Around NY

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20
Mar 10

Macaron Day, NYC

This celebratory bunch came from Almondine in DUMBO

This celebratory bunch came from Almondine in DUMBO

Today is Macaron Day in NYC, dedicated to celebrating the delightfully airy traditional French cookie (not your Grandma’s coconut clusters dipped in chocolate). This inaugural Macaron Day is the brainchild of Francois Payard, of Francois Chocolate Bar. From their homepage:

Macaron Day NYC is inspired by and will coincide with the 5th annual Jour du Macaron in Paris, created by Pierre Hermé.

Join us on Saturday, March 20 to discover macarons in New York as bakeries across the city come together to provide free macarons to customers.

To receive a free macaron tell the shop you are there for Macaron Day NYC.

Participating locations will provide one macaron per customer with quantities limited by location.


Want more macarons? At many participating locations, a portion of the day’s macaron sales will be donated to City Harvest. Indulge in macarons while contributing to the efforts of City Harvest. City Harvest (www.CityHarvest.org), which has been serving New York City for more than 25 years, is the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children.


This has certainly been a big year for the little cookie, whose popularity has been on the rise since late fall 2009. I know so many cooks who laid aside their customary Christmas/holiday cookie regime to try their hand at multiple macaron flavors.

Like most French cooking creations, the balance of the ingredients and instruction determines the success of the macaron. A great macaron has slightly crisp outer cookie layers that give way to a moist, more cake-like center. The creme between the two cakes must be sweet but not too sugary, and just the right consistency to hold the two outer layers together. Too much flour will make them grainy, if they sit too long in the oven they stiffen and lose the internal chew that melts in your mouth. Macarons are as much about the process as what you put into them.

I thought this was a great cause, so I purchased my batch at Almondine in DUMBO. They are truly top notch, and I will be going back soon for a baguette (they smelled amazing, but I couldn’t carry one around this morning!)

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Around NY / Street Carts — No Comments
14
Dec 09

Food on a Stick

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One cold day in New York, four interns went on a mission for another food cart. Unfortunately, they were few and far between that day. During our walk, we came across the ultimate food-on-a-stick experience. All of the offerings at the Xing Wang food cart on Canal street are displayed on sticks outside the cart:

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Plantains, tofu, chicken, you name it. Not your normal shish kabob, but tasty nonetheless. I probably wouldn’t come back to this cart as a destination, but it was fine for satisfying our hunger until we could find a more substantial place to eat.

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10
Dec 09

Marshmallow Men

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What to do when you get a delicious Foodzie package from Whimsy & Spice in Brooklyn? Well, since the purpose of a marshmallow is to add childlike amusement to life, what better way to honor them than to play.

Whimsy and Spice Maple Marshmallows

These maple marshmallows were absolutely DELISH in hot cocoa. As they slowly melt and dissolve at the top of the cup, a creamy froth forms so you sip the liquid chocolate through a sugary filter. They held their shape much longer than other marshmallows do, and since I was drinking unsweetened cocoa, they added just the right amount of sweet. By themselves, the marshmallows were sugary, spongy, with just a hint of burnt sugar and maple.

In short, if you’re looking for the perfect compliment to a warm winter beverage, maple marshmallow is the way to go. They’re fun too :) To make this guy, i stacked, and broke an M&M into pieces to make the face. Just like making a snowman.

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Around NY / Bakery — 1 Comment
04
Dec 09

Butter Lane Cupcakes

First off: THANK YOU GROUPON! I write about food on this site, but you can see an article that I wrote for another blog on this fabulous group discount service that gave me my dozen cupcakes for half the price.

Second: HELLOOOOOOO BUTTERLANE!

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Ahhh, a group of folks after my own heart! Ever since I was two and my Dad gave me a small stuffed cow that was featured in all of my childhood photos, I have LOVED cows. I have a sweet spot in my heart for the resident cow of my childhood vacation spot, Block Island, and hopefully sometime soon will have his portrait purchased 8 or so years ago framed and hung on my wall. So you can imagine my little heart jumping for joy at the site of this beautiful bovine hanging on the wall of my sweet-tooth driven destination. Everyone working at Butter Lane is unbelievably friendly, talkative, and so helpful.

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Butter Lane is like most cupcakeries in that they have two or three cake bases (vanilla, chocolate, and I believe their only other one is banana), and then the frosting combinations are where the creativity lies.

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You know something has to be good when a patron already in the store tells you to trust the employees to picking the flavors for you.

Which brings me to:

butter lane inside

The Cupcakes!

Ahh, such high expectations. And for the most part, Butter Lane came through. To start off with, the brief not-so-goods: the vanilla and chocolate cakes that I had were just a bit dry. They crumbled too easily, and didn’t dissolve on my tongue the way I expect cake to. I also like my chocolate cake to be a bit bolder, with a chocolate flavor that you would be happy to have in your corner in a fight between the frosting. A real hold-it’s-own kind of chocolate cake. Butter Lane’s chocolate was just a tad shy of the bar.

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Now that we’ve got that squared away, on to the good stuff!

Ohhhh that frosting! The buttercreams are absolutely DELISH. They make all kinds: vanilla, chocolate, maple, cinnamon, raspberry, strawberry, espresso. And the banana cake was ON POINT! Moist, delicious, and not too overwhelming on the banana. It’s no surprise that my favorite cupcake flavor came with a banana base. The Banana with Cinnamon Buttercream is the kind of thing that I would go back and order a whole dozen of at full price.

Overall, I give Butter Lane a thumbs and a half up. I’m going to go back to see if cake is a bit moister next time, but I’m going to protect against dry mouth with at least a half dozen with the banana base. Of course, now that I’ve said that, the next time I go everything else will be oozing moisture and the banana will feel like sand in your mouth. That’s just how the world works.

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Butter Lane

123 East Seventh Street, New York, New York 10009 (p) 212.677.2880

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Around NY / Restaurants — No Comments
03
Dec 09

Fort Defiance

Fort Defiance

Being a locavore is so trendy these days, so I walked into Fort Defiance in Red Hook feeling pretty good about the simple, chic traditional food I was about to consume.

Not to mention that I had just walked a little over a mile through a rather dark neighborhood to get there because my boyfriend told me it was “really close to the subway.” Yeah right. On top of the walk, I had not been feeling so good, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw the small chalkboard sign on the restaurants corner.

The beautiful cherry interior garnished with bright colored prints on the chairs and tables echos the warm and genial service. The server was incredibly attentive and helpful. We ordered two of their signature home-made seltzer drinks–mine was a gingerade (spicy ginger and tart lemon is a PHENOM combo) and Nate ordered a Dark and Stormy. Our next course was a goat cheese salad with beets and a tomato bread soup with shaved parmesan, both fresh and full flavored with that juicy quality of just-picked vegetables. Our next course was chicken with balsamic braised brussel sprouts and whipped potatoes. Simple, but perfectly executed. The brussel sprouts were the best I’ve had this season, with a crispy glaze and perfectly tender inside leaves.

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Of course, I couldn’t leave without dessert when I found out that their special was a chocolate pudding with fresh whipped cream. Chocolate pudding is a personal favorite of mine, and this particular dish was the perfect combination of dark chocolate and cream. Often times there is just too much milk in the pudding, but this pudding was dense with dark chocolate, and left the creaminess to the fresh whip on top. I would definitely go back if I’m in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn, and I would treck back to it as a destination if I knew they were serving the chocolate pudding again.

Overall: Great drinks, delicious, simple food. Warm and welcoming atmosphere.

365 Van Brunt Street (corner of Dikeman)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
347 453 6672

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Around NY / Bakery — 2 Comments
25
Nov 09

Best Ham and Cheese Croissant Ever

Ham and Cheese croissant

I don’t expect on-the-go food to be all that fantastic, especially when it comes to breakfast. So many places try to do it, and usual end up with mediocre, somewhat waxy bagel and other pastry sandwiches filled with highly processed meats and rubbery pre-cooked egg.

At Balthazar on Spring Street in NYC, the sandwiches are the complete opposite.

This ham and cheese croissant is probably one of the best breakfast items I’ve ever had. The croissant is fresh baked, buttery, flaky, and properly risen. The ham is really high quality, sliced thin with the savory skin on the edge of each slice. The melty cheese and slight hint of mustard round off the whole experience, making it salty with a hint of sour from the mustard. Make sure you ask them to heat it up, as the experience is not the same with a cold one.

This is not an every day breakfast sandwich (both in dollars and calories) but for the occasional “I didn’t get up in time to stop at Doughnut Inn before I caught my train” kind of day, Balthazar is the place to be. They also have the most delicious coffee EVER. Everything is completely worth the cramped 15 person wait (The staff there moves fast, they know what’s up in Manhattan in the morning).

Balthazar Bakery and Restaurant

80 Spring St, New York, NY? – (212) 965-1414?

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21
Nov 09

Excellent Dumpling House

wonton with hot and spicy sauce5

I don’t think I can properly put into words my feelings towards dumplings, and my office in SoHo’s proximity to Chinatown puts me in prime position for exploring and consuming. My first week on the job, I walked a few blocks down Canal Street to Lafayette, where I found the highly recommended Excellent Dumpling House. When I walked in, the place was packed (which is usually a good sign) and my friend and I were seated at a round table of 6, with two other sets of people already settled in and being served. The waitstaff moves fast, and before I knew it I had a menu thrust in front of me. My eyes widened at the selection of dumplings, pancakes, noodles, soups, you name it, on their menu. We decided on a number of small plates; fried and steamed dumplings, wontons, chicken and corn cakes, and steamed pork buns. The pork buns were absolute heaven. The honey-sweetened barbeque pork filling was encased in a sweet, sticky, spongy bun.

On my last visit to Excellent Dumpling House, I was surprised to find that they had run out of chicken and corn cakes. My friend and I needed to select an alternate menu item (and quickly because they are very fast-paced there) so we decided on the wontons with hot and spicy sauce. When it came to the table, I was pleased to see the dish topped with fresh bean sprouts, perfectly cooked wontons in a peanut and spicy oil broth. It was the perfect addition to our meal on a cold afternoon. It has taken the place of the pork buns in my ordering queue (but I’m going to get them both next time, for sure!)

Excellent Dumpling House
111 Lafayette St, New York, NY
(212) 219-0212
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Street Carts — No Comments
20
Nov 09

Not Just a Calexico Burrito

“This is not just lunch. This is a story.”

Calexico cart

My colleague Dan could not be more right. This story is about four interns from different places (Brooklyn, Manhattan, CT and NJ) who sit in a row at a desk. These four interns do drastically different tasks and have very different interests. Dan is a sports journalism intern, as is Glenn. Tanvir and myself are research interns for a consulting firm. The two things that binds us are our daily pilgrimage to the long desk set aside from the full-time employees we like to call “Intern Island,” and our quest for good, cheap food (Intern budget) in the ritzy Soho area of NYC. Originally, this was an individual task. We would go separate ways for lunch, each on our own schedule. Until we realized that there was a great opportunity in front of us: not only to enjoy the social aspect of connecting over a sandwich and soda, but, together, to find the best cheap places to eat. And for me to blog about them (We’re kind of like the Planateers). Now, we’re on a mission.

A mission that began around 1:30pm on Wednesday of this week. Tanvir had spotted a burrito cart right around the corner from our office a week or so ago, and so we made it our first official destination. At the intersection of Crosby and Broome, the guys at Calexico were creating what can only be described as “Burrito Masterpieces.” Their menu is small, and consists mainly of burritos, however as we discovered on our trip, Quesadillas can be ordered off-menu. Calexico started out as a street vendor business, that grew into a franchise that eventually opened an establishment in Brooklyn.

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We all selected burritos, were informed of about a 15 minute wait (during which we grabbed some sodas 2 blocks away) and by the time we came back the food was ready. Back in the office break room, we set up camp to taste and evaluate.

The consensus was one of overall satisfaction in taste, quantity, and overall burrito experience. The burritos were stuffed with large chunks of meat, making them particularly satisfying to bite into. My evaluation: a bit more avocado and a bit more acid (lemon juice, lime, pico de gallo, tomatoes, anything like that). Glenn suggested hot sauce. The burritos are customizable, so I’m sure we will be back. There’s nothing quite like a hot, fresh, tasty burrito for lunch.

Our Intern Island rating: tree_clipart_palm_tree_2tree_clipart_palm_tree_2tree_clipart_palm_tree_22palmtree

(Yes, there are Palm Trees on the Island)

Suggestions for where the Fantastic Intern Four should go next? Leave a comment!!!

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Around NY / Restaurants — No Comments
12
Nov 09

Spain in Soho

Authentic cuisine is not difficult to come by in NYC, and Despaña, a small Spanish deli in the heart of Soho, is no different. In addition to their counter of perfectly cured meats, spreads, cheeses, oils and vinegars, the boutique offers a small seating area for eat-in tapas and bocadillos. The space has about 6 seats, and is perfect for a casual lunch with one or two friends. The bocadillos are their pride and joy, and yesterday we sampled a hot and cold from that section of their menu:

Chorizo Picante

Chorizo Picante

The chorizo picante was spicy, smoky, creamy and crispy. The bread was fresh and had a perfectly baked crust that made the first bite crunchy and savory. The peppers were not overwhelming, and added just enough kick to make the flavor profile a bit more intense. It is made with their own brand of chorizo, Mahon cheese, Piparras (Basque spicy guindilla peppers), tomatoes, and a dab of alioli sauce.

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Despaña

The Despaña was our cold sandwich. Comprised of Serrano ham slices, creamy goat cheese from Murcia and a light tomato-garlic spread, the combination of the ham and goat cheese gave this sandwich a slightly pickled flavoring, that was slightly sour and very satisfying.

I would go back to Despaña for the simple, yet flavorful sandwiches that leave you feeling satisfied and re-energized without the food-coma-inducing heaviness that sometimes accompanies a cheese laden lunch. I would also return for their cured meats, which are diverse in kind and flavor.

Despaña is located at 408 Broome Street, NY, NY 10013. Sandwiches run at about $8.50, tapas at about $3.25 per item. Moderately expensive for anywhere else in the city, but about average for Soho.

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Around NY / Bakery — 1 Comment
10
Nov 09

Baked By Melissa

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Those of us with the insatiable sweet tooth know the plague of guilt that comes with being a dessert lover. The sugar, butter, and flour all add up to one thing: massive calorie spike. Most of this can be negated with daily exercise, but it is not an easy life. The recent surge in cupcakeries has been particularly debilitating for dessertaholocis, who flock to the small shops for the trendy treats. However, most cupcakes (small as they are) are the caloric equivalent of a large piece of cake.

Not to worry. There’s Baked by Melissa.

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Right around the corner from my office in SoHo is a small window shop called Baked by Melissa. Their miniature storefront is indicative of their product: mini stuffed cupcakes. Each cupcake is only slightly larger than a quarter, which is perfect for your mid-day/mid-afternoon/pre-dinner sugar fix. They pack a rich, flavorful punch in a small package, and while BBM makes no claims to low-fat or “good for you” desserts, splitting a set of three ($3) with a good friend leaves the sweet tooth satisfied, and keeps the guilt at bay. With 9 flavors to choose from, there’s a little love for everyone.

I personally recommend the three pictured above: Peanut Butter Cup, Cookies and Cream, and Mint Chocolate Chip. They had the richest flavor, and Melissa’s chocolate cake is much better than her vanilla (the exception being the Cinnamon, which I also recommend).

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