What exactly is it about macarons that enchants New Yorkers so much? Is it because they’re so wonderfully French? Or maybe it’s because they’re so often visually stunning? Also, we can’t forget that macarons done right are a textural sensation, with creamy ganache or buttercream sandwiched between two crumbly cookies. Regardless of why these desserts are so magical, here’s a rundown of the best macarons in the city.
Laduree
864 Madison Ave. (btwn. 70th and 71st St.), $2.50/macaron
Laduree is not a pastry shop specializing in macarons. It is macaron museum. Inside of its prominent display case is a careful curetted exhibit of Paris’ most famous cookies, ranging from the beloved standbys pistachio, lemon, and vanilla, to the more innovative cinnamon raisin, or marshmallow-filled coconut (I tried it, and it was delicious). Regardless of whether or not you opt for the tried-and-true classics, quickly aging trends (seriously, enough with the salted caramel), or just downright weird (“lily of the valley,” anyone?) your edible art is guaranteed to inspire.
La Maison du Chocolat
1018 Madison Ave. (btwn. 78th and 79th St.), $2.90/macaron
The crèmes, truffles, pralines at Maison du Chocolat are the stuff of legend. And while the confectionaries’ fame is certainly deserved, don’t overlook that little case containing what look like little pastel seashells. Like everything at MdC, the macarons are more traditional than experimental, never really getting more exotic than passion-fruit (those in the macaron field know this flavor comes standard). But with cookies whose interior is so moist it is practically just fluffy almond paste, and a layer of buttery chocolate gnache replacing the standard crème filling, like every other MdC creation, they are almost too perfect to be real.
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No Comments | Posted on July 17, 2012 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog
tags: Alice Preminger, Foodie Tuesday, macarons
What could be better than the sweet-savory, noodle-wrapped packets of goodness that are dumplings? That sweet-savory goodness enveloped in the yeast-based equivalent of a cloud. Harboring everything from pork to mushrooms to fried chicken in their cozy center, steamed buns (or bao, depending on where you are) give the ubiquitous dumpling a run for its money when it comes to the quintessential Chinese appetizer. Ranging from light enough for a quick snack, to hearty enough for a complete meal their versatility knows know limits. Here’s a rundown of some of the best.
Joe’s Shanghai
9 Pell St. (btwn. Bowry and Mott St.); 24 West 56th St. (btwn. 5th and 6th Ave.), $4.95/8
Okay, so I admit that it’s rather obnoxious to kick off my steamed bun shortlist with something more closely resembling a dumpling than your typical steamed bun. Described by a friend as “the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life” the “soup dumplings” are somewhat of an “inside out” wonton soup. Instead of a simple hunk of meat or shredded vegetable heap, tiny patties of ground pork are suspended in a vicious amniotic pork broth, all enveloped in a sticky, steamed dough wrapper. If you’re having trouble envisioning this, just imagine a giant noodle-y bubble bursting with the richest broth known to man. That and some patience, lest a prematurely ruptured dumpling leave you with a burned mouth.
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No Comments | Posted on July 10, 2012 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog, Under $20
tags: Alice Preminger, Foodie Tuesday, steamed buns
Foodie Tuesday is back for summer of 2012, counting down the best of your favorite snacks in this wonderful city. To kick off this sweaty season is a run-down of the best of what just might be the perfect dessert on a steamy day: sorbet.
Gourmet Sorbet
deKalb Market; 138 Willoughby St. $3/small
Sorbet has the somewhat bad rap as the underachieving cousin of ice cream, a snack for dieters, or the lactose intolerant. But one spoonful of GS’s brilliant-bizarre concoctions, like the sweet but mouth-puckering key lime coconut is enough to dispel all misconceptions about the underappreciated dessert. As smooth and dense as any ice cream, a mere scoop of sorbet makes for as decadent a snack as its dairy counterpart, but won’t leave you feeling like you just consumed a concrete brick.
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No Comments | Posted on June 26, 2012 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog, Under $20
tags: Alice Preminger, Foodie Tuesday, Sorbet
I have yet to meet a college student unfamiliar with the Styrofoam-cup borne salty, starchy and occasionally spicy snack that is “ramen.” Yet, relatively few have experienced the pleasure of encountering the dish from which it was derived. Featuring niceties like fatty roast pork, soy-soaked eggs and hand-pulled noodles, the bowls on this list bear little resemblance to that tangle of noodles laced with the occasional microscopic kernel of corn, carrot cube, or pea. Just be careful. After the real thing, reverting back to that Cup ‘O Noodles will be painful indeed.
Ippudo
65 4th Ave. (btw. 9th and 10th St.)
Ippudo is more than a pretty space. Widely reputed as among the best purveyor of ramen in New York City, the restaurant lives up to both its hype and impossibly chic interior. While the “Shiromaru Hakata” may be the classic, I personally recommend the “Akamaru Modern.” While the solitary slice of pork accompanied by only some stringy black mushrooms and a confetti pile of shredded cabbage may look like a measly lunch, suspend your judgment until mixing that scoop of red miso into the pork bone broth. The first slurp of the deep, complex, and incomprehensibly rich broth will remove any doubt as to the legitimacy of the meal; the last will have you convinced there’s no need to eat again for another month.
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3 Comments | Posted on November 29, 2011 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog
tags: Alice Preminger, Asian cuisine, Foodie Tuesday, quintessential college fare, ramen, St Mark's Place
Thick slabs of buttery turkey. Mounds of creamy mashed potatoes. A scoop of fluffy stuffing. Without a doubt, there are many reasons to love Thanksgiving. But if you’re like me, the best part of the meal comes after all that “real food” nonsense, with the cake stands, cookie plates, and of course: pie tins. And, what could be more integral to the quintessential American holiday than the classic American dessert? To get in that festive (and perhaps gluttonous) mindset, I set about scoping out a few of the best. No offense to grandma, but these pies just may make it hard to enjoy anything else.
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Ave. (btw. 85th and 86th St.)
Innovative, yet familiar, the “plum walnut” tart at this cozy Yorkville bakery is but more evidence of TLRH’s mastery of the baked good. More like a pie-shaped cobbler than anything else, the tart is mottled with globs of crisp caramelized brown sugar streusel and rich walnuts, which give way to a gooey filling that seeps out the sides of each slice. Teeming with thick slices of soft and juicy plums and cherries, the sweet, tangy, and slightly-citrusy sauce they marinate in is peppered with flecks of spicy crystallized ginger, adding an unexpected but brilliant kick to the already intense fruity flavor.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
439 3rd Avenue (at 8th St.), Park Slope, Bk.
When by November 1st, a bakery informs customers that “we are no longer accepting pre-orders for Thanksgiving,” two conclusions can be drawn: the residents of Park Slope are insane; or these must be really good pies. Happily for me, that latter is far more likely. While the signature “salted caramel apple pie,” sounds like a kooky take on the “salty baked goods” trend, it is nothing short of brilliant. The diamonds of sea salt studding its crisp lattice crust (provide) something reminiscent of a pretzel, which shatters to give way to a gooey mess of tender, butter-soaked granny smith apples. Balancing the tartness of the apples and saltiness of the crust is the golden drizzle of gooey caramel lacing the outskirts of generous slice, completing that salty-sweet-tart trifecta.
City Bakery
City Bakery
3 West 18th St. (btw. 5th and 6th Ave.)
Those familiar with the cornmeal and molasses based “Indian Pudding” will immediately understand why City Bakery dubbed its version of the autumnal staple “Indian Apple Pie.” Instead of the traditional butter crust, the bakery opts for one derived from cornmeal, which, when coupled with its glaze of molasses, is a delightful sweet, chewy-grainy surprise. Equal attention is paid to the pie’s filling – as the apples are drenched in enough butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to be melt-in-your mouth tender, but not so much that they mask the apples’ perfect sweet-tart flavor.
Momofuku Milkbar
Momofuku Milkbar
251 East 13th St. (at 2nd Ave.); 15 West 56th St. (btw. 5th and 6th Ave.); 561 Columbus Ave. (btw. 87th and 88th St.); 382 Metropolitan Ave. (at Havermeyer St.)
Butter and sugar. They’re basically what people live for. And, they are incidentally the first two ingredients in Momofuku Milkbar’s “crack pie” (the following two are egg yolks and heavy cream). With the dense, gooey-yet-cohesive consistency of a lemon square, almost painfully intense flavor of butter, vanilla and caramelized sugar, and oatmeal crust rendered sticky with chewy burnt caramel, we humans are utterly powerless over it’s euphoria-inducing properties. So don’t delude yourself into thinking you can stop at half a slice, or, even more preposterous – share.
Pies n' Thighs
Pies ‘n’ Thighs
166 South 4th St. (at Driggs Ave.)
Slicing over eight varieties a day, it is clear that the Williamsburg establishment takes their sweet co-specialty seriously. Unfortunately, when selections include everything from “sweet potato” to “bourbon pecan” and “smoked ‘s’mores,” it can become painfully hard to select just one. The “sour cherry” I decided on featured the traditional half-inch thick butter crust, and was packed
full of plump, misshapen blobs of cherry. Just beware, they live up to their name, so be sure to save some of those rocks of brown sugar cobbling the crust lest your cheeks start puckering.
Buttercup Bakeshop
Buttercup Bakeshop
973 2nd Ave. (btw. 51st and 52nd St.)
As Magnolia has shown us time and time again, just because a bakery specializes in cupcakes doesn’t mean it’s other offerings can’t be killer. Such is the case with the midtown Buttercup Bakeshop, whose strawberry rhubarb pie I had the pleasure of devouring. Its label as a “crumb” pie doesn’t even come close to describing the inch-thick layer of what are effectively oatmeal cookie chunks floating atop its dense jam-like interior. Packed with cylinders of stringy candied rhubarb and hunks of soft strawberries, it’s almost like a super-thick compote.
(Note: Buttercup doesn’t sell slices of its pies, so be prepared to commit to either an enormous 6” snack, or a group dessert)
-Alice Preminger
1 Comment | Posted on November 15, 2011 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog
tags: Alice Preminger, dessert, Fall, Foodie Tuesday, holiday, Pie
DuMont burger — I can't believe it's veggie!
Veggie burgers have cultivated somewhat of a bad reputation. To most, they evoke dry and tasteless grey-brown disks, studded with the occasional kernel of corn or pea. But the vegetarian staple can be so much more than a sorry beef replacement. Here are six “burgers” that just might make you rethink your carnivore sensibilities.
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1 Comment | Posted on November 1, 2011 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog
tags: Alice Preminger, brgr, DuMont Burgers, Foodie Tuesday, Gobo, New York Burger Co., Stand, Vegetarian, veggie burgers, Zen Palate
Is there anything that could be more integral to the fall than the cheerful pumpkin? In honor of both the season and my fondness of the beloved gourd, I dedicated this installment of Foodie Tuesday to all things pumpkin. Instead of strict “apples to apples” comparisons, this week’s list features orange desserts of all persuasions, from cake to ice cream and everything in between.
Sugar Sweet Sunshine Pumpkin Pudding
126 Rivington St. (btw. Essex and Norfolk)
A happy marriage between fall’s two most festive flavors, Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s pumpkin-eggnog trifle may just be the most brilliant dessert I have stumbled upon. Chunks of moist and spongy pumpkin cake are marbled with silky sweet eggnog pudding and fluffy whipped cream. And while pumpkin and eggnog may not seem like the most natural of partners, the prominent nutmeg notes in both the cake and pudding tie the autumnal treats together beautifully.
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2 Comments | Posted on October 18, 2011 | Categories: From the Blog, Native's Pick
tags: Alice Preminger, Foodie Tuesday, Pumpkin
Crisp cool air, golden sunshine (well, maybe not this year), and brilliant leaves, what better companion to the season of sweater weather than a spicy, sweet, creamy chai latte? This week, Alice scoped out a few of the best to help keep you warm when that chilly autumn breeze begins to blow.
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No Comments | Posted on October 4, 2011 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog, Native's Pick
tags: Alice Preminger, chai, Fall, Foodie Tuesday, tea
There is little that makes waking up more tolerable than the thought of a fist-sized, fluffy, sweet and soft muffin. With everything from blueberries and bananas to pecans and poached pears embedded within that heavenly cake, glassy sugar crystals, rolled oats and crumbly streusel sprinkled across the top, the beloved portable breakfast come in many a form. Here are seven of my favorites!
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Ave (btw. 85th and 86th St.)
What looks to the naked eye like an ordinary blueberry muffin turns out to be a cylindrical lump of unadulterated joy. Those conspicuous marble-sized indigo berries are merely preludes to the fluffy cake, its texture lumpy and inconsistent in that exact way that separates the muffins from the cupcakes. While the hints of ginger in the cake are depth enough to render it a standout, it’s the pockets of lemon curd nestling like sweet-tart and potent surprises in the muffin’s nooks and crannies that propel it to the top of this list.
Peels
325 Bowery (at 2nd St.)
While it may sound jarringly unorthodox, the amalgam of buckwheat, rosemary and lemon marmalade that is the “Peel’s Muffin” just may be a touch of unexpected brilliance. The sticky-soft crust, embedded with shimmering sugar-crystals and garnished with sprigs of dried rosemary gives way to a fantastically dense and grainy (no doubt thanks to the bran) body. With ribbons of potent candied-lemon rind snaking through the rosemary-flecked batter, the sharp citrus perfectly rounding out the light rosemary, it just may be among the most complex muffins out there.
Van Leeweun
48 ½ East 7th St. (at 2nd Ave.); 632 Manhattan Ave. (at Bedford and Nassau), Greenpoint, Brooklyn; 81 Bergen St. (at Smith St.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
While the hard-to-pronounce vendor may be better known for its screwball ice creams than its baked goods, the small dome-topped muffins sitting quietly behind the counter may just challenge such an automatic association. The blackberry hazelnut muffin I tried sported a sugar-encrusted crust spotted with enormous, plump blackberries that burst with juice, a criminally moist and almost egg-y interior that was reminiscent of an extremely dense popover. And while hazelnuts were ground so finely into the batter they were difficult to spot, their sweet, earthy flavor was anything but.
Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleeker St. (at West 11th St.); 1240 Avenue of the Americas (at 49th St.); 200 Columbus Ave. (at 69th St.); Grand Central Terminal
Yes, it’s a cupcake place. But contrary to what anyone might (rightfully) assume, the tins of muffins that go virtually unnoticed are far more than unfrosted cupcakes. While my pumpkin muffin was cupcake-sweet (more so by far than any others on the list), it had a texture and flavor all its own. Far lighter than Magnolia’s super-dense cupcakes, and so sticky its crumbs could cling to a fork, the muffin feels exactly like something that might come out of your own oven. And, with its full pumpkin flavor, enhanced by the nutmeg and cinnamon speckling the cake, it tastes that way too.
Trois Pommes
260 5th Ave. (btw. Carroll St. and Garfield Pl.), Park Slope, Brooklyn.
It may be on the small side, but the mushroom-shaped confections churned out by Park Slope’s Trois Pommes are so rich this may be a good thing. The pumpkin muffin I sampled was sweet without being overpowering, its delicate pumpkin flavor enlivened with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla. And while there was little interruption in its smooth consistency, its rock-candy hard brown sugar streusel topping, and sprinkling nutty toasted pumpkin seeds supplied satisfying doses of crunchiness.
Financier
62 Stone St. (btw. Mill Lane and Hanover Sq); 3-4 World Financial Center (Battery Park City); 35 Cedar St. (10 Liberty Plaza btw. Pearl and William St.); 1211 6th Ave. (at 48th St.); Grand Central Terminal
See: www.financier.com/locations for complete list.
Only a French bakery could produce a muffin so buttery you can almost feel it coating the inside of your mouth. The cone-shaped apple muffin, a crusty streusel climbing up its sticky, soft top, was light, airy and sent a shower of spongey crumbs from its body with every bite. While the cake itself was relatively one-dimensional – sweet, buttery and with the texture of an exceptionally smooth cornbread –it was the perfect backdrop for slivers of tender caramel-y apple dispersed throughout.
Grey Dog Café
90 University Pl. (btw. 11th and 12th St.); 33 Carmine St. (btw. Bleeker and Bedford St.); 242 West 16th St. (btw. 7th and 8th Ave.)
When it comes to breakfast indulgences, bran muffins are probably not the first things that come to mind. And while Grey Dog’s bran muffins, what with the disks of banana and erupting blueberries splotched across their misshapen palm size tops, certainly look virtuous, one bite into the tender, sweet and nutty body that is fantastically buttery and has the consistency of a coarse and chewy cake reveals that a bran muffin does not have to equal a heap of tasteless sawdust.
- Alice Preminger
3 Comments | Posted on August 16, 2011 | Categories: Brooklyn, Dining, From the Blog, Manhattan, Native's Pick
tags: Alice Preminger, financier, Foodie Tuesday, grey dog cafe, magnolia bakery, peels, trois pommes, two little red hens, van leeweun
There is little quite so quintessentially New York as an enormous, crusty, chewy, soft bagel. And while bagel vendors may be just as ubiquitous as cabs and subways, they are by no means all created equal. Here are the standouts:
Absolute Bagels
2788 Broadway (btw. 107 and 108)
A small green awning and depiction of a bow-tie wearing bagel welcome you into the Morningside bagel shop, behind whose low, Formica, counter you can see table-sized baking sheets of thick, gleaming blobs dough being ushered in an out of the oven. And while an enormous glass case displays tray upon tray of flavored cream cheese, smoked fish and globs of tuna and egg salad, the bagels, encased in a thin skin that cracks (though does not crunch), are so moist and stretchy, and taste so sweet and almost buttery, make any topping feel like a superfluous gilding.
Ess-a-bagel
831 3rd Ave. (btw. 50th and 51st); 359 1st Ave. (at E 21st St.)
With its molded wood trim, marble-top tables and chandelier-like light fixtures, Ess-a-bagel looks almost too ornate to be selling little other than the simple staples of a Sunday-morning brunch. But a bite through the thick, tough skin of one of their enormous golden-brown bagels explains why the shop is perpetually teeming with hungry customers. Chewy, and remarkably elastic, the bagel (mine was a cinnamon raisin) was subtly sweet and plenty yeasty, and with the flecks of cinnamon dotting the doughy interior, it had both the texture and flavor of freshly baked cinnamon raisin bread.
H&H
1551 2nd Ave. (btw. E 80th and E 81st St.)
The fluorescent lights of this industrial-feeling store shine all hours of day and night, meaning their near universally beloved bagels can just as easily be a midnight snack as a quick breakfast. A good thing, since with their soft and thin but chewy skin, and fluffy interior that stretches a mile long, they are like big, yeasty pillows, and liable to be craved anytime, regardless of the hour.
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No Comments | Posted on July 12, 2011 | Categories: Brooklyn, Dining, From the Blog, Manhattan, Midtown East, Midtown West, Morningside Heights, Native's Pick, Only in New York, Park Slope, Upper East Side, Upper West Side
tags: Absolute Bagels, Alice Preminger, Bagel Hole, bagels, Ess-a-bagel, Foodie Tuesday, H&H, Murray's Bagels, Tal Bagels, Terrace Bagels
