Chickalicious Dessert Bar!!!

So after visiting Chickalicious Dessert Club and feeling somewhat pleased with what I had, I was finally able to go with Mona to the dessert bar across the street (since I didnt want to go alone and they do a three course thing with an amuse bouche, choice of entree, and petit fours.) And it was a great meal, Chika, the owner was there and prepared some of the meals herself which I thought was really cool, and shes like the sweetest asian lady so we had a good time.

The amuse bouche to start us off was a mango pineapple sorbet with some chopped bananas which I'm sure something was done to it but I'm not sure what. The bananas were nice and tender and the sorbet went perfectly with them. I was impressed that you could taste both flavors equally because most combinations one outshines the other. Not in this case. The sorbet was definitely the best part! Fruity, sweet, and refreshing. Mona loved this dish even though she hates bananas!! That says something.

Sooo on the left is the noted Fromage blanc island cheesecake. Voted as one of the best things Johnny Iuzzini (former Jean Georges pastry chef- a big pastry chef star) ever ate (Better than Mine), I was expecting big things. I gotta say that this is unlike any cheesecake I have ever had. It was under some sort of milk? I don't know what it was exactly but it tasted like milk. The large dome is he cheesecake but it's so light and airy, almost like a foam. When you have the milk with the cheesecake it just melts in your mouth. Definitely the most unique cheesecake I've ever eaten texturally. We also had a special which was hot caramel sauce, butterscotch biscuits, and a green apple sorbet (right). When you combing all three, it tastes similar to an apple pie. The sorbet, like the mango pineapple, was ON POINT! Awesome! The caramel sauce was a bit too sweet for me but Mona really liked it. And the croutons were a nice somewhat crunchy sweet bread-y addition.

Finishing the meal, the petit fours. Their normal petit fours are some variation of a smore which has gelatin so we couldn't have that. They were so accommodating to our no pork/gelatin and alcohol bit! I honestly don't remember what each one was but I know the cookies were like a shortbread type and was crunchy end. Then the little squares were bites of a citrus pound cake that was super moist and really citrus-y. The thing on the spoon was some sort of agar agar which to my knowledge is like a replacement for gelatin. I think it was carrot agar agar, at least, that's what it tasted like to me. Very strong flavor. All in all, I love chika, and this place rocks. But perhaps when I have more money I will return as the meal costs about $20 + tax and tip per person.

David Burke Townhouse!

So, I'm a little upset because this is a 1,000 pt restaurant on opentable and any other day in the future it would have been but we wanted to go on Sunday so I sacrificed the 1,000 for the 100. Lemme say, David Burke Townhouse is sooooo cute! And also very fancy, so dress up a bit. When we walked in we were led into the dining room and got a nice little corner booth. They had a tree with pink flowers above us-ish that was really pretty.

Isn't that just pretty? Very nice. Look at that candle. It was like a fire in a cave thingy. Soooo cool.  Also, I know you can't see the plate too great but it had a little drawing of a cute little egg thing that was just precious and his signature. Could it be any cuter? Oh, it can. Check out this butter.

That's right people. This whole thing is butter! They even made the friggin butter look artistic. We didn't want to cut from it but we did. ;)

First up, appetizer of pretzel crusted crab cake. Yeah, you don't see the crab until you actually cut into it. It had a tomato orange chutney and poppy seed honey. I also thought I heard the guy say that there was some sort of mango sauce which is the bright yellow. I gotta say this was a weird experience. I never tasted something like this before. The crab is soft and meaty. And its surrounded by slightly salty pretzels which made it kinda difficult to cute but provided a nice contrast of texture. And I found that the salt was balanced out by the sweetness of the honey, orange chutney, and mango sauce. I think the flavors were balanced well and made for a unique experience.

So, just to clarify. This had no steak at all. It was basically lobster that was in the shape of steak which was actually pretty cool. It had caramelized endive, sweet potato, and a vanilla kumquat butter. Yeah, that description drew us in pretty bad especially because it was $46!!!! I gotta say, the lobster was pretty good. I didn't like the caramelized endive at all though ,but I think I just don't like endives in general as I found out that day so maybe it's just me. But I thought the sweet potato went well (because I love sweet potato) and the vanilla kumquat butter was something I never tasted before and it had a unique flavor. Everything here is nothing like I've ever tried which was really cool

Da da da da!!! The thing that we had originally came for! we got a little distracted by the food because I heard that his food was also super stellar so we got some of that too! This is the cheesecake lolipop tree. It had cheesecake pops that were surrounded by chocolate, some praline thingy, a cherry one i think, some blackberries, and a bubblegum foamy thing. That's right a bubblegum cream. I knew going in that this wasn't going to be the most flavorful dessert but I also knew that it would be the most creative and hey, if food network told me to get this, I will try this. So I did. And it is unique. There's a nice crunchy shell and soft, creamy cheesecake on the inside. Kinda like a cake pop but cheesecake form! And that bubblegum cream I liked cuz it was just like chewing bubblegum but mona hated. AND, when we left they gave us two little chocolates in a little boxy thing that was super cute! I dont have a picture though :( Basically, if you want a unique food experience, come to David Burke Townhouse.

Kyotofu :(

Sooo, let me just say that I am not only going to complain about Kyotofu on this food blog, but I will also give them the lowest amount of starts possible on Yelp so that others will know to stay away? What's my problem with Kyotofu? The SERVICE is TERRIBLE! Plus, the food does not even make up for it in any way. We were contemplating getting the 3 desserts for $9 but one of them had a panna cotta with gelatin so we couldn't get that. Then we decided on a soymilk sundae with fresh fruits, caramel sauce and something else but then they only had lemonade or something. Then he had to bring us a sample but then said that they had nothing so we picked something else. We decided on the sorbets because the one we had at Chickalicious Dessert Bar (review to come) was outstanding and we wish we had there. Plus it wasn't too expensive so we were like whatever. We had also assumed that it wouldnt take too long to make and we can be on our way to Il Vagabondo. Boy, was I wrong.

First off, don't be fooled by the colors. I was PISSED when this thing came. Why? It took about 20-30 minutes!!!! I figured, maybe they were making it fresh which I guess is ok, but then I was actually looking at what was happening. The lady literally took a scooper and scooped each one out of a tub of sorbet and then put it on the three plates. Yes, folks, that piece of garbage took 30 minutes to plate. I really don't understand why it took sooooo long. Maybe if it was one of the other desserts that had many components but it was very simple. I was really 2 minutes away from leaving when it came out. They are so lucky that it came out then because I honestly would have left and not cared. The flavor did not make up for it in any way shape or form. The green apple sorbet tasted like frozen applesauce (we had green apple sorbet at chickalicious that was SOOO much better), the cranberry was too tart, and the orange one which I'm guessing was some form of orange wasn't great. Ugh, never again.

Il vagabondo!!

So on our little food tour I finally got to go to the famous il vagabondo. Very fancy schmancy with the host dressed in a suit and our server looking like Mario's uncle. Anyhow, apparently the veal parmigiana is famous because practically every table ordered it. And so did we. With a side of penne instead of spaghetti but spaghetti came and since David Burke Townhouse was next up and our reservation was soon, we didn't complain.

Pretty huge portion. So we split it, plus we were eating more food after and it was expensive soooo we shared. I gotta say, it was pretty good. Cheesy, saucy, just a traditional veal parmigiana. It's a little hard to tell the difference between veal and chicken parmigiana but I feel like I could taste a slight difference. While Emeril was right that it was pretty good, he was wrong about its cutability? It did not "cut like butter". I found my self really jabbing my knife in it to cut it but i think other than that it was pretty good. It wasn't out of this world, but a really good traditional Italian veal parmigiana. It's a bit expensive ($24.50) so I dont think I would go back for something I could probably make just as good at home.

Cipriani!!!

So, I was around the Grand Central area and discovered that Cipriani has a takeout place called Cipriani Le Specialta that sells their vanilla meringue cake to go! Getting that slice of cake for only $3.25 and NOT paying tip (it would have been close to 9 at least without tip)? SCORE!! So I picked me up a slice

Look at that beauty!!! Of course mine didnt look exactly like this since it was in a container but it still had that gorgeous bruleed top. So this cake is basically layers of vanilla cake and vanilla cream surrounded by a thick meringue that has little sugar crystals dispersed throughout that are then bruleed to a golden brown. The cake is soft and moist, with a creamy vanilla cream that's kind of just whatever but add that sugary meringue and flavor is definitely enhanced. Sure, it's a little grainy. But, still pretty sweet. Basically, this is a pretty good slice of cake. and it's cheap too!

Il laboratorio del gelato

So, it was a rather warm day so I thought, let's have some gelato! So I ventured over there to get me some. Let me say, there are soooooo many flavors that looked good! I wanted to try them all! Crazy flavors like cateloupe with cayenne, lychee, black sesame, honey lavendar, yuzu, etc. along with traditional ones like chocolate, vanilla, amaretto, etc. But they limit you to two flavors per customer :( So I decided to try orange hibiscus cuz it sounded weird, but it just tasted like very orange-y and then I asked the guy behind the counter what the difference between watermelon and their yellow watermelon gelato was and he couldn't explain it and so I got to try it hehehe. It tastes like watermelon but like a little bit off. He was nice, since he said he "made me try that one" he'd give me another taste. Yay! I chose Yuzu, also cuz it sounded whack. It tasted citrus-y and I rather liked it. But, I figured, if I get a cup with two different flavors I really tried 5 flavors! HAHA! So their small cup lets you mix two flavors (LOVE!) for about $3.50? I knew I was in a fruity mood but I also wanted to try gelato since they ARE a gelato shop. I thought I couldnt go wrong with mango gelato and lychee sorbet.

  

And, it did not disappoint. The lychee sorbet was so fruity and sweet but also really freakin refreshing. A perfect palate cleanser so I left that to the end. I had the mango gelato first and that was good too, although my only thing is that it was a little dense and creamy so the mango flavor wasn't as dominant like in the sorbet (i like the one at sundaes and cones more but i think that was a sorbet so not really fair to compare I suppose) but other wise I thought the mango was great too, just wish it had more mango flavor. I actually may go back here when I want a gelato fix!

Laduree!

So, I finally made it to the famous Laduree!!! After hearing so many good things about it (being the best macaron shop in new york) I had to go. Plus, theyre from Paris!!! I haven't had many macarons in life so I'm not the best judge of what is good or not. But, I can say what I thought about these macarons. I had the coconut, raspberry, and salted caramel macarons.

And there they are. I think I'd have to say my favorite was the coconut. It just had a very strong coconut flavor because of the cream inside. I found that the raspberry (which had jam instead of cream) was nice too but a bit too sweet where it left the back of my throat a little irritated. The salted caramel was good too but I felt like I was eating straight up caramel which was just way too much for me. I don't know, maybe it's me, but I'm not going back to get more macarons cuz those babies cost $8.40 for 3!!! Maybe I'm just not a macaron person.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds!

So, I finally made it to this little shop in Park Slope. I don't usually go to that neighborhood but when I heard there was a little old shop cranking out delicious pies, I decided to make a visit. Plus, it wasn't too much of a trek from the train. When I walked in, there were lots of empty tables and I was glad because I wanted to just sit down and have some good pie. Plus, they don't serve whipped cream if you take it to go and what's pie without a little whipped cream!

This is exactly what my slice of pie looked like. See how it's like so thick, it's cuz theres lots of apple slices under there. Anyhow, on to teh taste. The apples were very soft and the crust was flaky and buttery. I didnt like that at the end there was a huge piece of crust without apples so I had to ration out my apple slices at the end. The whipped cream added a nice smooth airy touch to the pie. However, I was a little disappointed because it's a salted caramel apple pie and I didn't really get the salt or caramel and I love the salty/sweet combo. Wish it was there. But it was a good apple pie.

Two Little Red Hens!

So before going to the Dialog in the Dark exhibit, Mona went and picked up some desserts to eat before the show. She got the brooklyn blackout chocolate cupcake and cheesecake (supposedly the best in nyc).

It was a chocolate cake with a milk chocolate ganache on the inside and chocolate crumbs on top of chocolate frosting. Yes, I just said chocolate four times in that sentence. This is for the chocolate lovers. It was a nice, moist chocolate cake and that added smooth ganache made it even more moist! I'm a sucker for ganache. With chocolate frosting and crumbs its a chocolate overload! However, despite having so much chocolate it wasn't TOO much. Odd, but a good cupcake.

 First off, look at that thing! It's HUGE!!!! The cheesecake was ncice and soft with a somewhat crunchy top and a graham cracker? crust. I really liked the crust, it was a nice, sweet crunchy contrast to the soft cheesecake. i don't know if it's the best in the city, it just tasted like cheesecake.

Ino!

So I was around the W4 area and was in the mood for some good breakfast so I traveled on down to ino cafe and wine bar. A small little place that does paninis, salads, bruschetta, soups, etc. I only wanted to try the truffled egg toast as that's what theyre famous for and I was going to spend more money later.

Check out this bad boy. Looks good huh? IT WAS. Sooo im thinking that it has egg (obviously) a slice of toast covered in fontina cheese, with sprinkled chopped asparagus, with TRUFFLE OIL!!! I LOVE TRUFFLE OIL!!! So I knew this would get messy so I chopped it up into little pieces. The yolk just leaked out, got everywhere which was ok cuz I could soak it all up with the toast! Surprisingly, the outside of the toast remained crunchy despite being surrounded by the soft egg. When you take a bite, you get the crunch of toast, followed by the soft bread, melty cheese, the yummy yolk, and ohhh the truffle oil! It tasted sooo good. Add some chopped asparagus for some crunch and you are set! It was DELICIOUS! Perhaps I will visit again to try the bruschetta!

Karam!

So, I've been hearing about this arabic place for a long time now. I was actually there with a friend a few months back but didn't have the money or probably time to buy anything but, from what I could tell, there seemed to be a lot of authentic arabic food. Shawarma, falafel, hummus, tabouleh, mashi, etc. So I heard their chicken shawarma sandwich was #28 of the 101 best sandwiches in New York by New York Magazine along with several other awards. So I got the chicken shawarama sandwich.

So basically it was spit roasted chicken (no clue what that means) with vegetables like something green, tomatoes, and some other thing that tasted a bit sour that im thiking was another vegetable. It also had a lemon-garlic sauce too. I gotta say, I kinda could not se how this was one of the 101 best sandwiches in New York. I thought that the sour vegetable was really powerful and kinda turning me off from the sandwich. I also thought that the lemon- garlic sauce was too overpowering. I didn't really think there was a balance of flavors. Sorry, Karam. I just straight up did not really like this sandwich.

No 7 sub and Little Pie Co.

Sooo I was hungry and near 34 street. I had heard great things about No.7 sub and its sandwiches. I could go for a sandwich so I decided to go there. Luckily, there was no line.

I got the zucchini parm. It had breaded and fried zucchini, jalapeno peppers, fontina cheese, and barbeque chips. That's right. Barbeque chips. It sounds odd but it was pretty great for a vegetarian sandwich. The zucchini was very soft, almost mushy. The jalapeno peppers were too much for me so I took them out. The cheese I couldn't really taste. However, the BBQ chips provided a nice crunch and smoky flavor. Not a bad sandwich for having such odd ingredients.












Next up, Little Pie Co! There was a groupon for $6 for $10 so I figured why not? So I ended up getting their signature sour cream apple walnut pie and their mississippi mud pie. The sour cream apple walnut pie was pretty good, although it was kinda too sweet for me. The apples were soft and there seemed to be stacked like flaky layers which was different. The apples were sweet but they were balanced out by the sour cream that was in there. There seemed to be some caramelized walnut crumble thingies on top. Those were pretty good too, crunchy but a bit too sweet. It was so sweet that it made my tongue hurt a bit. I think that it was a pretty good slice, but needs to have a bit more balance for the sweetness.  Next up, Mississippi Mud pie.This triple chocolate treat is made with imported chocolate, brownie streusel and a chocolate glaze in a chocolate cookie crust. Best served with whipped cream. The perfect chocolate treat, so much chocolate in every bite! Take with a glass of milk or ice cream to balance out the chocolate.

Gray's Papaya and Dominique Ansel Bakery!

Sooooo finally! I got to visit the hot dog place that I've heard so much about. Seriously, it's been so many shows and movies (I can only recall The Backup Plan at the moment). And then Dominique Ansel Bakery, a bakery I've been dying to visit was nearby so we went there too. So, at Gray's Papaya the cool thing is that they have something called The Recession Special. Basically, it's two hot dogs with a drink for about $5. I think it was cheaper before but hey, we're in a recession! I still think it's a good deal. After confirming that they use cheese sauce, we ordered cheese fries for $2!!! So cheap.

                  

 
The hot dogs were great, SO SNAPPY!!! I love that. and the drink I got was called coconut something or other but it was essentially coconut juice. It was good, very strong coconut flavor, sweet and had a bit of coconut chunks too! The cheese fries were delicious too. I mean, come on, it's cheese fries. We even got to have some extra cheese sauce on a plate!Mmmmmm. Cheap and delicious. After walking quite a bit, we finally reached Dominique Ansel Bakery. They had a cute back outdoor area but we stood inside because it was cold. We got the DKA, mini me cake, and apple tarte tartin.

 
The apple tarte tartin was basically an apple tart. It had I think a puff pastry bottom and then on top there seemed to be like maybe caramelized apples that were soaked in some sort of syrup or something. The apples were very tender and sweet, and pastry was well, pastry. Kinda tasted like a weird version of apple pie. It was ok, but I think it made my stomach hurt.

After, we had the mini me cake which was a rich chocolate cake topped with miniature meringues. I felt like the cake was a bit too chocoalety. It was layers and layers of chocolate and usually I don't mind but I think some layers had dark chocolate which is too bitter for me. The meringues on top were the best though! They were like cunchy and then you break through with each bite and then it just crumbles into like a light whipped cream on the inside. Such a nice surprise. Too chocolatey for me.

Then we had the DKA (Dominique Kouign Amann) which is tender, flaky, croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust. This was the best of the bunch. It was like a sweet croissant. Flaky, crunchy outside with a ridiculously fluffy inside. It really reminded me of baklava. Awesome. I think I would visit Gray's Papaya again because it's such great food for cheap! Dominique Ansel Bakery didn't wow me like I thought it would and isn't worth the trek.