back, in all its over-the-top, gleaming glory.