Manhattan: Upper East Side
Posted by Kerry Saretsky, October 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we like to post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. Plus, as an added bonus, every day between now and Halloween these Sugar Rushes will all be pumpkin based. It's the only way we could think of covering the enormous number of pumpkin sweets being offered in the city right now. Enjoy!
I've expounded before on how the Upper East Side seems to be devoid of all things fabulous and delicious. I have this idea that people in other neighborhoods can step out, round the corner, and return with baguettes worthy of France's national baguette subsidy and cakes as dreamy as those that populated the salon of Marie Antoinette. But there is one gem that I brag about to anyone who'll listen: Two Little Red Hens. I order my birthday cake from there every year (chocolate cake, raspberry filling, white icing, chocolate buttercream flowers), but for Erin's birthday, I brought in their seasonal Pumpkin Cake. She promptly exclaimed that it was the greatest pumpkin baked good she'd ever tasted, and she should know. Ed nodded, "Not at all cloying." The pumpkin cake and pumpkin frosting result in autumn-leaf-embellished layers of pumpkin perfection. Cupcake versions are also available.
Two Little Red Hens
1652 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (at 86th Street; map)
212-452-0476
twolittleredhens.com
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, October 21, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we like to post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. Plus, as an added bonus, every day between now and Halloween these Sugar Rushes will all be pumpkin based. It's the only way we could think of covering the enormous number of pumpkin sweets being offered in the city right now. Enjoy!
There's an abundant variety of scones at Alice's Tea Cup. From buttermilk chocolate chip to strawberry cream cheese, the traditional British-style scones are shunned in favor of large and sweet American takes on this beloved baked good. Fall months usher in the return of Alice's famed pumpkin scone. It's addictive, with its buttery crust and easy-to-love crumb that is gentle and moist. Spices are noticeably light, but a deliciously shiny pour of sticky caramel glaze makes for a scone that is more childish than classy. If Alice's scones are no longer hot from the oven, the sweet gals and guys behind the counter are more than glad to warm it up for you.
Alice's Tea Cup
156 East 64th Street, New York NY 10021 (near Lexington Avenue; map)
212-486-9200
alicesteacup.com
Posted by Ed Levine, October 10, 2008 at 6:00 PM
A couple of years ago Nora Ephron wrote a hilarious piece for the New York Times Op-Ed page about her search for cabbage strudel. I had a bit part in the story as the person who told her where she could find cabbage strudel, namely Andre's Hungarian Bakery in Rego Park, Queens, a direct descendant of the legendary Mrs. Herbst's. Andre opened a cafe and bakery on the Upper East Side a couple of years ago, and I found myself there a couple of weeks ago. I bought a half-strip of buttery cheese strudel and a chocolate kugelhopf, which I have always described as a babka baked in a bundt pan.
The strudel was solid, though not quite as good as I remembered (the strudel dough wasn't quite as delicate as I expected). Ditto for the kugelhopf, which had a slightly grainy chocolate filling. Next time I'm ordering the cinnamon-raisin kugelhopf and the cabbage strudel, just to make Nora happy.
Andre's Cafe
1631 2nd Avenue, New York NY 10028 (at 85th Street; map)
212-327-1105
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, September 22, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Dark and heavily studded with more walnut chunks than first glance would lead one to anticipate, Payard's flourless chocolate-walnut cookie satisfies many cravings. With a texture reminiscent of fudge, this sweet is a cross between cookie and meringue. But the six ingredients that go into making it (walnuts, confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, egg whites, salt and vanilla extract) prove that simple is best. The thin, crackling surface breaks into a chocolate moist interior, with so many walnuts one might easily be convinced that the exclusive purpose of the cocoa rich batter was to bind the nuts. Basically, if walnuts are your thing, this cookie will fulfill every fantasy you've ever had of the perfect pick me up treat.
Payard Patisserie
1032 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10021 (nr. 74th Street; map)
212-717-5252
Posted by Ed Levine, September 16, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Square Meal
East 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128 (near 3rd Avenue; map); 212-860-9872; squaremealnyc.com
Service: Friendly but slow
Setting: Long, narrow dining room filled with warmth and noise
Compare It To: Sarabeth's
Must-Haves: Dessert, dessert, dessert, watermelon and strawberry salad, vichyssoise, chive and cheddar scones
Cost: $60 for two courses, tax and tip (it's BYOB)
Grade: B+
You know that silly t-shirt, "Life is short, eat dessert first?" Well, last week I went to a restaurant, Square Meal, where the desserts were so good, I could have eaten them first, last, and in between, with no main course necessary. Square Meals' owner Yura Mohr has run a Manhattan catering business and take-out storefront for almost 20 years (before that she owned a luncheonette in Brooklyn Heights and cooked at the Heights Casino athletic club) in various locations around her stomping grounds, Manhattan's upper east side. Denizens of that tony 'hood know that as a comfort food-style baker Yura has very few peers in this country.
So it's no surprise that desserts at the recently opened Square Meal, a long and narrow, simply painted and furnished room catty corner to her take-out storefront, are stellar in that Yuraesque, if-your-grandmother-was-a-phenomenal-baker-who-shopped-at-the-greenmarket way. Go soon or you risk not finding the wild Maine blueberry pie ($8.00) on the menu. Imagine a pie loosely packed with tiny, still intact wild Maine blueberries splashed with lemon juice, with almost no blue goop whatsoever, surrounded by a flakey, buttery crust so fine you think you've been taken to a farm cafe in Iowa.
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Posted by Kathy YL Chan, August 28, 2008 at 6:00 PM
This American bakery on the Upper East Side might be best known for their deep and dark Brooklyn Blackout Cake, but the cheesecake, sold both by the slice and whole, is an unsung wonder. Though perhaps it is better that way; that way you don't have to worry about the bakery selling out before you arrive for a post-work, pre-dinner treat, or a nighttime snack. The cheesecake is done in the classic New York style—incredibly rich and velvety with a buttery graham cracker crust. The wedge is generous and tall with a perfectly golden top, sinking into a seemingly endless depth of sweet, cheesy goodness. How it manages it be so luscious on the tongue, yet settle with the lightest of weights in your stomach, is beyond me—but who am I to complain?
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Avenue #1, New York NY 10028 (nr. 86th Street; map)
212-452-0476
twolittleredhens.com
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 31, 2008 at 12:00 PM
"At first, I didn't recognize the french-fry holder for what it was." Photograph by Eating in Translation
I am all about edible bowls. The most obvious examples are always nice, like ice cream in a edible cone-cup or soup served in a hollowed out bread bowl. But this use of food-to-hold-other-food could be my favorite of all time: the french-fry-holding onion ring bowl at Telepan, written about by Dave Cook from Eating in Translation. Described as "exceptionally airy" this could be the first case of a dish where I'm more excited to eat the bowl, than what's inside.
Telepan
72 W. 69th Street, New York NY 10023 (nr Columbus Avenue; map)
212-580-4300
Posted by Ed Levine, July 31, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Nobody knows beef like an old-fashioned butcher. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of my favorite roast beef sandwiches is made by Schatzie (with only one name he's like a butcher supermodel), in a postage stamp-sized butcher shop in Carnegie Hill (a neighborhood I like to call the upper, upper east side).
His roast beef sandwich is a model of simple beefy deliciousness. Schatzie roasts a prime top round roast until it's perfectly rare. When you order a roast beef sandwich the counterperson takes that mass of red meat goodness and slices a whole mess of it onto a piece of Orwasher's rye bread. Oh yeah, before he puts sliced beef to bread it gets a squirt of some bottled thousand island dressing. Purists and locavores may shudder, but once they take a bite all will be right in their world.
Schatzie's Prime Meats
1200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10128 (nr. 87th Street; map)
212-410-1555
Posted by Kathy YL Chan, July 25, 2008 at 6:00 PM
After reading Nick's post on J.G.Melon last week, I quickly hustled my toosh over to the UES...need burger ASAP. Conclusion? The burger and cottage fries are delicious indeed, but don't pass up on a slice of Apple Sour Cream Walnut Pie. The generous wedge is served warm and has a buttery crust. Thinly sliced apples and sour cream are slipped between every layer, and the whole thing is topped with plush ribbons of whipped cream, which hides a sweet, crumbly topping—walnut-studded, of course.
J.G. Melon
1291 Third Avenue, New York NY 10021 (at 74th Street; map)
212-744-0585
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 22, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photograph by wEnDaLicious
Vanilla profiteroles served with a side of warm butter sweet chocolate sauce. Wow.
L'Absinthe
227 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065 (nr. 3rd Avenue; map)
212-794-4950
labsinthe.com
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 16, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photograph by Robyn Lee
Ed Levine did an Upper East Side treats run on Monday, and this was one of our favorites; the "Mocha Madness" cookie from Two Little Red Hens. The walnut studded dark chocolate batter gets spiked with a little bit of brewed Irving Farm coffee, giving it that faint hint of mocha that never quite reaches madness levels. 1652 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (nr. 86th Street; map); twolittleredhens.com
Posted by Barbara Hanson, June 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM
There are almost no signs along Second Avenue from 78th Street to 86th Street that a thriving Hungarian (and Czech and German and Polish) community once existed there. On the corner of East 82nd Street is Johnny Foxes Taphouse Grille; online reviews say that the sports bar “has something for everyone.” On the same spot once stood the mighty Paprika Weiss, which had everything for Hungarians. The store, owned by the Weiss family for three generations, was packed not only with spices, pork products, baked goods, and dairy, but also dishes, cookware, and linen embroidered with the ubiquitous red and green of the Magyar flag.
Although Paprika Weiss is no more, there is a more basic—and friendlier —survivor from the 1950s: the Hungarian Meat Market and Delicatessen. The store, which also has a branch in Fairfield, CT, is small and appealing, its walls covered with beige paneling that was ubiquitous in 1970s living rooms. The variety of goods the market carries is not as vast as that of Paprika Weiss, but all the Hungarian basics and then some are available in abundance; that is to say, you will be able to choose from five or six paprikas, not ten or twenty.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, June 9, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but around this time of day, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to something sweet—as an inspiration for your sugar fix. Enjoy! I know we will. —Zach
This isn't just any stack of fat, soft, chewy cookies—these cookies are from the Upper East Side's Two Little Red Hens, a bakery that seems unable to make anything less than delicious. I once ordered a custom birthday cake from Two Little Red Hens—which I highly recommend—but hadn't tried the cookies until last Friday. I tried some of them again after they had been sitting in the Serious Eats kitchen over the weekend and they're still deliciously moist and chewy. These large cookies are worth more than the $1.60 price tag, which is a bargain in New York City's cookie market. My favorite was the orchard cookie, a unique cookie filled with trail mix (like a deluxe version of an oatmeal cookie), but standards like chocolate chip, ginger spice, oatmeal, and snickerdoodle are also worth getting.
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028 (map)
212-452-0476
Posted by Ed Levine, February 9, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Midtown and Upper East Side chocolate places for Valentine's Day worth a nibble and a few extra calories:
MarieBelle
Maribel Lieberman has gone uptown on us, but her hot chocolate and chocolates are still as good as ever. Don't worry—her Soho location is still open. 762 Madison Avenue, between 65th and 66th Streets; 212-249-4585; mariebelle.com
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 2, 2008 at 1:54 PM
The Upper East Side has a fine array of options for Super Bowl noshing: All places mentioned will deliver unless otherwise specified.
- Papaya King: slaw dogs rock! (No delivery)
- Pig Heaven: Excellent spare ribs, suckling pig, and egg rolls.
- Mimi's: Big slices with too much cheese (still very satisfying)
- Patsy's: Coal-fired Brick Oven Pizza that doesn't travel all that well
- Totonno's: the first branch of the Coney Island original
- Pastrami Queen: Excellent pastrami and french fries from an offshoot of the legendary Pastrami King in Queens.
- P.J. Bernstein's: Solid if unspectacular deli with good matzo ball soup
- Pio, Pio: Fine rotisseried chicken, Peruvian-style
- Taco, Taco: pretty good Mexican food (especially for the Upper East Side
- Wu Liang Ye: If you get a yen for Sichuan food on the upper east side, this is your best bet.
Posted by Ed Levine, January 15, 2008 at 6:45 AM
Many current and former New York City residents swear by a local specialty: the black and white cookie, an oversize cakey, almost spongecakelike cookie iced with a shiny, half-vanilla, half-chocolate fondant frosting. There was even a famous Seinfeld episode, "The Dinner Party," in which Jerry held up a black and white cookie as a symbol of racial harmony and peace among men and women (George and Elaine, to be precise).
But what a lot of folks don't know is that, according to most culinary historians and even Wikipedia, black and white cookies probably originated in central New York (where they're called half-moons) at a Utica bakery, Hemstrought's. In 1999 Saveur magazine tracked down Hemstrought's half-moon cookie recipe. And just to confuse matters further, in Germany there is a black and white–like cookie called an Amerikaner.
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 14, 2008 at 11:27 AM
I was passing E.A.T. yesterday, and the siren call of Eli Zabar's overpriced but usually delicious food got the best of me.
I ordered four items, all sweets; a quarter-pound of the fruit coffee cake ($3), a mini chocolate cupcake ($2), a black and white cookie, and a cup of Eboni and Ivory Pudding (chocolate and vanilla) ($4).
The coffee cake was reasonably moist and had thick veins of dried fruit, but it had too much orange rind in it for my taste. The mini chocolate cupcake was very chocolatey if a little dry. The black and white cookie tasted less than fresh.
The clear winner of the quartet was the pudding combo. It was almost obscenely rich and creamy with loads of real vanilla and high quality milk chocolate flavor. It might be the best pudding to be had anywhere in New York outside the butterscotch pudding at Sweet Melissa's in Brooklyn.
Note to all Ed Levine Diet Helpers: I adhered to my one-bite rule for all four items mentioned above, except for the pudding. I had two spoonfuls. It was just too good.
E.A.T.
Address: 1064 Madison Avenue, New York NY 10128 (b/n 80th and 81st streets)
Phone: 212-772-0022
Posted by Ed Levine, December 31, 2007 at 6:17 PM
If you're not going out, or if you've invited friends over to watch a DVD and raise a glass, here are a few suggestions for high-quality delivered food in various neighbrohoods arround New York:
Peppe's Pizza in Park Slope
House of Pizza and Calzones: Carroll Gardens
Pizza Suprema: Chelsea, Midtown West
Grand Sichuan International: East Village, Chelsea
Blue Smoke: Flatiron
Hill Country: Chelsea
Daisy May's: Midtown West
Totonno's: Murray Hill
Totonno's: Upper East Side
Pig Heaven: Upper East Side
Rack and Soul: Upper West Side
Harriet's Kitchen: Upper West Side
Happy New Year, everyone!
Posted by Ed Levine, December 25, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Four years ago Alex Witchel took a stab at explaining the phenomenon of Jews in New York eating Chinese food on Christmas Day.
Somewhere, Christmas will look like this: cheerful children opening presents that don't break by noon; a glazed ham taking pride of place on the heirloom cherrywood sideboard as the heady aroma of gingerbread wafts through the house, which is itself set upon snow-covered hills where the leafy pine boughs are filigreed in ice.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 14, 2007 at 11:17 AM
A selection of pies and tarts from Trois Pommes Patisserie.
As many of you know I am a pie freak, which in New York is not a bad thing, as New York has quietly become an excellent pie town. Last year some of you might recall I posted about New York's five best pies. It is now time to move beyond my top five pie list in New York, to a place called Pie Heaven.
I have eaten hundreds of pies in Gotham, and I believe that no one should want for a great piece of pie on Thanksgiving. So in honor of Ben Leventhal and the rest of the crew at Eater I give you my current, up-to-the-minute list of fine pie establishments in and around New York. A lot of these places don't allow walk-in pie purchases on either the day before Thanksgiving or on Turkey Day itself, so to avoid extreme Thanksgiving pie disappointment, call now.
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