Cakespy's Bite of the Big Apple: A Final Roundup of the Ultimate Cakewalk
Sunday, February 17, 2008
As you may have gathered by recent articles, Cakespy recently spent nine sweet days in New York City. While you've seen a few of our adventures documented through our recent articles about the baked goods of Penn and Grand Central Stations and our review of both Magnolia Bakery locations, we thought it might be fun to review the whole trip in one shot; and so, without further ado, here is a complete recap of our time in the big city:
Cakespy Note: The below tastings involved a revolving cast of eight Cake Gumshoes. And so, while looking at the below it may initially seem like an unrepentant sugar binge, please do consider that when split eight ways, the trip does retain at least a modicum of moderation. Needless to say, we do not suggest trying to replicate this experience all alone!
Day One: The trip begins on a high note when Alaska Airlines serves Cougar Mountain cookies, which are a local Seattle company whose granola-y cookies are chewy, vaguely healthy tasting but sweet enough to still be good. The flight to EWR is long, but we cheer right up when we arrive at the hotel and find what we now understand is a Doubletree Hotel standard: warm cookies upon arrival. The cookies themselves are good, but the surprise factor of receiving a warm cookie gives them bonus points. Clearly, this is going to be a sweet trip.
Day Two: The day begins by indulging in our favorite corn muffins in the city: the gorgeous, sweet, slightly crisp-at-the-edges corn muffins of Muffins Café on the Upper West Side. Perfection. Several hours of secret spy work ensue, but our energy is renewed with a crumb cake from Belly Delly, perched on the outer edges of Times Square; it's priced high, likely because of its touristy location, but it's good; although we cannot confirm it with evidence beyond our own expert palates, judging by texture, taste and look, it does appear to be from the same wholesaler who supplies crumb cake to the EuroPan Café in Penn Station.
Day Three: On day three things get serious. First, Head Spy Jessie takes a jaunt on the N train over to Queens, where she visits French Culinary student and talented baker (and Cakespy fan!) Kelly (check out some of her work here and here) at her place of employment, the sweet-smelling and even better tasting Dolce Italia Bread and Pastry, where she picks up an assortment of biscotti to-go. While in Astoria she also finds time to visit several other spots in the area, hitting up Martha’s Country Bakery for a black and white cupcake and Rose & Joe's for a cannoli (though their pizza looked extremely tempting as well). Bearing bakery boxes and bags aplenty, she returns to Manhattan, making quick stops at Magnolia Bakery’s Downtown location and looping by to at least look in the window at Rocco's (killer black and whites) en route to a rendez-vous lunch with several other Cake Gumshoes at Ray’s Pizza on 6th ave at 11th (veggie slices are the main choice). Much of the morning's acquisitions are consumed, and the biscotti is declared a buttery, crunchy delight; the cupcake, while it does not resemble a black and white cookie, is moist and good; the cannoli from Rose & Joe's is crispy, creamy and all the things a cannoli should be.
However, some of our crew is still feeling a bit peaked after the light repast, so we make our way over to the Uptown Magnolia location to see the real difference between both locations (read about it here). But then again, is a trip uptown ever really complete without a visit to Levain Bakery? Never have we truly had the feeling of walking into a chocolate chip cookie as we’ve had walking into this place, where the smell envelops you and the cookies ($3.75 ea.) are as big as a baby and just as heavy. Oh yeah, heavy. Walking back toward our hotel via Broadway puts us face to face with Fairway, where we can't help but pick up one of their enormous, Carbohydratey with a Capital C buttermilk biscuits--you know, for later.
Day Four: Is it a surprise that we wake up jonesing? The day starts by picking up a pack of mini black and whites at Starbucks. Alas, they are not excellent, but we do enjoy the novelty of finding them--awfully cute. Things remain sweet for the day with leftovers from the previous day's jaunts, and when we over to Brooklyn for dinner at carribean-vegetarian-hipster joint Mighty Diamond in Williamsburg, the sweetest surprise is the rich vegan chocolate rum cake, which is made in-house. Talk about a diamond in the rough.
Day Five: The day starts with a visit to Donut Pub on 14th Street, where the donuts are greasy and unapologetically old-school (this is a good thing); defying tradition though, we pick up a black and white cookie, which have clearly just been frosted (this is also a good thing). Worth noting: they also offer "whites" and "blacks" separately, a concept which seems appealing to those who prefer one flavor or the other, but which in reality is sort of disconcerting. Things stay cozy with hot chocolate from Max Brenner . Later on, after getting the special "manicure-and-a-drink" for $10 at Beauty Bar, we walk down to the fairly new Sugar Sweet Sunshine, recommended by Cake Gumshoe Ian, one of the tasters on day three. Initially we don't know what to make of it: it seems like walking into your hipster friend's living room for cupcakes, but does this mean that you could do it just as well at home? Perhaps, but it's so much funner to let them do it for you: the pistachio cupcake was like sunshine on the cold night, and the Sexy Red Velvet Cake...well, it was sexy all right. We nightcap with espresso at Caffe Roma, and though we didn't get any pastries on this visit, we have known and loved their cannoli in the past. Sigh.
Day Six: Starting out early we drop by Whole Foods Columbus Circle just as they are opening, and are pleasantly surprised by their excellent (made in-house!) vegan chocolate chip cookies, which are still warm at the time of our visit. The calories burn off nicely zigzagging cross and down to Grand Central, where we pick up goodies at several locations but can't help taking a bite of the Little Pie and Co. cupcakes immediately. While we don't buy anything at Balducci's, it is worth mentioning that we stop in and see that they have cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens and Crumbs. After a day of toil, a few spies still have enough energy to head over to Billy's Bakery in Chelsea, where the cupcakes are sweet and so is the decor. A crumb is dropped on the sidewalk, and a lengthy conversation ensues about the validity of the "Five Second Rule".
Day Seven: We start the day by taking the grand tour of Penn Station and then continue on through Chelsea, pausing to taste chocolate mice at La Bergamote and handmade raspberry marshmallows at Three Tarts, making our way down to the Village for lovely nonpareils at Li-Lac and gorgeous pastries at Lafayette Bakery, where the service can be gruff but the pastry is so, so sweet. We also walk one of our favorites, Amy's Bread, but hold off for the time being. After a light dinner at Kate's Joint, we simply can't take another bite, but do enjoy the visuals at The Grey Dog's Coffee, where the cookies and pies (made in-house) look awfully good, walking back west via St. Mark's Place, we notice that Whole Earth Bakery (where we love the vegan brownies and vegan truffles) offers Vegan Trifle--vegans may want to take note!
Day Eight: Resisting sugar overload for just one more day, Head Spy Jessie trains it over to Brooklyn, meeting up with the charming Ann of Redacted Recipes to ogle the cakes and goodies at Cheeks in Brooklyn (picked up a triple-chocolate brownie for later) and to have a homey cupcake at Sweet Farm (sidebar on Sweet Farm: we had visited, but not sampled, this bakery on a previous visit; the cases had not been incredibly enticing at that time. However, things were much better-looking on this visit, so it looks like they have a good rhythm going now). It was the end of the day and the frosting had reached the point of having the ever-so-slightest crunch; while some may not enjoy this, we do. Perfection after a long day of flaneur-esque wandering.
Day Nine: There's only time for a little spying today, with a trip to the airport imminent; luckily, we make good use of our time, imbibing a simply gorgeous coffee at Joe and managing to fit in a quick visit to the adorable Thé Adoré on West 13th street and running over to the East Village for pastries to go at DeRobertis, Venieros and Something Sweet before catching the plane home. On the plane, they serve a brownie by Love and Quiches. We'd call that a sweet ending indeed.
Home again: Finally, on the ninth day, Head Spy Jessie returns home, and the NYC-based Cake Gumshoes get a chance to rest and digest. Would you give these spies some vegetables please?
Reader Comments (40)
I am muy jealous. Will have to print out this list when I finally get to go to New York some day.
Am not familiar with the US airlines, but I gather Alaska is a good one, since I just read yesterday that they will be offering Jones Soda now.
i'm going to new york this summer and i'll be saving this post til then, and visiting every shop i can (:
oh yumm... I love the whole post but tonight I am craving a Cicilian cannoli....yummmmm
Mmm, nice to see some vegan treats in there!
So lovely to get to meet you! Next time, we need to grab nmore than an hour together!
Wow - truly the best of NYC! You could market this as a walking tour - I'm tempted to spend the next nine days following in your footsteps!
Oh yum heaven! I will be printing this out for next time I am in The City!
"Cake Gumshoe!" Love it!
Just curious...any idea on how many calories were ingested in the making of this post? ;-)
Sounds like a truly amazing 9 days. I hate that I've lived here for almost a year and haven't made it to a lot of these places! Keeping track of this post so I can make sure to check out some more of these places when I have the time!
Lydia: Ooh, they are stocking up on the trendy companies! You have to go to NYC btw!
Kimbab: Let us know what you think when you go!
Diana: And with good reason--they're awesome! Love your new cupcake drawings by the way...
Melisser: Even nicer to eat some! :-)
Ann: Yes, it was a pleasure--more bakeries next time!!
TW: Ooh wouldn't that be fun!? Tell us on day 10 what places we missed ;-)
Nancy: Thanks! And everyone, check out Nancy's work when you're in NYC--it's in a gallery in Chelsea!
Cookie Jill: Without being too exact...many. But, there was much walking and much division of the pastries...if that makes things any better...
Sarah: Get going--you're in the thick of it!!
Thanks. Thanks a lot... my sugar tooth is jonesing after seeing those pics.
So I ate a ton of sweets today and thought "Oh it's ok. I am so full of sweets I feel a little ill. I can definitely look at cakespy's blog and handle seeing those delicious treats."
OH WAS I WRONG! I want to eat more sweets now! I feel sick but I want them so!!!
I would love to try and replicate this food fest alone - but I may end up as "Fat Baby"! Thanks for your combined insights into the sweet delights of NYC.
wow, that's a massive food adventure!!!
Wow I'm going to eat myself silly with all these addresses, the next time I head down to NYC! Gosh sounds so fun visiting so many places. :)
What an awesome compilation of the treats NYC has to offer! So many of my favorites are among there.
Max Brenner - as well as having the most Willy Wonka like decor, also has some great savory food. That is, non-dessert type food!
What does one do to become a Cakespy Gumshoe??? ;)
How come when ever i come here i go back wipping my drool :-)
Phew!!! Ya had me at the first cookie! Sounds like a great trip...eat veggies, rest up...and paint like a demon after..:)All best, Jan
Ooh, I'm excited to see all the vegan desserts you included! Thanks for not forgetting about us :o)
oooh thank you for the Whole Earth Bakery tip - I always walk by but have yet to stop in. I will now!
Eeek!
Soooo many NY places I HAVEN'T been to!
Shocking really and some of them in my own backyard too..
If only there was a REALLY good french patisserie in NY..sigh
What a sweet visit to my home town! Thanks for the review.
I have a little something for you over at my blog. The photos don't do it justice. Sooo much better than Magnolia.
Wow..this sounds like the best 9 days in NYC. I am so jealous!I will definitely save this for my next trip to the city.
what an incredible round-up! good for you!!