*crispy waffle*

Yes it has been too long! I have been too busy doing stuff like, oh, I don't know, working, to post my trip reports! So finally here it is-- and worth it, since I totally ate my way through NYC!

My obsessions at the time were sandwiches and cupcakes, and what better place to go than New York?

SANDWICHES

'ino: Yes, the sandwiches at 'ino are worth it. It is this tiny little place in the West Village where you practically sit on your neighbor's lap (that is how close the tables are, and yes, they have to move them in order for you to slide out). We had a white bean and egg bruschetta that tasted as good as it looked, and I had a sweet/salty/spicey probably the best panino I've ever had: prosciutto cotto, grana and spicy relish.

Bruschetta with white bean and egg and basil

Kyle's classic sandwich at 'ino

Bar Jamon: While we were waiting by Casa Mono for our friends Adam and Jessee, I decided to have a pre-lunch sandwich because frankly, I am not going to pass up a sandwich at a place called Bar Jamon. I had a standard sandwich with Serrano ham and because of the extra step of toasting the bread and rubbing it with garlic and tomato, it took the Spanish ham sandwich to the next level. By the way, the service was terrible in this little space the size of a broom closet (not to mention the staff on hand seemed to be catering to a table of what seemed like a shady bunch of junior wiseguys), so it made the sandwich a post-lunch snack.

CUPCAKES
With the NYC Cupcake Wars ensuing, I looked for cupcakes wherever they were to be had. The two places I ended up going were not surprisingly, Magnolia babies (i.e. owned by former owners/workers of the O.G. of cupcake shops, Magnolia Bakery)

Buttercup Bakeshop: This bakery is in midtown, I think on 2nd Ave. I had a Lady Baltimore cupcake that was eh. But what was most memorable is that there was a GIANT FRUITFLY in one of the cupcake cases. I pointed it out to them and they took out the tray of cupcakes where said fruitfly had been, uh, snacking. They were like, "We'll get rid of this whole tray", but I picked out a cupcake from a different refrigerator case anyway. Then, when we were walking out the door, Kyle saw them put back the tray of cupcakes anyway! YUCK. Let's hear it for hygiene. Oh, the cupcake wasn't sweet, which is good, but it was way too dry, and the frosting was nothing to do cartwheels over.

Magnolia: From everything I'd heard about it being overrated, and from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd we saw in there when we walked past, I decided to skip the O.G. of all cupcake shops!

Sugar Sweet Sunshine: This was the bakery recommended by Adam and Jessee, and it was totally worth a visit, even though we ended up going all the way to the Lower East Side (having been nowhere in the neighborhood at the time. But hey, this is a quest.)

The only specialty cupcakes I've had to that point were too sweet (gross, gross Cupcake Royale in Seattle! I actually have gotten sick from the amount of sugar in their cupcakes!) or dry (most cupcakes, including Buttercup Bakeshop). Sugar Sweet Sunshine, on the other hand, had the perfect cupcake. I ate a pistachio one, which actually tasted like pistachios, and the buttercream frosting was the best I've ever had. I am all about modifying my buttercream recipe in a quest to get it to taste like that. It was that good. Oh, and the people who worked there were unbelievably nice too. Good cupcakes just make people happy, y'all!

The delicious pistachio cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine (eaten about 3 seconds after this photo was taken)

OTHER FOODS

City Bakery: Ever since buying Maury Rubin's Book of Tarts, (now out of print) I've been a fan of City Bakery-- and I had never even been there! The tarts there are even better than the recipes; I had a passionfruit tart with a cold hot chocolate. Okay, I'm super picky about my hot chocolate so at first I was disappointed (some say the hot chocolate at City Bakery is the best in NYC.... well). It's not the best, but as I drank it, I actually liked it more and more because it is not sweet at all, and it's rich but not too rich-- it tastes like it's made with good cocoa rather than tons of melted chocolate. The tart was a little too... tart (heh), but good anyway.

Iced hot chocolate and passionfruit tart at City Bakery

Chocolate Bar: More hot chocolate! My obsession with hot chocolate continued with the spicy hot chocolate at Chocolate Bar. It was a hot day but this was. Off. The hook! Just spicy enough to give a kick, not sweet and crazy chocolatey. Highly recommended. I also bought some bonbons and chocolate bars for my sister, and a t-shirt that said "chocolate baby" for Dari. How true that is.

Pomme Frites: Disappointing. This little storefront on 2nd and 8th is supposedly the best frites in NYC. Maybe I romanticize those Dutch frites that I love, but once again I was disappointed with the frites in the States. But... they are the best frites I've had on this side of the pond, and the mayonnaise they used hit the spot. Maybe the potatoes are wrong?

Digging in anyway at Pomme Frites

Shake Shack:

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar: I actually liked Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, Anita Lo's 'fast-food' venture. (Anita Lo who beat Mario Batali on Iron Chef? Yeah, girlfriend!) Anyway, I didn't try the gimmicky Thai dumpling whatevers, but I had the duck dumplings and also the classic pork with scallions and it was excellent, simply because the soft texture kept the meat from sliding out of the dumpling shell. I mean, come on, if you're going to have a place called "dumpling bar", you'd better have some damn good dumplings! Oh, and it was perfectly fried. Good and cheap.

Bowl with duck dumplings at Rickshaw

RESTAURANTS:

Peking Duck House (courtesy of Jen and Darren's wedding rehearsal)

Casa Mono: The 'Monkey House' is where it's at! We met Jessee and Adam at Mario Batali's tapas place, Casa Mono (right next to Bar Jamon, where I got my sandwich, also from Batali, who seems to be the Celebrity Chef Restaurant King of New York). Mostly untraditional tapas, but really really good. So good, that even though I had my camera, when the food came I forgot to take pictures of it. The best were the grilled scallions, the langostines, and the mushrooms. The dessert was crazy good too, and the coffee was really good. (I was soooo disappointed in the coffee at 'ino, that I was that much more excited to get great coffee at Casa Mono). It was an awesome place to eat all afternoon (and both Adam and Jessee and Kyle and I had different dinner reservations within two hours, but oh well!)

The teeny kitchen at Casa Mono

Biltmore Room: Okay I don't go to chi-chi restaurants that often (too expensive yo!) but I'm going to say that Biltmore Room is one of the best places I've ever eaten. Oh, and it didn't hurt that my friend Maila, who used to be a restaurant publicist, happened to know the chef, Gary Robins. She went to the kitchen to say hello to him, and before we knew it, the free courses were flowing. There was a 3-course prix fixe, but we had an additional four courses, courtesy of the chef. Everything was sooo good: Leek flan, then white asparagus with crayfish and morels (which were fried and tasted really meaty), then a foie gras with brioche and apricot chutney. The dishes that took the cake though were the prawns in sarong, which was an appetizer and the softshell crab with soba noodles. The prawns in sarong were prawns wrapped in noodles and then deep-fried-- an excellent idea that I am too lazy to try! Kyle had a bluefin tuna with ginger sorbet that he said was the best fish dish he's ever eaten. And he is still talking about it.

The drinks at Biltmore Room were also unbelievable, and the martinis that we ordered had actual calamansi in it-- an ingredient I have not seen outside of the Philippines. And, courtesy of the lovely chef, we got a second round of drinks on the house. I heart Gary Robins!

One of the saddest things is that I did not have my Hello Kitty camera to capture the eating festivities. Waaah!

One of famed NY Times restaurant critic William Grimes' last reviews was of the Biltmore Room. He gave it three stars, and it deserves it!

OTHER STOPS:

The dream-come-true pig counter at Murray's Cheese Shop

A dulce de leche cone from Cones. Off. The. HOOK!

Portabello burger and fries from Shake Shack in Madison Square Park

Labels: travel

posted by sheryl | 4:55 PM |

Wow! Awesome photos, food and report of your NYC trip~

:o)

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful stories! ~ Libby
By

Anonymous 9/9/07 12:42 AM