A Fresh Baked Welcome Back

Best Bagel and Coffee

When my mom and I got back from Ireland, we were too exhausted to go out to eat. Naturally, we ordered Seamless - it is such a luxury to get delicious food delivered to you!

The next morning, we left my apartment (a small victory in itself on these humid days!) to finally go to Best Bagel & Coffee (no website, http://www.yelp.com/biz/best-bagel-and-coffee-new-york). I haven't had a Sausage, Egg & Cheese in a LONG TIME, so that is exactly what I ordered. I got it on an everything bagel - so many seeds and on BOTH SIDES!

Sausage, Egg & Cheese on an Everything Bagel!

I got a large iced coffee (delicious!) and my mom got a Sesame Bagel, toasted with butter. She also loved it!

If you're in Midtown West, the bagels here are delicious - really some of the best I've had in Manhattan.

Cheers,

Liz

 

Milk & Cookies

A Groupon that doesn't suck!

After our brunch at Good Restaurant, we stopped by Milk & Cookies (http://www.milkandcookiesbakery.com/)  for, well, you guessed it: COOKIES!

In the past, we've used an awesome Groupon deal (click here for more info). This offer is $9.99 for $20 of baked goods and beverages OR $29.49 for $60 worth of baked goods and beverages over three visits (up to $20 per visit).

Artwork in the bakery

The interior of the bakery is full of DELICIOUSNESS

WHOOPIES

The goods!

The Salted Oat Surprise is my favorite - it is my preferred blend of sweet and salty!

My brother and mom and the BEST models!

This is an excellent bakery and an even better deal with the Groupon.

Cheers,

Liz

 

Breakfast for Dessert

Cereal Milk Soft Serve @ Momofuku Milk Bar

After brunch but before the rest of our day (graduation parties), Aish and I stopped by MomoFuku Milk Bar (http://milkbarstore.com/main/).

After our hearty brunch at Feast, we weren't super hungry, so we split one cereal milk soft serve with the cornflake crunch.

Milk does a body good, right? You're damn right!

Aish had never tried the cereal milk but after her first taste, she LOVED it! It tastes exactly like it sounds.

If you're in the East Village, check it out!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Clinton St. Baking Company

Pancakes on Pancakes

There is a certain type of joy when you find out your table is ready at a restaurant. Back in the day, restaurants would write down your name (on paper!) and give you a buzzer. Now, it goes in an iPad and you get a text message.

After 45 minutes, I got a text message that our table was ready at Clinton St. Baking Company (http://clintonstreetbaking.com/).

About the enter Pancake Palace

Even though we already had a cup of coffee at Cocoa Bar, we ordered another one here. Check out Scott enjoying his cup of coffee! I just got a new camera (Canon T3i) and I'm still learning how to use it. I wanted to up the quality of images on my site.

Oh hi there

Scott ordered the Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwich made with scrambled eggs, melted cheddar, house made tomato jam, with hash browns. He added bacon because well, bacon. He also got a side order of cheese grits.

Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwich

I ordered the FAMOUS Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter with Wild Maine Blueberries. It only comes with one small container of syrup (it has the butter melted in it). I like a nice ratio of pancake to syrup, so I asked for more syrup. I was a bit disappointed when it was an additional $2 - at least give me enough so I don't need to pay more!

Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter

This is a great breakfast spot. I recommend coming during off hours because it is so crowded!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Waiting for Pancakes...

Only in NYC do you wait 45 mins at 10am on a weekday for breakfast

Scott and I planned to go to Clinton St. Baking Company for breakfast on a weekday. We assumed this would avoid the typical 2+ hour long wait. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised when we found out that we would have to wait 45 minutes for a table. On a Wednesday at 10am. Instead of pacing outside, we went to a coffee bar that was recommended right down the street: Cocoa Bar (http://www.cocoabarnyc.com/).

I ordered a cup of coffee. Plain coffee. Nothing special but it hit the spot. If I have to wait for Clinton St. again, I will try the chocolate coffee.

A bunch of exciting beverage options for my next visit!

Huge macaroons!!

This is a cute spot that turns into a wine bar later in the day. Will need to stop by!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Cupcakes Bring the (Sugar Sweet) Sunshine Out!

My Favorite Cupcakes in the City!

Who knew I would discover my new favorite cupcake while attending a Strategy Speaker session on a Friday? My professor ordered cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery (http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/) and I was in HEAVEN!

I chose a yellow cupcake that looked adorable without knowing the flavor. Little did I know that I would be discovering my new favorite flavor: Holla Back Girl! It is a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. I am super super weird about banana. I generally do not like it on its own, but I love it in baked goods, especially banana bread. This cupcake captured everything I love about banana bread and slapped delicious frosting on it!

For the last day of classes for the undegrad course I assist with, I asked the professor if I could order cupcakes. Once she gave me the OK, I ordered 84 cupcakes of a variety of flavors. People tended to love the Black & White...Just Right (chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream), Strawberry (strawberry cake with cream cheese icing) and the Holla Back Girl! Without question, the Sunshine (yellow cake with vanilla buttercream) are amazing and a crowd pleaser.

Beautiful colors!

What I love about this bakery, in addition to its awesome cupcakes, is that it offers delivery. If you have a sizeable order, the $16.95 delivery fee (may change depending on distance from the bakery) isn't that much of a drain and it saves you the time of heading over there and lugging them, especially if you ordered 7 dozen!

Also, most bakeries in NYC have cupcakes that are nearly $3 if not more! This bakery has cupcakes that are *only* $2! I know that sounds ridiculous if you don't live in NYC, but this is a relative bargain, especially given the quality.

When I'm in the neighborhood, I look forward to stopping into the physical location to sample some desserts beyond just the cupcakes :)

Cheers,

Liz

 

Milk Does a Body Good

Dessert as Addictive as Crack

After our wonderful dinner at B4, the girls and I headed to Momofuku Milk Bar (http://www.yelp.com/biz/momofuku-milk-bar-new-york-4) is the East Village. I've had the pleasure of dining here before, so I was full of recommendations on what to order.

First, we started with a pint of the Cereal Milk soft serve. If you get an individual serving, it is $4. The pint (which is easily more than 2x the size of the individual) is $8. Make sure to get the pint layered with cereal crunchies! The salty-sweetness is what makes this dessert a stand out. If you're a fan of things like salted caramel or kettle corn, you will LOVE this! I was too busy eating to remember to take photos, so this is all I have. #sorryimnotsorry

Tasting Portions

We split up the pint into individual servings so we could taste a bunch of things. We also ordered a slice of crack pie (it reminds me of a pecan pie...minus the pecans). It has the sweetness of a condensed milk dessert. So yummy! We also got the birthday cake truffles. If you love that taste, this intense flavored ball of goodness will blow your socks off.

There are several other Milk bars in New York, including the Upper West Side, Midtown West, Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens. Make sure to check it out and you MUST try the cereal milk!

Cheers,

Liz

 

The River(park) Runs Deep

Depth of Flavors Delight the Senses

Ah! Restaurant Week, you are amazing! Not only do you deliver delicious food to my mouth at a huge discount, you last for WEEKS! Melissa and I hit up one of her favorite spots, Riverpark (http://www.riverparknyc.com/), for dinner. As an aside, Melissa already came here 3 times (!!!) for Restaurant Week. I knew this was going to be a delicious meal!

A unique feature of this Tom Colicchio is that the entire menu is featured for Restaurant Week. Naturally, some of the menu items have an upcharge due to the ingredients featured. I forgot to snap a picture, but we started our meal with a delicious piece of fresh baked bread. The bread is made on site and so yummy!! We were offered another piece but I said no because I already stuffed a slice of pizza in my mouth at Beer Blast (the Happy Hour at Stern). See, I have self-control! ha

We both ordered the same pasta as an appetizer. It featured cocoa spaccatelli, pork ragu, Honeycrisp apples and sage.

Beautiful Pasta!

The pasta was tasty! The cocoa was likely added for color as I couldn't taste it directly. Though, the overall profile of the dish was very complex, so I'm sure it added to the taste.

After looking at the menu, we found two entrees we both wanted to try. So, we ordered one of each! We got the Whole Roasted Dorade with baby artichokes, capers, fennel and olives and the Cocoa Spiced Pekin Duck with blood orange, fennel, pearl onions, red cabbages and chiles.

Whole Roasted Dorade

Cocoa Spiced Pekin Duck

It is hard to pick which of this dishes was my favorite! The fish was moist, light and flaky. You can't really tell from the photo, but once you lift it from the middle, the fish was completely deboned and ready to NOM! It is nice to not have to pick out the bones. The assortment of vegetables and spices was lovely and not overwhelming to the fish. The duck was tender and tasted great with the blood orange.

For dessert, we ordered "Cereal & Milk" - the restaurant's signature dessert. Melissa assured me that it was worth the $3 upcharge! The dessert is composed of a chocolate ganache cake, caramelized rice puffs, and vanilla malt (hidden within the chocolate shell). We also got the Beignets that were served vanilla custard and spiced chocolate sauce.

Cereal & Milk

Beignets

We totally messed up and should have ordered TWO Cereal & Milk desserts!!! The beignets were ok but could not stand a chance compared to this delicious dessert. You break the chocolate shell and the vanilla malt inside covers the entire dessert. I should have taken a photo of it after we broke the shell but we were too busy eating it!

This is an incredible restaurant with phenomenal food! It is a much better value to come here during Restaurant Week but worth a visit regardless JUST FOR THE DESSERT!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Opps! I Ate My Valentine (Doughnut)

It was Delicious!

After our yummy lunch at the Rocking Horse Café, Melissa and I headed to Doughnut Plant (http://doughnutplant.com/) for dessert. Since it was a Hallmark holiday, we needed to celebrate it. This menu welcomed us with open arms, of course we were going inside!

DOUGHNUTS!

The inside of the location is warm and inviting - this may be because it is full of doughnuts! The doughnut pillows on the wall add a certain touch.

CHECK OUT THESE DOUGHNUTS!

If you think the wall art is beautiful, check out the real thing!

Do I have to pick just one?

Given that it was Valentine's Day and the description sounded delicious, I ordered the Everything's Coming Up Roses, heart shaped rose doughnut.

Rose Doughnut - photo does not want to cooperate!

This yeast doughnut was delicious! The rose petals were beautiful to look at and delicious to eat! This is not your average grocery store doughnut - this place is on another level.

Cappuccino

To complement the doughnut, I ordered a cappuccino. The place has wonderful hot chocolate but I thought it may be too much sweetness together.

I cannot wait to go back here to try some more doughnuts! If you're in Chelsea or the Lower East Side, please check it out!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Steel Magnolia (Bakery)

An Oldie but Goodie

Where do I start? I love love love this Magnolia Bakery (http://www.magnoliabakery.com/). I was first exposed to my favorite cupcake spot when I was watching Sex and the City. I Googled the episode to find out which season (Season 3, Episode 5, titled "No Ifs, Ands, or Buts"). I also looked on YouTube for the episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYSsHEdWhi4), Note: this is a super random user upload but it is the actual episode!

Anyway, this was a bit of a tangent but I felt it was necessary. My love for this bakery goes way back (2000 when the episode aired). Now that I live in New York City, I am able to visit much more frequently than when my family lived in New Jersey. Magnolia launched the trend of cupcakes that has led to the opening of many other bakeries. What is good for one shop is good for others, which in turn, is great for dessert lovers such as myself!

After our brunch at Yerba Buena, Aish and I headed over to the original location on Bleeker Street. Since the SATC episode, there have been multiple openings in NYC (Midtown West, Upper West Side, Midtown East and in Grand Central, the perfect location for commuters!). I'm pretty sure she hadn't yet been to this magical bakery so I was excited to share this with her!

Beautiful Window Display

The last time I went to Magnolia, the window display had "self-serve" cupcakes which translates into "people licking there fingers and touching cupcakes that they may or MAY NOT purchase." This terrified me in the past so I would always be annoying and ask for fresh cupcakes from behind the counter. I realize this is a bit excessive, but so is paying over $2.00 for a cupcake. I'd like my pricey cupcake to not be pre-licked thank you very much!

The counter set-up is also awesome too - very nostalgic.

YUM!

I love that a lot of the desserts here fit within the theme of "personal sized." This prevents you from pigging out...unless of course you order several personal sized desserts. Oops. I ordered my favorite cupcake (chocolate cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles) and Aish got something else. I don't remember what it was because I was too focused on my cupcake.

If you're in the West Village, check out this cupcake institution!

Cheers,

Liz