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From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, July 8, 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. —Zach
Il Laboratorio del Gelato's recently reconfigured shop makes it all the more difficult to resist the temptation and all the more easy to simply pop up to the open street windows and order your two, three, or four scoops. Flavors are still evenly divided between gelato in the left case and sorbets in the right, starting at $3.25 for a small. We were tempted by the lemon & basil sorbet, along with a tart black plum number, but alas, gelato never fails to win our favor in the end. It always works out for the best, and we've yet to taste a flavor that disappoints. One this trip, we enjoyed a cup of buttery smooth and mild Green Tea with Vanilla Bean, and a separate cone with a particularly delightful Amaretto Crunch piled over nut-speckled Pistachio. Is there a sweeter way to cool off the afternoon?
Il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St., New York NY 10002 (b/n Broome & Delancey Streets; map)
212-343-9922
laboratoriodelgelato.com
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, July 7, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Delicate tea based nibbles and drinks with a Japanese flair are the staples at Tafu in Midtown. Chocolate-miso cakes, matcha lattes, mochi creams with sweet beans, and financiers all please the tongue, but if you are going to choose only one, dive for the nutty and just a tad sweet Genmaicha Cheesecake. $4.50 doesn't stretch too far for the long and narrow cheesecake sweet, infused with a blend of green tea and roasted brown rice... but shouldn't you be going for quality over quantity anyways?
Tafu
569 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10022 (on 51st Street; map)
212-980-1310
tafuny.com
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 26, 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. Today our resident Sugar Rush expert Kathy YL Chan hits up the new Van Leeuwan Ice Cream Truck. —Zach
Manhattan has recently been bombarded (and that's a good thing!) with new ice cream trucks, shops, and stops. Our own Ed Levine just checked out Duane Park and Odeon, and the other night I was lucky enough to happen upon the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck parked on the corner of University Place between 11th and 12th streets. The prices at the truck range from $3.50 for a small to $6.75 for a large. I recommend the small; they'll let you combine two flavors and it's just the right size.
With tempting sirens of currants and cream, pistachio, gianduja and a few more calling on the brief menu, I indulged in scoops of espresso and ginger. Both flavors were promising upon the first spoonful, especially the dark, almost chocolately espresso, but a few more dabbles proved otherwise. The ginger was marked by icy shards that outweighed the speckles of candied ginger, while the espresso left memories of gritty bits. With that said, Van Leeuwen has potential, especially with the quality of ingredients employed. Let's hope they're simply working out initial kinks and will be part of the community long enough for improvement.
Set times and locations for the truck are still being worked out, but you are pretty sure to find them seven days a week from Noon to 7 p.m. on the corner of Greene and Prince in Soho. After 7 p.m. they have been parking on University between 11th and 12th streets, but that spot is not entirely solidified. A second truck will likely be unveiled in the next week or two, and at that point locations will be finalized, and availalbe on their website.
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Those who consider Midtown a dessert wasteland clearly have not hovered over the sweets lining the walls of Oren's in Grand Central. It's there that you can find the ever-elusive Cestropbeau ganache brownie, made in Smithtown, New York. A deep, dark creation that will satisfy lovers of fudgy brownies, the treat is a tempting blend of Belgian chocolate with demerara sugar, sea salt, espresso, and Saigon cinnamon. Perfect for the afternoon break or to nosh on during that long Metro North ride home.
Oren's Daily Roast
105 East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017 (inside Grand Central Terminal; map)
212-338-0014
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 24, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Editor's note: In 2006 New York magazine published an indispensable guide to ice cream sandwiches in New York City. While that guide set a solid bar, much has changed in the last two years. To update that list for the summer of 2008, we sent Sugar Rush correspondent Kathy YL Chan out to find the best ice cream sandwiches in New York City. Here is her report. —Zach
In the last seven days I've eaten more ice cream sandwiches than I care to confess, all in an attempt to find our city's ten best ice cream sandwiches. I searched and I ate—from the Lower East Side to the West Village, from DUMBO to Park Slope, from market to restaurant to ice cream shop, even at a department store. Oh man, did I eat. Chocolate-flecked vanilla sandwiched between brownies, crisp chocolate chip cookies packed with strawberry ice cream, creamy scoops of gelato tucked into brioche buns: Nothing was left untouched. Some were bigger than my fist, while others were just about the size of a silver dollar. This city offers ice cream sandwiches in more forms than you dare imagine, but it's for the best—there's something for everyone. After the jump, our ten favorites, in no particular order.
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From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 20, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Meet Russ & Daughter's Chocolate Covered Halvah Bar. Not quite a candy bar, not just halvah alone, but a combination of all of it in the best possible formula. Priced at just under $2, it is quite possibly one of the best dessert deals in the Lower East Side. The nutty ground sesame seeds crumble oh so easily into a decadent mess with every bite, but man, it's hard not to keep on munching away. Couple that with a rich dip of dark chocolate, just enough to cover, toasted almonds slivers, and you're bound to be addicted.
Russ & Daughters
179 E. Houston St., New York NY 10002; (b/n Allen and Orchard Streets; map)
212-475-4880
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 19, 2008 at 6:00 PM
A breakfast luxury, or afternoon snack, sometimes nothing quite satisfies a sweet (and deep-fried!) craving like one of the legendary creations from the Doughnut Plant on the Lower East Side. My personal favorite? The Tres Leches Cake Doughnut. Make sure to get the cake doughnut, which the Doughnut Plant has established their reputation on, and not the heavier and bread-y yeast doughnuts. Like the Latin American cake where it gets its name from, the tres leches doughnut is a glorious concoction infused with a triple dose of evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream. The texture? Right at that very thin line where snowy white powdered sugar meets butter cake. It's indulgent to say the least.
Doughnut Plant
379 Grand St., New York NY 10002; (map)
212-505-3700
doughnutplant.com
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 13, 2008 at 5:30 PM
The custard flavors at the Shake Shack this month are particularly intriguing, Coffee & Donuts or Raspberry Jalapeno, anyone? The popular Salted Caramel is back on the custard calendar [PDF], along with a refreshing Yogurt and Strawberry Swirl on weekends. The B line wait on Wednesday afternoon for the "coffee and donuts" custard was short; two minutes and $2.75 later for a single dip, I was happy as a plum. Dark and speckled with coffee grounds, it was more a coffee custard with few doughnut chunks folded in, than a half coffee/half doughnut creation. Nonetheless, it's tough to complain while luxuriously creamy custard is slipping down your throat on a warm afternoon.
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 12, 2008 at 6:00 PM
It's a concept one wants to love: tea infused into pastries of all sorts—cookies, scones, puddings, and muffins galore. A concept with great potential, if it's properly executed. But somewhere between idea and production, something is lost, and that is where Amai Tea & Bake House falls weak.
Clockwise from top left: matcha, lemongrass and ginger, white tea and strawberry, and chai and almond.
Nowhere is that better evidenced than in their tea cookies, delicate one bite sweets. They are easy on the eyes, darling little cutouts in soft colors, a baby green matcha cookie, and a deep golden lemongrass and ginger oval. But the cookies fall apart in your mouth in an unappealing manner—crumbly and dusty, and while not too sweet, they also don't carry much flavor. It is difficult to make out the tea, much less the strawberry element in the white tea and strawberry. Chai almond was the single most memorable cookie of the set, a crisp and buttery spiced chai tea infused number with finely chopped almonds.
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From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Kathy Chan, June 11, 2008 at 5:45 PM
While the lines for matcha frappes at Café Zaiya, custard at Shake Shack, and ice cream at 'wichcraft seem endless during these scorching summer months, it's is indeed curious that the crowds aren't pouring out of La Maison du Chocolat. How could it be that no one knows they carry a line of housemade ice cream and sorbets at just $4 for a generous scoop? There are plenty of drool inducing fruity and chocolatey options, but your best bet is the sultry dark chocolate sorbet which is every bit as delicious as their signature truffles, only turned into a refreshingly icy summertime treat.
La Maison du Chocolat
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 (49th b/n Fifth and Sixth; map)
212-265-9404
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