Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
If you are a fan of the TV show
Cupcake Wars
, you have probably heard about Sprinkles Cupcakes: one of Judges, Candace Nelson, is with her husband Charles, the owner.
Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
It all started in 2005 with the first store that opened in Beverly Hills: they got sold out the first day in three hours and then sold more than 2,000 cupcakes the first week, starting a success story that continues today, with more than 10 locations in the US and projects to open in London and Tokyo.
Cupcake ATM at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Sprinkles Cupcakes is also known for the first cupcake ATM in the world, introduced in 2012, where cupcakes are available 24/7. We did not try the ATM and went straight to the store. It was a week day, the week ends being crazy there.
Cupcake stars at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
An allusion to the stars on Hollywood Boulevard
As soon as you enter the place, your senses are overwhelmed by an incredible baking smell that make you want to live there. It is a colorful place for sure...
Decor at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Coconut cupcake at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
They did not have it in small size, but, after the first bite, no regrets. Even me, who is not a huge fan of coconut, liked it. One thing that I always look for in a cupcake is the ratio frosting / cake, and this one was perfect.
Coconut cupcake at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
The cake was moist and the frosting not too sweet.
On my side, I decided to try two mini-cupcakes:
mini cupcakes at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Red velvet:
red velvet cupcake at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Banana with chocolate frosting:
banana and chocolate frosting cupcake at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Same comment there on the ratio frosting / cake: perfect. I was definitely curious to try the red velvet as it is like The Test: like when you go to a French restaurant and they do not know how to make escargots (I have names...). This one was delicious and my comments are valid for all the cupcakes: moist cake and not overly sweet frosting, allowing you to eat many. The banana one was fantastic and the combination banana and chocolate works perfectly.
Sprinkles Cupcakes is, with Butter Lane and Sweet in Hoboken, one of my favorite cupcake places. I am looking forward to going back there or to try their ice cream and cookie store located right next to it. And, by the way, if your dog also loves cupcakes, they have some for her/him that I did not try...yet!
cupcake for dog at Sprinkles Cupcakes in New York, NY
Enjoy (I did)!
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Chikalicious Dessert Bar in the East Village, NYC, NY
So, after a first tentative to go to ChikaLicious Dessert Bar and ending up in their Dessert Club, we finally made it. We showed up couple of minutes after they opened, allowing us to get a table, but also to take photos comfortably.
Minutes later, the place was packed! Know that his is small and that they only accept reservations for large groups.
This location is totally different from the other one: a more refined decor as well as a different menu. Here, no cupcake or dossant (a fusion of a croissant and a donut, competitor to the Cronut from Dominique Ansel). At ChikaLicious Dessert Bar, you get a prix-fixe for $16 that includes an amuse-Bouche, a dessert and some petits fours.
The desserts can be paired with a dessert wine for an additional $8 that we did not consider, Jodi preferring a tea:
And myself an espresso:
Both served in a nice china.
That day, the amuse-bouche was Cara Cara orange (sort of navel orange) with a rosemary ice cream.
This was a surpising start, the rosemary ice cream being very original, with only a slight taste of rosemary that worked perfectly with the orange.
Then we got our desserts of choice. Know that, as dessert choices change on a regular basis, you may not be able to order what we ate. Jodi ordered the mango-pineapple tartare on crispy kataifi with coconut sorbet and white rum purée.
On my side, I ordered the warm chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and red wine sauce, that looked like a smiley.
I admit that when the dishes came, I was a bit surprised by the small size of the desserts. Still, the presentation was beautiful and I really liked them, especially the warm chocolate tart whose center was completely liquid, similar to a chocolate soufflé. I admit however that I did not really like the red wine sauce that was served with it.
We then got some petits fours:
Coconut marshmallow:
Bacardi rum chocolate cookies:
Earl grey tea cakes:
All were good, especially the chocolate cookies (probably because of the rum...).
The desserts at ChikaLicious are quite good and elegant, with a fantastic presentation, the Chef showcasing a lot of creativity. However, for $16 without a coffee or tea, I find it slightly overpriced.
Enjoy (I did)!
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Celebrating Easter with La Maison du Chocolat
Please note that the chocolate was complimentary. However, I was not obliged to post and the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
La Maison Du Chocolat proposed to send me some samples of their Easter collection, crafted by Chef Nicolas Cloiseau. I, of course, accepted, being a big fan of this establishment (great hot cocoa, pastries and chocolates).
- Praline with crispy crepe,
- Almond praline,
- Praline hazelnut (my favorite),
- crispy praline.
There was also a milk chocolate bunny with a surprise inside: yes, some of these chocolate eggs.
Needless to say that these chocolates did not last long...
While preparing this post, I checked the Easter collection of La Maison du Chocolat, and was amazed by the creations of Chef Nicolas Cloiseau, such as the atelier:
 |
| Courtesy La Maison Du chocolat |
It looks incredible and I do not see how one could eat that! Well, ok, it is good chocolate: I would eat that! I just wish it was always Easter...Although I do not need any reason to go to there!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Doughnuts from Dough in Brooklyn
One of my colleagues, Jason, brought some doughnuts one day for breakfast. They were from Dough, a doughnuttery located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. With all the doughnut places in New York, I was curious to see what would set Dough apart. On top of that, I am a huge fan of the Doughnut Plant, so my expectation was very high.
At first, you cannot miss the size of these doughnut that are fairly big, the size of a bagel. They are yeast doughnuts, as opposed to cake doughnuts.
Here is what we had:
Hibiscus doughnut:
Glazed doughnuts:
Chocolate doughnuts:
Cafe au lait doughnuts:
I was curious what the hibiscus doughnut would taste like, not that I never tried hibiscus before (I had a hibiscus lemonade once at Angelica Kitchen). Do not imagine a flowery taste: it had a nice sweetness and I would not have known it was hibiscus, I would probably think it was food coloring...
The chocolate doughnut was delicious too and would satisfy any chocolate lover, the icing being very chocolate-y. But my favorite was the cafe au lair one that had some crumble as well as nuts, adding some nice texture to it.
I liked the doughnuts at Dough, not only because they taste good, but also because of their originality. However, they would had some filling, it would make them seriously compete with the doughnut plant.
Enjoy (I did)!
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| * Restaurant Name | |
|---|---|
| Dough | |
| * Overall | |
| ★★☆☆☆ | |
| * Neighborhood / Cuisine | |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant / American Traditional / Desserts | |
| * Street Address | |
| 305 Franklin Ave. (At Lafayette Ave.), Brooklyn, NY 11205 | |
| * Phone | |
| (347) 533-7544 |
Lady M Upper East Side, NYC, New York
After having tried Lady M at Bryant Park several weeks ago, as well as the one in the Plaza Hotel, we decided to go on the Upper East Side, thinking that, as it is their original location, it would be bigger and would have more choices.
I admit that I was a bit disappointed as it was the same size as the other one and the same menu, but my disappointment did not last too long at the sight of these spectacular cakes that they showcase.
I was there fixated on one and one only cake: the Mont Blanc!
When you start digging in, you are wondering where the cream is.
But then you find it and you are happy about it, because it cuts on the sweetness of the chestnut cream; because yes, it is very sweet. But very addictive too, to the point that I finished it...
Jodi was set for the vanilla mille-crepe, but finally decided to order the banana mille feuilles:
It is made of big chunks of banana, puff pastry, whipped cream and layers of sponge cake. This was sublime! It reminded me of a banana cream pie in a way.
These desserts were perfect with my double espresso. Jodi ordered a tea that was good, but pricey ($8)!
The more I try Lady M, the more I like this place and I can tell you that it was not my last visit!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Dandelion chocolate - San Francisco
Recently, we received a package containing some chocolate bars from Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco, sent by Jodi's cousin, Rebecca and her boyfriend Leo. They went there after we saw this place on the TV show Unique Sweets (I love that show and recommend any person with a sweet tooth to watch it: it is definitely some food porn!).
So we got to try the following chocolate bars:
70% Ambanja, Madagascar 2013
What I like about this chocolate is that they describe the beans and process as well as what one should taste when eating it. This one says: this batch has a bold, lemon front, followed by a mellow nutty finish.
I tasted the lemon, but not the nutty finish...
This one says: we taste notes of fudge bownie and espresso with a lively cinnamon finish.
I would agree.
70% Maya Mountain, Belize 2013
The last one says: we're excited to introduce this fruity bar that has notes of pineapple and honey.
This was in fact my favorite: I loved the finish taste of honey.
This was a great tasting, trying each chocolate bar, one after the other, and trying to see if we could match their description. This is definitely some good chocolate if you like dark, made only with cocoa beans and cane sugar. On their website, they display the places where you can find them all over the country. For instance, in New York, you may find their chocolate at Chelsea Market Baskets. I will have to check that you!
Thanks to Rebecca and Leo!
Thanks to Rebecca and Leo!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Little Pie Company in NYC, New York
The Little Pie Company was on my radar for a while and I confess that I lured Jodi to that place, making sure we would pass in front of it when going to the Gotham West Market.
Little Pie Company is small, but don't be fooled by its name: the kitchen next to it is of a good size.
I was looking around to see what to get, not realizing that they had a banana and coconut cream pie. But trust me, Jodi immediately saw it and ordered it right away as it was the last one and she did not want to see it go to somebody else, leaving me with just couple of minutes to take a decision.
I was surely not going for one of the cookies that looked a little sad compared to what you can get at City Bakery or Macchiato. I desperately looked for a cherry pie and then saw a cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. That was my choice.
It was pretty good, creamy with the same density as the cheesecake at Junior's. I loved the crust that added another layer of deliciousness and a slight sweetness.
Of course I could not let Jodi eat alone the banana and coconut cream pie. Originally, I thought it was only a coconut cream pie and Jodi kept telling me it was with banana, I was so desperate to find something that I did not hear. When she told me, I was so happy: I love banana cream pie!
And this one is a little piece of heaven! I loved it, even with the toasted coconut on top, although I would have preferred without. Not only did I finish the cheesecake, but had a nice piece of pie.
So, do not be surprised to see me going back soon!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Crumbs Gluten Free in Greenwich Village, NYC, New York
After hearing my cousin's Jessica friend Andrew talk about how he started to eat gluten free only and the health benefits that ensue, we thought it would be a good idea to try some gluten free (GF) places. The first strike was Tu-Lu's bakery that I posted two days ago, this one being also out of curiosity considering that they opened next to Veniero's Pasticceria, one of the oldest if not the oldest Italian bakery in town, as if they wanted to challenge them. Then, Jodi remembered that we passed by Crumbs Gluten Free, a store that got converted to a full GF bakery last year. Their goodies are baked at a completely gluten and peanut-free bakery and delivered fresh daily to the store and on top of the regular cupcakes and cookies, they propose breads and quiches.
I would have gone blindfolded, I would not have known it was a GF Crumbs as the cupcakes and other brownies looked the same (meaning giant cupcakes!).
We decided to try their milkshake cupcake:
Just reading the selection made me salivate:
Marble cake filled with vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting swirled with chocolate cream cheese frosting and edged with chocolate crunches.
It was good, but a bit on the dry side.
We also tried the chocolate hazelnut tart:
It was delicious! The chocolate taste was fantastic with a nice hint of hazelnut and the crust was crumbly. Definitely recommended for the chocolate lovers.
Crumbs Gluten Free was surprising: not only everything looked appetizing, but it tasted good too. I would not have known it was GF, I would have never guessed!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Tu-Lu's gluten free bakery in the East Village - NYC, New York
Tu-Lu's is the first Gluten free bakery I set foot in, finding it unexpectedly next to Veniero's, one of the oldest pastry shops in America. Yes, next to Veniero's, as if it was done as a sign of defiance! Gluten free, vegan...To the regular foodie, it does not sound good and probably does not taste good. But I heard so many people with gluten-intolerance, Celiac disease or just willing to cut on gluten saying that there are great places throughout the city where eating gluten free is not synonymous with eating cardboard. That is how we decided to go back to Tu-Lu's.
This place opened in 2010 by Tully Phillips, after she was diagnosed with gluten intolerance, joined by Jennifer Goodhue in 2011, who was diagnosed in 2009 with Celiac disease. Since then they opened locations in Dallas Texas, catering to the gluten free (GF) and vegan fans.
It is a tiny place with only few seats inside. They offer desserts and cookies such as cupcakes, brownies, donuts..., where the wheat flour has been replaced with rice or tapioca flour.
For the cupcakes, they propose regular and small size, so we decided to try few of their specialties.
It was a pretty good donut, even if not the best I ever tried, with a consistency cake like rather than yeast like if I were to compare with the two kinds the Doughnut Plant proposes. I would not have known it was GF, I would not have noticed.
A vanilla cupcake:
I liked it: the cake itself was moist and the frosting light, well proportioned with the amount of cake.
The red velvet cupcake:
I did not like it, whether it was the cake or the frosting.
A chocolate and hazelnut cake bite:
I liked it: it was very chocolaty, moist, but did not really taste the hazelnut. Despite that, I would re-order it!
Last was the vegan chocolate chip cookie:
They propose it vegan or simply GF. In a bold move, we decided to go for vegan. I liked it: it is not at the same level than City Bakery, but let me tell you that it is a pretty decent one!
As you can imagine, I was quite surprised by what we got at Tu-Lu's: it definitely changed my mind about GF desserts and I am really amused that such bakery is right next to one of the most popular bakeries in New York. Tu-Lu's is the living proof that eating GF does not mean that you cannot satisfy these cravings that we all have! This is a good address whether you or your friends are vegan, need or want to eat GF...or not!
Enjoy (I did)!
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| * Restaurant Name | |
|---|---|
| Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery | |
| * Overall | |
| ☆☆☆☆☆ | |
| * Neighborhood / Cuisine | |
| East Village / American New | |
| * Street Address | |
| 338 East 11th St., New York, NY 10003 | |
| * Phone | |
| (212) 777-2227 |
Veniero's Pasticceria in the East Village, NYC, New York
Veniero's is the oldest Italian pastry shop in the US, opened and owned since 1894 by the Veniero family. During its long life, this East Village place has earned multiple awards and is said to be the best place for dessert in New York. This put the bar pretty high considering the multiple options the City has to offer. So I was very excited to try it and we decided to go after our lunch at S'Mac and right before seeing the movie Dallas Buyers Club with Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto (great performance from both by the way). When we arrived, we noticed the café adjacent to the pastry shop and decided to come back after the movie, to have some time to taste several pastries. So, chose promise, chose due (promises are made to be kept): more than two hours later, we reenter the place that is packed! I was so glad that I took few photos earlier.
When you enter the place, you arrive in the pastry shop where I could probably spend an afternoon looking at these fantastic desserts in regular and small size, drooling on the ornate marble floor. I thought it was great to propose the smaller size, so one can try several kinds of Italian desserts, but I can ensure you that I would have had a hard time making up my mind!
It can be so crowded that you need to pick a number to be served before going back in line.
Passing the crowd, there is another display, for large cakes (you can admire the staff decorating cakes if you like):
And then, here is the café, in the back, with its incredible stained glass ceiling and an authentic atmosphere that transports you back in time in Italy.
Jodi decided to order a coconut cake:
Not a surprising choice as it is her favorite dessert. This one was just ok and she did not even finish it. The disappointing factor was the fact that the cream on top did not incorporate any coconut: it was just drizzled on top of the cake. So far, her favorite, and I would agree, is the coconut cake from Balthazar that you can even find at its sister restaurant, Minetta Tavern.
On my side, I chose the Baba au rhum:
They propose it with or without custard. I decided to go with. It was another disappointment: the cake seemed to be a bit stale, although imbibed with the rum and there was an off taste. I could not even eat half of it.
After these two miss, we had high hopes on the cannoli:
It looked good and appetizing. The shell was very good, fresh and crispy, however, the filling was a bit bland.
I guess the only thing I loved there was my double espresso...
I was very disappointed by Veniero's and it is after trying three of their desserts, two of them quite traditional. Maybe the Italian cookies are better, but clearly not what we picked. If I had to compare it to another Italian pastry and propose it as an alternative, it would be Villabate Alba in Brooklyn.
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| * Restaurant Name | |
|---|---|
| Veniero's Pasticceria and Caffe | |
| * Overall | |
| ★★☆☆☆ | |
| * Neighborhood / Cuisine | |
| East Village / Italian / Desserts | |
| * Street Address | |
| 342 East 11th St. (bet. 1st & 2nd Ave.), New York, NY 10003 | |
| * Phone | |
| (212) 674-7070 |
Cakes at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
On a Saturday afternoon, while walking near Bryant Park, we saw the new location of Lady M, a pastry shop many of my friends recommended. We decided to get some lunch and come back there for desserts. As we say in French: "chose promise, chose due" (I believe that in English, it is "A promise is a debt that we may not forget"). So, after a brunch at Barbes, a Moroccan restaurant located on the East side, we went back!
Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
The place was packed for sure, but we were able to find a table in this tiny location. It was all white, probably to have the colors of the cakes pop.
It was hard to choose what we wanted to eat, because there were so many mouth watering cakes! For instance, they have a Mont Blanc cake made with crème de marrons (chestnut cream) or a gâteau au chocolat (chocolate cake). We decided to go with their signature cake: Lady M Mille Crêpe:
Lady M Mille Crêpe at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
They have it in different flavors: vanilla (our choice), green tea (quite few tables around us ordered it) or crème de marrons.
Lady M Mille Crêpe at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
It was a cake made of a succession of layers, alternating crêpes and vanilla custard. There were not Mille crêpes, that means a thousand in French. Probably thirty. The crêpes were very thin and soft, easy to cut through with a fork (no need for a knife). Overall, it was light and not too sweet, with a nice delicate vanilla taste. We understood why it was so popular!
Our second choice was the raspberry and chocolate bar:
Raspberry and chocolate bar at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
If you like chocolate, this is for you! First of all, it looks fantastic, with the raspberry gelée dripping a bit and a fresh raspberry on top. This is the kind of dessert that make you think you ate your serving of fruit for the day...
Raspberry and chocolate bar at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
I love the combination of red fruit and chocolate. For instance, the raspberry chocolate from Ghirardelli is one of my favorite. So, when it comes to this dessert at Lady M, I think it is spectacular: there is the right balance of raspberry and chocolate, the latter being present in different forms: milk and dark chocolate ganache, as well as gianduja-laced feuilletine for a nice crunch and a slight hazelnut taste. Needless to say that we finished it...
sugar at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
Of course, I had an espresso with my cake and the chocolate definitely enhanced the taste of the coffee:
espresso at Lady M Confections Bryant Park in NYC, New York
Both desserts were amazing and made us want to try more. So don't be surprised if you see me there soon!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Villabate-Alba in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York
I admit that when I moved in the US, the only true Italian desserts I knew was the famous tiramisu. I do not recall having seen an Italian pastry shop, except in Marseille, South of France, when my parents used to go to this bakery to buy some Italian bread. For sure I traveled to Italy few times, but still, I can only remember the tiramisu or the gelato of course. Other desserts were unknown to me. Then I came to New York. My first cannoli was a disaster: not good at all and making me ignore this delicious pastry for many years, until Giorgio's in Hoboken.
So, on top of the usual excitement to discover a new place, I was excited to see what treasures Villabate-Alba had. This pastry shop and bakery is located in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, close to the Italian restaurant Il Colloseo that I posted last week. Believe it or not, but we went to these places the same day, hoping to optimize our time, sacrificing our diet...There, we got to meet with Anthony Alaimo, the son of Angelo Alaimo, who, with his other son Emanuele, started a bakery more than 30 years ago, naming it Villabate that is also the name of the town in Sicily they come from. Close by was a pastry shop called Alba. When the owner retired, he sold his shop to Angelo and that is how Villabate-Alba was born, merging the bakery and pastry shop altogether, making it the oldest in Brooklyn.
Villabate-Alba is not your small pastry shop and you may think, looking at the photo above, that it was quiet. It was not: I took this photo between two waves of customers. Yes, at some point it was packed and I cannot blame people who go there considering what this place has to offer.
When you enter, on the left, you cannot miss the gelato that they continue to offer, even if the temperature has dropped. I was glad to see that they have nocciola / Hazelnut that is my favorite flavor with praline, bringing me back few years ago, when Jodi and I were in Venice and Rome and had gelato everyday (keeps you hydrated!).
When you go around the store, you see an incredible number of cakes, some looking amazing! Anthony told us that they also custom made cakes and showed us some of them that looked like edible works of art. They probably should get a show on TV (I guess this idea was already taken...).
The fruits below made with marzipan.
So we went at the counter where Anthony made us try few specialties. The first one was a Cassatella:
It is a white wine ravioli filled with ricotta (I should mention that their ricotta is imported from Sicily).
The shell was crispy and nicely sweet and the inside so smooth, it was divine.
In fact, it was perfect with an espresso.
Then we got to try some pignoli and some rainbow cookies.
The pignoli were fantastic: soft inside, not too sweet, it is perfect if you love almonds as the cookie is made with it.
The rainbow cookies, also made with almonds, were delicious because you definitely could tell that they were made with fresh ingredients and the strawberry really came through.
And then, when we thought it was time to go (to our next stop in Brooklyn...), Anthony brought us this:
It was very nice and generous of him and we could not refuse... So, we had to get a tasting.
Sfogliatelle:
The outside was definitely crispy with multiple thin layers; however, I did not like the inside that was made with sweet ricotta cheese and semolina: it was too heavy and dry for me.
Red velvet cake:
It was filled with cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. That was a nice Italian version of the red velvet cake (that was perfectly moist by the way)
Cardone: cookie crust infused with ricotta cheese, dipped in liquid sugar, fondant and then dipped in almonds.
That was one of my favorites. It was crunchy, thanks to the almonds and the cookie, delicately sweet thanks to the fondant, but smooth, thanks to the ricotta.
Baba au rhum:
So, this is not an Italian pastry: more Polish. It is made of a light cake imbibed with rum. This one was good although slightly overcooked, but not dry at all (and I remind you that it was rum...).
Iris:
It was a delicious twisted roll with ricotta inside and topped with cinnamon sugar. I loved it: light and, again, not too sweet, it had this wonderful ricotta cream inside that paired well with the roll that was a bit airy. Second favorite!
Of course, the cannoli, filled with ricotta:
They were of a nice size. The shell was fresh and crispy and the filling divine, with a nice cinnamon touch.
Napoleon:
This definitely looked like the French mille feuilles, but with a vanilla cream rather than a crème pâtissière. Sometimes, the icing is replaced by a thin layer of confectioner sugar, but, at Villabate-Alba, the icing looked and tasted similar to the one I am familiar with. I admit that I ate more of the top than the bottom part though...
Zuppa Inglese horn:
The shell was similar to the sfogliatelle, crispy with lots of thin layers, and the inside had a very light cream that was delicious.
Foret noire slice:
First of all, this cake looked amazing. It was light and had several layers, alternating cream (strawberry or coffee for instance) and a very good and soft sponge cake.
I am not sure what the next one is called, so I name it the Mandarin thrill:
It was a light cake with a quite good filling that had a nice mandarin taste.
Cassatini Siciliani:
It is a smaller version of the Sicilian Cassata, made with marzipan and filled with ricotta. This was my all time favorite and I had to battle with Jodi who, usually, does not like almonds...Strong recommendation!
The last cake was made with rainbow cookies and had a light strawberry mousse in the middle.
All these cookies were great and I just wished that they had a store in my neighborhood. Or maybe it is a blessing that I do not have one, because I would be there everyday, few times a day, all the time (hopefully I do not sound too creepy...). For a delicious and authentic Italian experience, Villabate-Alba is definitely recommended.
Enjoy (I surely did)!
Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
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Chocolate Tour in NYC, New York
How can one resist a chocolate tour? Cho-co-late tour! I never understood people who do not like chocolate. I love it in all the possible ways: drink or food! So, we were thrilled when we found a coupon for $19 for a chocolate tour in the city.
The meeting point was Chelsea market at 11:45am for a 2 hour walking tour that started at 12pm.
Our first destination was Li Lac, one of the oldest chocolate stores in NYC, founded in 1923 and celebrating 90 years of existence. Our tour guide, Brandon, told us that, despite several changes in ownership, the recipe did not change, each owner passing to the next the method used.
Being few weeks away from Thanksgiving, they had some incredible displays of turkeys made of chocolate. And for the ladies, shoes (if Jodi would buy these, I would not mind...):
At Lilac, we got to try two samples:
Butter crunch chocolate
72% dark chocolate
Both were pretty good, but the butter crunch one was a nice discovery: crunchy, buttery with still the taste of chocolate. Too bad Jodi dropped some of hers on the floor...
The next stop was the original location of Magnolia Bakery:
This place became famous after being featured in Sex & The City when Miranda and Carrie sat there for a cupcake.
It is a small place and we got to try their chocolate cupcakes.
It was good, but the frosting was a little too sweet and it was a bit melted...
After that, we went to Milk & Cookies, that was the best part of the tour!
This small place smelled of chocolate and cookies all over!
They sell many items that I will for sure try the next time I go: Rice Krispy treats or whoopie pies are among them!
They also have cupcakes:
But it is their double chocolate chip cookie that we tasted:
It was a regular size cookie, served warm that oozed chocolate!
No complaints here! Who wants a double chocolate chip cookie where you can barely taste the chocolate? If you like this type of cookie, Milk & Cookies is for you!
After Milk & Cookies, we walked on Bleecker to Bisous Ciao:
This place specializes in macarons:
So we got to try their chocolate macaron:
I admit that it was a bit messy to eat as it had chocolate powder on top and we had no napkins. But we needed more than that to stop us!
The macarons were delicious: crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a wonderful almond taste. The chocolate ganache that was in the middle was very good.
Would I go back? Certainly! Especially now that I know that they have a roasted banana macaron!!!
The next stop was another fantastic discovery: Pasticceria Bruno.
This place is famous for its cannoli and they even won against Bobby Flay in a cannoli throw down.
This is the kind of place I love: tons of cakes and cookies, you do not know which one to eat...
But then I saw this:
That was torture...
So we sampled their cannoli:
They stuff the cannoli when you order, so it keeps them fresh and crispy. The filling was delicious and not too sweet. It was definitely better than the cannoli I ate at The Cake Boss.
So, stay there: I will come back for the Ferrero Rocher mousse!
At that point we thought the tour was over. But then we walked to Xocolatti:
This place does not look like an artisanal chocolate store, but more an elegant one, with its decor made with and for chocolate boxes.
They surely have interesting creations, such as the marzipan truffles:
Or the rose cardamon, sake, champagne, and many others...
We got to try their mango paprika slate:
It was made with white chocolate and you could definitely taste the mango or paprika. Original and good!
So, if you are looking for interesting creations, Xocolatti is the place to go.
And, again, when we thought we were finished, we ended up in another place. This time, it was the last one of the tour. It was called Vosges.
The owner called it Vosges because of the time she worked in Paris, place des Vosges. There, it is not Haute Couture, but Haut Chocolat!
The place was big, with high ceilings and walls covered in dark wood shelves full of products. It reminded me of an apothecary shop where the potions were made of chocolate.
And for sure they had weird creations, such as:
So the tour was interesting and yummy. However, most of the chocolatiers gave samples you would have if you were just showing up at their door. So, it was good that we only paid $19 per person for the tour, thanks to a coupon. More would not have been worth it.
Enjoy (I did)!
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The chocolate aroma when we entered in they place was fantastic! It is a tiny place with a nice motto:
There, we had a piece of Sea salt dark chocolate:
I really like any salty ingredient with chocolate, like sea salt or caramel sea salt: It kind of enhances the taste of the dark chocolate.
We had a peek at the store and they had some great creations such as the potato stix bar.
The fruit and nut bar:
Or the chocolate bar tea:
I would definitely go there to try these as well as their hot cocoa.
We had a peek at the store and they had some great creations such as the potato stix bar.
The fruit and nut bar:
Or the chocolate bar tea:
I would definitely go there to try these as well as their hot cocoa.
The next stop was the original location of Magnolia Bakery:
It is a small place and we got to try their chocolate cupcakes.
It was good, but the frosting was a little too sweet and it was a bit melted...
After that, we went to Milk & Cookies, that was the best part of the tour!
This small place smelled of chocolate and cookies all over!
They sell many items that I will for sure try the next time I go: Rice Krispy treats or whoopie pies are among them!
They also have cupcakes:
But it is their double chocolate chip cookie that we tasted:
It was a regular size cookie, served warm that oozed chocolate!
No complaints here! Who wants a double chocolate chip cookie where you can barely taste the chocolate? If you like this type of cookie, Milk & Cookies is for you!
After Milk & Cookies, we walked on Bleecker to Bisous Ciao:
This place specializes in macarons:
I admit that it was a bit messy to eat as it had chocolate powder on top and we had no napkins. But we needed more than that to stop us!
The macarons were delicious: crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a wonderful almond taste. The chocolate ganache that was in the middle was very good.
Would I go back? Certainly! Especially now that I know that they have a roasted banana macaron!!!
The next stop was another fantastic discovery: Pasticceria Bruno.
This place is famous for its cannoli and they even won against Bobby Flay in a cannoli throw down.
This is the kind of place I love: tons of cakes and cookies, you do not know which one to eat...
But then I saw this:
That was torture...
So we sampled their cannoli:
They stuff the cannoli when you order, so it keeps them fresh and crispy. The filling was delicious and not too sweet. It was definitely better than the cannoli I ate at The Cake Boss.
So, stay there: I will come back for the Ferrero Rocher mousse!
At that point we thought the tour was over. But then we walked to Xocolatti:
This place does not look like an artisanal chocolate store, but more an elegant one, with its decor made with and for chocolate boxes.
They surely have interesting creations, such as the marzipan truffles:
Or the rose cardamon, sake, champagne, and many others...
We got to try their mango paprika slate:
It was made with white chocolate and you could definitely taste the mango or paprika. Original and good!
So, if you are looking for interesting creations, Xocolatti is the place to go.
And, again, when we thought we were finished, we ended up in another place. This time, it was the last one of the tour. It was called Vosges.
The owner called it Vosges because of the time she worked in Paris, place des Vosges. There, it is not Haute Couture, but Haut Chocolat!
The place was big, with high ceilings and walls covered in dark wood shelves full of products. It reminded me of an apothecary shop where the potions were made of chocolate.
And for sure they had weird creations, such as:
- Mo's Dark Bar: 62% dark chocolate, hickory smoked uncured bacon and Alderwood smoked salt.
- Super dark pomegranate and goji.
- Super dark Reishi mushroom and walnut.
We got to try their Gingerbread toffee bar:
I do not know if it is because we went to 8 different chocolatiers, but at that point, I did not really taste all the flavors...So I will need to go back!
So the tour was interesting and yummy. However, most of the chocolatiers gave samples you would have if you were just showing up at their door. So, it was good that we only paid $19 per person for the tour, thanks to a coupon. More would not have been worth it.
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
My nephew culinary visit: outtakes...
You may have thought that I was done with all the food we ate when my nephew Valentin was in NYC, but in fact, no! We really wanted to make him try some food he would not find where he lives and I think we did a pretty good job! I should probably mention that when I spoke with his mom after he came back home, she mentioned that he had a bigger appetite. Oops...
So here is some of what we ate:
The Doughnut Plant:
There is no better donut in NYC than the Doughnut Plant! I know that it is a bold statement, but if you try it, you will be convinced too.
So, after Katz's, as we were on the Lower East Side, we decided to have Valentin try one of their donuts. So we went to their original location on Grant street.
It is a yeast donut, filled with some coconut cream, as its name indicated. It is chewy and not too sweet and is one of the coconut delicacies I love.
Valentin and I ordered a tres leches donut, one of their signature:
It is a cake version of a donut, a bit heavy but so good...I just wish that they put more tres leches cream inside...
The double espresso accompanied by sparkling water was perfect to go with it:
Kossar's Bialys:
Then, next to The Doughnut Plant was Kossar's Bialys, a bakery established in 1936 and only serves Bialys, these small Polish rolls.
This is part of the old New York, with restaurants like Yonah Schimmel or Katz's, and it is incredible that they are still there considering they only serve one item that is not as popular as one may think.
So we bought some bialys for breakfast and ate them with either butter or cream cheese. There were onion bialys:
As well as garlic bialys:
They were still hot and the smell that emanated from them was divine! Definitely something to try!
Junior's:
If there is one place where I would have people try a cheesecake, it is at Junior's: it is the best. Creamy and dense, we ate it after going to Luke's Lobster, but instead of going to the restaurant, we went to the take out place next door.
City Bakery:
We went there not for their hot cocoa that is supposed to be the best in the US (I tried it and do not think so), but for their chocolate chip cookie: large, dense, chewy with lots of butter and chocolate. Definitely not your average cookie.
We have other undocumented culinary visits such as Giorgio's (cannoli) or Sweet (cupcakes) in Hoboken, as well as Dylan's Candy Bar, so, as you can imagine, he had quite a taste of what this area has to offer when it comes for food.
We had a fantastic time, food and non food related, and I am sure we will remember Valentin's visit for a while!
Enjoy (we all did)!
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Two Little Red Hens in NYC, New York
Two Little Red Hens was recommended by Malini from The Restaurant Fairy when we met her and her husband, Yozo, at the blogger event organized by Tabélog at SakaMai.
Two Little Red Hens is a tiny place located in the Upper East Side. There are just few tables inside to eat and, the problem with a place like this is that there are so many yummy things, people get stuck in front of the counter for a long time, not knowing what to order!
Jodi was very excited when she saw that they had a coconut cream pie!
It was made with coconut cream filling, coconut whipped cream and coconut shavings. It was pretty good, although I am not the biggest fan of coconut in shaving form (I know: weird!). It was light and not too sweet, very creamy.
On my side, I ordered two small cupcakes (they offer the regular and small size), that they wrapped together so they stay tight when transporting them in a bag. The first one was the red velvet with cream cheese frosting (right):
It was good, with a nice proportion cake / frosting. However, it was not the best I had so far (Sweet in Hoboken, NJ is the best!).
I also tried the Brooklyn Blackout cupcake, recommended by Malini:
It was fantastic! Not too sweet, made with chocolate cake, chocolate pudding and fudge frosting. My only regret was that I did not order a regular size one! It was so good! Moist, not too sweet and full of flavors, it is the perfect chocolate cupcake for chocolate lovers!
Trust me: it is not the last time I will be there! And, if you go, do not miss the Brooklyn Blackout!
Enjoy (I did)!
It was good, with a nice proportion cake / frosting. However, it was not the best I had so far (Sweet in Hoboken, NJ is the best!).
I also tried the Brooklyn Blackout cupcake, recommended by Malini:
It was fantastic! Not too sweet, made with chocolate cake, chocolate pudding and fudge frosting. My only regret was that I did not order a regular size one! It was so good! Moist, not too sweet and full of flavors, it is the perfect chocolate cupcake for chocolate lovers!
Trust me: it is not the last time I will be there! And, if you go, do not miss the Brooklyn Blackout!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
Magnum ice cream in Bryant Park, NYC!
I was recently invited to try the "Make your own" Ice cream bars from Magnum at Bryant Park. I love the make your own concept, that I experienced mainly with frozen yogurt.
So, first you pick your toppings. The place being small, it is limited. They have things like peanut butter cookie crumbs, salted pretzel, toasted coconut or rice krispies. You can pick up to three toppings.
Then, they will take an ice cream bar and dip it in either dark or milk chocolate.
Then, they will put the toppings you picked on top of you ice cream, drizzle some chocolate and add a chocolate chip with a M written on it, for Magnum.
I decided to go with milk chocolate, salted pretzels and rice Krispies.
Jodi went for milk chocolate, toasted coconut and rice krispies:
This was fantastic: the ice cream was very creamy and personally, I love the sweet and salty flavor. Serving it on a little tray was smart as otherwise it would be too messy to eat.
It is definitely something I would try again and so you know, each ice cream is $6, that is a pretty reasonable price!
Located W40th and 6th avenue!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Ice cream at Il Laboratorio Del Gelato in NYC, New York
Gelato always reminds me of our trip to Italy few years ago where we had gelato on a daily basis! Coconut for Jodi and Hazelnut or nutella for me! I remember that, at the time, it costed 2 Euros and we had a huge amount of it!
So, here we are at Il Laboratorio Del Gelato or the Ice Cream Laboratory.
They did a good job making it look like a laboratory where they experiment and create incredible ice cream such as olive oil or tarragon! I tried the olive oil ice cream and it was fairly good, with sufficient taste of olive oil.
Jodi decided to order coconut and marshmallow:
I liked the marshmallow and cookies and cream ice cream: they were creamy and tasty, the cookies and cream having some decent chunks of oreo cookie. But I was extremely disappointed by the chocolate and hazelnut one: you could barely taste the hazelnut and the chocolate was a bit bitter. When I ordered it, I thought it would be similar to nutella: not at all!
Then, for the first time, I saw Jodi not eat her coconut ice cream! I tried it and it is true that it was lacking coconut taste.
At the end, I am on the fence for Il Laboratorio Del Gelato and may go back to try other flavors. At this point, I still think that Eataly or Grom are better.
Enjoy (...)!
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The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop in the East Village, NYC, New York
It's been a while since we wanted to try the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop: we heard about it so much and saw it few times on some of the TV shows we follow. It all started with a truck in 2009 and two years later, they opened this location in the East Village.
And trust me: it was crowded! To a point that the person you see on the photo, who made us laugh a lot, was directing traffic into the store.
It is a very small place with a passion from unicorns apparently...
Yes, unicorns everywhere!
There, you will not find your regular ice cream: it is not Mr Softee! They use ingredients like sea salt, dulce de leche, vanilla wafers, key lime curd...
On my side, I decided to order the Monday Sundae:
It was made of twist ice cream, dulce de leche, sea salt and whipped cream. The best part was the cone that was lined with Nutella! Yes, Nutella, one of my favorite spreads! And they put a nice quantity of it! It was a bit sweet, but I loved the sweet and salty taste.
Jodi went for the Salty Pimp:
It was made of vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche, sea salt and dipped in milk chocolate, that created a delicious coating.
These ice cream were decadent and fantastic! I also liked the ice cream holder that allowed not to have ice cream dripping on our hands. I will definitely go back!!!
Enjoy (I did)!
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Cronut - 1 , Crumbnut - 0
With all the craze about the Cronut (photo above), the spectacular creation from Chef Dominique Ansel that is more difficult to get than an autograph of Donald Trump, copies are popping up all over the world: in Brazil, Taiwan, UK (the "Dossant"), South Korea ("NY pie donut"),...In New York, there have been few bakeries that used the name Cronut, before realizing that it was a trademark, and ended up proposing a croissant-donut. Same move from the Food Emporium.
The last big name to realize a copy is Crumbs, best known for its cupcakes, will it be now known for the Crumbnut?
They propose two kinds: plain (on the right) and with Bavarian cream (left) that is similar to a Crème pâtissière (vanilla custard). Both smell more like donut than croissant and none of them has icing on top, probably to show the difference with the cronut.
So we started with the plain one. There is some flakiness, but it looked like the dough was not fully cooked. It was bland and very doughy.
The second one was similar, except that the Bavarian cream gave a bit of taste, but not enough to make us think that it was equivalent, if not better to the cronut. In fact, we did not even finish these crumbnuts...
Although the presentation was nice and promising, it was a total failure and a sad attempt to compete with a pastry that is spectacular. The crumbnut is dead, long live the cronut!
Enjoy (the cronut)!
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The Chocolate Room in Brooklyn, New York!
The chocolate room: what a teaser! I mean if you like chocolate and are passing by, there is no way you would miss an opportunity to try it! That place is fantastic: when you enter, the smell of chocolate smothers you, coming not only from the display, but also from the small kitchen adjacent to the dining room, where they make everything that is on the menu.
Just looking at all these chocolates, made me drool!
I could not not try to have a sneak peek of the kitchen!
The dining room is small, with the walls covered with art related to chocolate, overlooking the backyard of the building.
The menu is a serious invitation to indulge, with some mouth watering desserts: brownie sundae, Chocolate Room pudding, black bottom butterscotch or chocolate fondue...Yum! I just wished they had a sampler!
Our waiter was great: fun and giving us lots of information, making us feel welcome. He started off by bringing us some chocolate sorbet for tasting.
The sorbet was delicious: it had a fantastic dark chocolate flavor.
Then, We went for one of his suggestions: the chocolate layer cake (three layers!!!), that is one of their best sellers!
It was a big slice for sure! But it was so good: the cake itself was light and was surrounded by a delicious layer of fudge. I truly appreciated the fact that it was not too sweet.
Then, we ordered some homemade ice cream: Madagascar vanilla bean and Belgian chocolate.
The ice cream was creamy, in the vanilla, the vanilla beans were apparent, and was my favorite of the two, the chocolate being very good too, not bitter and not too sweet. I like that combination of flavors that complement well each other.
With the ice cream, we could also order some toppings. We went for a silky coconut whipped cream.
If you are a coconut lover, it is definitely something to consider. Similar to the others, it was not too sweet and you can tell when whipped cream is homemade.
This was definitely the perfect spot for dessert and after visiting it, I just wished that when my parents sent me to my room, it was the Chocolate Room!
This was definitely the perfect spot for dessert and after visiting it, I just wished that when my parents sent me to my room, it was the Chocolate Room!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!