Manhattan: Chelsea
Posted by Carey Jones, November 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM
"The people have spoken. And City Bakery is no longer their cookie of choice."
[Photos: Robyn Lee and Sophie Finkelstein]
Last week in the Chocolate Chip Cookie Championship, we went uptown to find the best chocolate chip cookies on the Upper East and Upper West Sides. Having found our favorites, we're now moving to Midtown—between Union Square and 60th Street.*
In this round, there were formidable contenders and surprising upsets: disappointing frontrunners, dark horses, and a chain thrown into the mix.
Our eight contestants: City Bakery, Pret a Manger, Max Brenner, Petrossian, Ruby et Violette, Frankie's (at Stumptown), and Times Square Hot Bagels.
The best chocolate chip cookie in Midtown, after the jump.
*Okay, this isn't all Midtown. But do we really need separate Hell's Kitchen, Murray Hill, Gramercy, Flatiron, and Chelsea cookie tastings? We're sticking with "Midtown-ish."
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, November 4, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
New to the range of goods at Amy's Bread, fitting in right with the season, is the Pumpkin Pecan Knot. A light yeast bread, with delicate spice, a mild pumpkin flavor, and handful of crushed pecans. It's just dandy toasted with a smother of softened butter, or nibbled away plain throughout the day. Buy the bread as a ring and it's sure to last you breakfast for the entire week. Or if you grow easily bored of flavors like myself, the bread is sold as cut wedges for $1.75 apiece.
Amy's Bread
Various Locations in NYC (map)
amysbread.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 27, 2009 at 1:10 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
I was waiting in line at Joe's the other day when I spotted this pumpkin muffin baked by Bread Alone. And considering my goal to hunt down every delicious pumpkin sweet in the city, I couldn't pass this one up.
It's hearty, with a slightly crunchy surface, dotted with toasted pumpkin seeds (how awesome would it be if they also salted the pumpkin just a tiny, tiny bit?). Tasty, but not among the best, with a somewhat crumbly interior. Glad I gave it a try, but I'll be sticking with my standard chocolate cream cheese when it comes to my morning muffin at Joe's.
Joe the Art of Coffee
Various Locations in NYC (map)
joetheartofcoffee.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 23, 2009 at 3:15 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
Unexpected surprises are the best. You know, when something looks just all right, but tastes awesome. Case in point: the banana muffin from tbsp's kiosk at the entrance of the Highline. Small, yes. A mini breakfast, an afternoon break, a sweet used to bribe your boyfriend into running an errand. There are many possibilities for this wondrous muffin, tender and a bit sticky. No crunchy surface, which I usually love in a good muffin, but did not miss in this case. It's packed with mashed bananas and chunks of fresh bananas. Plush and not overly sweet, I'm adding this to my list of go-to muffins.
tbsp
17 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011 (map)
646-230-7000
spoonnyc.com
Posted by Carey Jones, October 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photos: Robyn Lee]
Our Top Five
- The Winner: Two Little Red Hens
- Mona Lisa Pastry Shoppe
- Lady M Cake Boutique
- Cheesecake Factory
- Fairway Market
In the pantheon of iconic New York foods, not much outranks the proud cheesecake. Whether after dinner at Luger's, by the round at Eileen's, or shipped across the country by Junior's, New York cheesecakes are a force to be reckoned with. The cheesecake is a dessert that's perfect in its simplicity. A silky, creamy base, an optional thin crust—and that's it.
What makes a first-class cheesecake? It's smooth and creamy, just sweet enough, with a hint of tartness. If there's a crust, it adds something extra without overwhelming the taste of the cheesecake itself. And it's rich enough to seem a bit decadent, without going down like a cement pour. You should want to keep eating—at least, for more than one bite.
So we canvassed the boroughs for New York's best cheesecake, arrived at our finalists, and assembled our panel of crack tasters. All cakes were tasted blind, brought to the same temperature, in similar-size slices. We even scuffed up the edges of the more cosmetically privileged. And we had our tasters start with different samples, to cancel out the effects of palate fatigue—a real concern, after 14 cheesecakes. As it turns out, the first bite wasn't always the best bite.
(For the purposes of fair comparison, we went only with bakery cheesecakes, rather than restaurant ones. We also excluded all flavored and ricotta-based cheesecakes—stay tuned for later taste-tests.)
So after countless miles traveled, bites considered, and calories consumed, we've arrived at our winners. Our favorites, our surprise showings, and the best cheesecake in New York—after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Carey Jones, November 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM
"The people have spoken. And City Bakery is no longer their cookie of choice."
[Photos: Robyn Lee and Sophie Finkelstein]
Last week in the Chocolate Chip Cookie Championship, we went uptown to find the best chocolate chip cookies on the Upper East and Upper West Sides. Having found our favorites, we're now moving to Midtown—between Union Square and 60th Street.*
In this round, there were formidable contenders and surprising upsets: disappointing frontrunners, dark horses, and a chain thrown into the mix.
Our eight contestants: City Bakery, Pret a Manger, Max Brenner, Petrossian, Ruby et Violette, Frankie's (at Stumptown), and Times Square Hot Bagels.
The best chocolate chip cookie in Midtown, after the jump.
*Okay, this isn't all Midtown. But do we really need separate Hell's Kitchen, Murray Hill, Gramercy, Flatiron, and Chelsea cookie tastings? We're sticking with "Midtown-ish."
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, November 4, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
New to the range of goods at Amy's Bread, fitting in right with the season, is the Pumpkin Pecan Knot. A light yeast bread, with delicate spice, a mild pumpkin flavor, and handful of crushed pecans. It's just dandy toasted with a smother of softened butter, or nibbled away plain throughout the day. Buy the bread as a ring and it's sure to last you breakfast for the entire week. Or if you grow easily bored of flavors like myself, the bread is sold as cut wedges for $1.75 apiece.
Amy's Bread
Various Locations in NYC (map)
amysbread.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 27, 2009 at 1:10 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
I was waiting in line at Joe's the other day when I spotted this pumpkin muffin baked by Bread Alone. And considering my goal to hunt down every delicious pumpkin sweet in the city, I couldn't pass this one up.
It's hearty, with a slightly crunchy surface, dotted with toasted pumpkin seeds (how awesome would it be if they also salted the pumpkin just a tiny, tiny bit?). Tasty, but not among the best, with a somewhat crumbly interior. Glad I gave it a try, but I'll be sticking with my standard chocolate cream cheese when it comes to my morning muffin at Joe's.
Joe the Art of Coffee
Various Locations in NYC (map)
joetheartofcoffee.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 23, 2009 at 3:15 PM
[Photo: Kathy Chan]
Unexpected surprises are the best. You know, when something looks just all right, but tastes awesome. Case in point: the banana muffin from tbsp's kiosk at the entrance of the Highline. Small, yes. A mini breakfast, an afternoon break, a sweet used to bribe your boyfriend into running an errand. There are many possibilities for this wondrous muffin, tender and a bit sticky. No crunchy surface, which I usually love in a good muffin, but did not miss in this case. It's packed with mashed bananas and chunks of fresh bananas. Plush and not overly sweet, I'm adding this to my list of go-to muffins.
tbsp
17 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011 (map)
646-230-7000
spoonnyc.com
Posted by Carey Jones, October 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photos: Robyn Lee]
Our Top Five
- The Winner: Two Little Red Hens
- Mona Lisa Pastry Shoppe
- Lady M Cake Boutique
- Cheesecake Factory
- Fairway Market
In the pantheon of iconic New York foods, not much outranks the proud cheesecake. Whether after dinner at Luger's, by the round at Eileen's, or shipped across the country by Junior's, New York cheesecakes are a force to be reckoned with. The cheesecake is a dessert that's perfect in its simplicity. A silky, creamy base, an optional thin crust—and that's it.
What makes a first-class cheesecake? It's smooth and creamy, just sweet enough, with a hint of tartness. If there's a crust, it adds something extra without overwhelming the taste of the cheesecake itself. And it's rich enough to seem a bit decadent, without going down like a cement pour. You should want to keep eating—at least, for more than one bite.
So we canvassed the boroughs for New York's best cheesecake, arrived at our finalists, and assembled our panel of crack tasters. All cakes were tasted blind, brought to the same temperature, in similar-size slices. We even scuffed up the edges of the more cosmetically privileged. And we had our tasters start with different samples, to cancel out the effects of palate fatigue—a real concern, after 14 cheesecakes. As it turns out, the first bite wasn't always the best bite.
(For the purposes of fair comparison, we went only with bakery cheesecakes, rather than restaurant ones. We also excluded all flavored and ricotta-based cheesecakes—stay tuned for later taste-tests.)
So after countless miles traveled, bites considered, and calories consumed, we've arrived at our winners. Our favorites, our surprise showings, and the best cheesecake in New York—after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Joe DiStefano, October 10, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photographs: Hideki Kato]
Can't get into the New York City Wine and Food Festival this weekend? Be of good cheer, for there's another festival in Chelsea this weekend that's sure to lift your spirits: Chelsea Brewing Company's Cask Ale Festival. With 40 casks being poured, it's Manhattan's largest such event. On Friday morning along with several other members of the beer geek media, I sampled some of the brews.
First, a short lesson for all the non-beer geeks out there. A cask ale, or real ale, is "a name for a draught beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide," according to the U.K.-based Campaign for Real Ale. In other words, it's a beer that's still "alive" and is served at cellar temperature.
I only tried 13 of the brews on offer. It's not that I'm a lightweight, but I had no desire to pass out into my hand-pulled noodle soup later in the day. Here's a look at some of the brews I had.
Continue reading »
Posted by Carey Jones, October 1, 2009 at 1:30 PM
[Photo: Erin Zimmer]
From today through the end of October, Klee Brasserie will have a rotating roster of Oktoberfest beers and Austrian-style sausages (along some pretty fantastic oven-hot pretzels). Our favorites, after a first taste? The Emmenthaler-studded Käse Krainer and the taut, spicy Beef Wieners.
Klee Brasserie
200 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (map)
212-633-8033
kleebrasserie.com
Posted by Ed Levine, September 29, 2009 at 11:00 PM
"I'm not going to spoil the party. I just don't know that I need to return any time soon."
[Photos: Robyn Lee and Erin Zimmer]
Dallas BBQ
261 Eighth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (at 23rd Street; map); 212-462-0001; dallasbbq.com
Other locations: See website
Service: Friendly and familiar the first time, off-putting and weird the next
Setting: A big diner with cacti, a concrete ceiling, and reasonably well-spaced tables
Compare It To: Applebee's, Chili's, TGI Friday's
Must-Haves: Hot Dog, Onion Loaf, Chicken Tenders, and yes, a big ol' blue drink
Cost: Twenty bucks will get you enough food for two to share and one of those drinks
Grade: C+
Almost every day I pass by Dallas BBQ, and each and every time it's packed. Lunch, dinner, even in between. Even more interestingly, it's packed with an incredibly diverse set of New Yorkers, of every race and ethnicity imaginable. All these folks appear to be having an insanely good time. In fact, it looks like they're having a big old house party—complete with super-cheap humongous meals, made up mostly of grilled or fried or barbecued meat and foot-high plates of fried accompaniments, and moat-sized multi-colored drinks (with umbrellas) to wash it all down.
Hundreds of people eat at this restaurant every day, and savor every last fried or grilled bite. But nary a food critic or food writer or blogger among them. Until now. The serious eaters hit Dallas BBQ en masse last week, and I for one survived with my palate intact... and my stomach full for a full week afterwards.
Continue reading »
Posted by Tia Kim, September 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM
"Airy and crisp, the sandwich tasted like the sea."
El Quinto Pino is known for the sea urchin sandwich that Peter Meehan of the New York Times declared the "sandwich of the year" in 2007, and has been extolled by bloggers such as Andrea Strong on the Strong Buzz. It's far from a undiscovered gem, but located on a quiet street off of Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, it might as well have been for me.
In fact, on my way to the tiny tapas bar, I mistakenly went to Txikito—another tapas bar a few meters away which the former chef of El Quinto Pino, Alex Raij, now heads—and sat at the bar for several minutes before I recognized the waitress from my dinner at Txikito two weeks ago.
I could have stayed, since I had enjoyed my last meal there—but I was on a mission, it was 2009, and I needed to eat the "sandwich of the year," albeit two years late. I hopped off the bar stool and in a few minutes I was at El Quinto Pino.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 21, 2009 at 11:00 AM
The Brothers L&C Latin Fast Food Truck on 18th Street and 6th Avenue doesn't seem to specialize in tacos—their printed menu mostly consists of sandwiches, breakfast goods, and pastries—but how could you resist their hand-written, fluorescent green sign touting "SPECIAL TACOS"? I couldn't. And choosing tacos was easy since they only have three kinds—beef, pork, and chicken. You can get one for $2.50 or three for $7 (hell yeah, save 50 cents). I went for all three.
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, August 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM
I slipped into Three Tarts just as they opened at 11:00 am on Sunday morning, hoping to grab an ice cream sandwich for brunch-on-the-go. (When you're in your twenties, and have a job that takes you all over the city all day and night, it's perfectly acceptable to have ice cream prior to noon.)
I made my way to the back of the shop and peeked into the freezer case. $4.25 squares of ice cream sandwiches, in sublime flavors such as green tea ice cream with lemon cake. I slid the case open to reach for some chocolate on chocolate action—but then! I spotted something infinitely more awesome. "Bakery bits."
I asked the woman behind the counter what the origin of these bits might be. Remember Chinatown cake bags from Hon Cafe? This was the same idea—only the ice cream sandwich version.
Leftovers ends, corners, and bits from cut ice cream sandwiches are jammed into plastic containers and sold for $2.50. For just over half the price, you get far more ice cream sandwich for your money—in a fork-friendly, easy-travel version. I spotted cake bit containers in all the ice cream sandwich flavors, including one which coupled chocolate cake with both sorbet and ice cream. I settled for a goat's milk ice cream with a tart strawberry-balsamic sorbet. Swoon!
Three Tarts
164 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (map)
212-462-4392
threetarts.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, July 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM
The financier at La Bergamote in Chelsea, with its apricot-glazed top and line of studded blueberries, is far from plain and simple. But when you're craving that classic French almond flour-based sweet but looking for something a little different, La Bergamote's fruited versions are worth a visit. Fine chopped almonds make their way into each lightly sweetened bite, along with that intoxicating scent of browned butter. At $2.65 each, the financiers also come in raspberry and mandarin orange.
La Bergamote
169 9th Avenue, New York NY 10011 (map)
212-627-9010
labergamotenyc.com
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM
"Levent is actually part of a produce vending dynasty—he is a third-generation fruit hawker, following the footsteps of his grandfather and father in Turkey."
Levent working around 3:30 p.m.
Every day is a "CRAZY DAY" for Levent, a 24-year-old Turkish-born fruit vendor at the corner of 27th Street and Eighth Avenue. Sometimes it's Crazy Berry Day (two tubs for $5), other days it's Crazy Mango Day (four for $4). Crazy Eggplant Day isn't as common, but always a possibility. The craziness is declared on cardboard signage, sometimes with added smiley face art, all over the cart.
But if you are spacing out while walking by, Levent (who declined to give his last name) will find a way to make eye contact and inform you. One minute you're rocking out to the iPod, the next minute you're the owner of three bananas. He might have been a car salesman in another lifetime.
Around 10:30 p.m.
Levent and his business partners (about four cousins and friends, also from Turkey) keep produce prices low for FIT students, residents in the housing complexes across the street, and the cabbies driving up Eighth Avenue at all hours. With Serious Eats world headquarters just around the corner, we've been seeing a lot of Levent this year (the fruit cart didn't exist last summer), who doesn't seem to sleep. Ever.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, July 2, 2009 at 10:00 AM
I've said it before and I'll say it again: New York barbecue joints all seem to have one meat that they nail, one dish that is clearly superior to every other meat they cook low and slow. At RUB BBQ that one dish is the burnt ends, or the crazy smoky burnt ends of the fatty half of the brisket. RUB's burnt ends are alternately meaty and fatty, so if you're fat-phobic you should order something else.
Of course if you're fat-phobic you probably wouldn't have walked into RUB or any other barbecue joint in the first place. Don't worry, though. There's plenty of meat, both crusty exterior pieces and tender interior ones, on these burnt ends, and they give you so much Adam and I happily split the burnt ends dinner. If you eat them that way, they are even a bargain.
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 30, 2009 at 2:00 PM
This city is flooded with blueberry muffins. Plain ones, sugar-dusted numbers, big ones, itty bitty ones, and others still, paired with everything from bran to corn. We loved some, hated others, and passed on a few. Our conclusion? There's one we can honestly call "the best" and many others which are simply great and worth a detour. In the end, blueberry muffins, like most sweets, are totally subjective. Taste is personalized, so we've made sure to included seriously delicious muffins on all ends of the spectrum.
Where to begin? See the list after the jump for our picks for the city's finest blueberry muffins.
Continue reading »
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 24, 2009 at 3:15 PM
While waiting in line to order a plethora of cookies at at the Chelsea Market location of Sarabeth's Bakery, I couldn't help but spot, and then fall for, a mason jar filled with chocolate pudding. The pudding is chilled just so, lush and full of that chocolaty wonder. It's certainly swoon-worthy, though I surely wished it was a dark instead of milk chocolate pudding. Thick and creamy in texture, the pudding is smooth through and through, almost reaching the thickness of mousse. Top it off with ploofs of fresh whipped cream, a pile of chocolate shavings, and there is little to complain about. Plus you get to keep the mason jar!
Sarabeth's Bakery
Chelsea Market 75 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10011 (at 15th Street; map)
212-989-2424
Posted by Nick Solares, June 22, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"It has a surprisingly vivid pink hue, almost like pastrami, and the smoke appears to have permeated all the way to the bone."
"As soon as the army figures out you can do something they reassign you," chuckles Scott Smith, former Army Ranger and current pitmaster at Righteous Urban Barbecue (RUB). Smith worked in professional kitchens during high school in Trumansburg, New York, and couldn't decide whether to continue his endeavors by attending the Culinary Institute of America or joining the army after graduating.
He chose the latter and while he did end up cooking in the army—French fries for an aircraft carrier full of rangers stationed off Haiti, in one case—he generally prefers to adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" policy about the quality of ingredients and menu options. After leaving the army, Smith helped out a friend with a roadside barbecue shack that became so successful that it morphed in to a full-fledged restaurant called Spike's Bar-BQ.
Smith has been cooking barbecue ever since with over a decade of experience under his belt. He became pitmaster at RUB in 2005 (when it opened) after meeting owner Andrew Fischel at a seminar given by Paul "The Baron of Barbecue" Kirk, a partner in RUB. The beauty of the private sector, as opposed to the army, is that when you do something, and you do it well, you generally get to keep doing it. Thus Smith gets to turn out rack after masterful rack of ribs coated in Paul Kirk's secret rub and smoked over hickory. After the jump, a step-by-step look at how he does it.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, June 19, 2009 at 10:30 AM
There are two dishes on the breakfast menu at Ralf Kuettel's Trestle on Tenth that are so seriously delicious I'm thinking that his native Switzerland must be one of the world's great undiscovered breakfast destinations.
Just typing the following dish makes me hungry: duck confit hash with poached eggs and sauce Béarnaise (13.50). Crispy pieces of duck confit, crunchy hash brown cubes, and perfect poached eggs, topped by more than a dollop of spot-on Béarnaise sauce. What more could a serious eater ask for?
Well, if your breakfast hankerings run to sweets, there's always this: Apfel Baeckeoffe with vanilla whipped cream ($10.50). The menu description—thick cinnamon-flavored baked pancake with roasted apples—makes it sound kind of humdrum. It isn't. In fact, it is an oversized apple dessert disguised as a breakfast menu item. Definitely not light, but plenty satisfying.
One last thing: I haven't been to Trestle on Tenth for brunch, but there's an item on its brunch menu that begs to be eaten: Bure Rösti, Swiss bacon-onion potato hash with housemade pork sausage, melted cheese, and two fried eggs. OMG.
Trestle on Tenth
242 10th Avenue, New York NY 10001 (at 24th Street; map)
212-645-5659
trestleontenth.com
Related: Trestle on Tenth: Swiss-Inspired Cooking with Lots of Pork, Cheese, and Flavor
Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 16, 2009 at 7:00 PM
"Tear. I'm not good enough anymore."
The little L'Arte del Gelato counter in Chelsea Market that lives inside the Bowery Kitchen supply store can be hard to spot behind the rows of Ball jars and juicers. But next Thursday, June 25—that is, if the current pile of concrete somehow transforms in time—a new slick countertop will open around the corner, at the end of the hallway. In addition to the 22 flavors, they'll make cones fresh like they do at the West Village location (they also hinted at coffee sometime in the future). Yes, that means the potent brownie aromas coming from Fat Witch Bakery must fight the just-ironed-out waffle cone fumes coming from this end. Swing by on Thursday for free scoops in honor of the expansion.
RIP the ice cream-shaped trash cans of the current space. Apparently it's too reminiscent of the old logo and won't go with the new look.
L'Arte del Gelato
Near Chelsea Market's 10th Avenue entrance between 15th and 16th Street
212-366-0570
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, June 5, 2009 at 4:00 PM
The only dessert at El Quinto Pino, and a fine ending to the tapas meal at that, is called the Casadiella. A trio of fried anise pillows drizzled with honey and dusted in powdered sugar. Each two-bite nugget is tightly filled with chopped toasted walnuts and served straight out of the fryer. The dessert isn't listed on the menu. You have to ask the waiter, but you'll be mighty glad you did.
El Quinto Pino
401 W 24th Street # 1, New York NY 10011 (at 9th Avenue; map)
212-206-6900
elquintopinonyc.com
