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.

The Breslin, Babycakes, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine- A Sweeeet Day!

Alright, so there are lots of places that I was able to review today. Three down. Yes! Ok, we're gonna start off with the main meal which I had at the Breslin. I only wanted one thing. The chargrilled lamb burger with feta, chipotle mayo, and thrice cooked chips. Thrice cooked chips is some fancy pants phrase for french fries which I guess were fried three times?

Soooo anyways, here it is. In all its glory. I saw practically every table getting this so it is without a doubt popular. On to the stuff. So, while I was trying the chipotle mayo I recognized the flavor as something arabic I've eaten before but couldn't place. I realized it tasted exactly like the inside of a falafel! The french fries were nice and crisp, but soft on the inside. Nice fries. The burger was cooked medium rare which I've never had before but it didn't really bother me. The feta added a nice saltyness to the burger and the bun was crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. It could absorb all of that chipotle mayo but still hold up to the thick burger patty. The patty was really flavorful and kept falling apart, probably cuz of its semi-rareness. It was a good burger, different from what I usually have.

Next up, Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Starting with the left, it's a sexy red velvet which is basically a red velvet cupcake with "the moose" which I am assuming to be whipped cream (at least that's what it tasted like). The frosting tasted like whipped cream so I wasn't wowed by it and the cake was somewhat moist and chocolatey so it was ok. I also got a 4 oz cup of half banana pudding and half chocolate bomb (shown separately cuz it would have pictured weirdly). The banana pudding is similar to the one at Magnolia's. It has the same things (nilla wafers, banana pudding, bananas) and tasted somewhat identical so basically, I'll get whichever one is cheaper. Classic banana pudding. The chocolate bomb was chocolate pudding with chocolate cake pieces mixed in. Definitely for chocolate lovers. It was chocolate on top of chocolate, almost too much. Smooth creamy pudding with soft chocolate cake makes for a good few bites.

Finally, Babycakes. I tried quite a few things from here. This place is excellent if you have allergies to anything really. THeyre gluten free, egg free, they use spelt, agave instead of sugar. Very healthy-ish. First up were the agave sweetened brownie. Theyre little bites that could be eaten in four or so bites. Very chocolatey and dense, tasted like a brownie! I was shocked it wasn't too bad. Then I had a chocolate chip donut cuz the lady behind the counter said those were her favorite. The cake itself was so moist! Reminded me of the inside of a regular cake donut! And there was a nice glaze and chocolate chips on top which added a nice crunch! Not too shabby for a BAKED donut!

                     

Finally, the chocolate chip cookie sandwich with frosting and the banana cupcake with chocolate frosting. The chocolate chip cookie sandwich is supposed to be really popular and it was pretty good. The cookies were crunchy and studded with chocolate chips. The frosting was vanilla I think which they use on the cupcakes and it wasnt too sweet and very smooth. Kinda like a whoopie pie but with cookies! Next up the banana cupcake was very moist and had such a strong banana flavor. The chocolate frosting was a bit much for me as the chocolate was very overpowering. Normally I like chocolate and banana together but not this time. So, all in all it was a pretty awesome place for being so accomodating of people's allergies without compromising flavor. At the end of the day, I tried some really good food!

Clinton St Baking Company- Coconut Pancakes!!!

I told you it would happen and it has. Round two! This round was coconut pancakes! and because I had kumquats at scarpetta the day before, I HAD to have these pancakes. So the pancakes were coconut pancakes with kumquat syrup and bruleed bananas.

Let me assure you, mine had waaaaaay more shredded coconuts. But anyhow, I'll say that the pancakes did taste a bit different, but it was a subtle coconut flavor. The pancakes were still light and fluffy. I didnt really taste a difference with the bruleed bananas. Just tasted like bananas really. The shredded coconut got annoying to eat after a while. The kumquats were sweet  but I'm not sure how well they went with the coconut pancakes. The syrup was awesome as always. I didn't think that these pancakes were that special. I think it was just ok. I liked the pumpkin ones A LOT more, way more flavor. I think I'm gonna be off of pancakes for a while though.