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)
Puglyfeet: That means we are doing a good job!!
kieutiepie: You really should have known better. ;-)
Cakelaw: We're all fat babies now! ohhh...digestion!
Steamykitchen: It sure was a massive adventure!
Curiousfoodie: Yes, it was tremendously fun! Can't wait to hear about your adventures.
Curly Glamour Girlie: next time we're in the city you can come to a bakery with us--instant cake gumshoeing!
Happy Cook: That is a great compliment! Thank you!
Janice: Yup, at least we were on foot for a lot of it so that kept the calories at bay I suppose...how aerobic is painting cakes??
Chocolatecoveredvegan: Of course I had to include them! Though we're not all vegan here, we do enjoy us a good vegan baked good. Mmm.
Banana-head: Let us know what you think! They have these great truffle-y things sometimes...
Parisbreakfasts: we'd never been to La Bergamote before, but it was pretty good, opened in Chelsea by a Frenchman!
Lydia: No problem! Let us know where we should go next time that we may have missed! :-)
Geggie: our hearts were on 9th Avenue looking at that--thank you! xoxo
Tina: It was beyond awesome! :-)
Joanna: Thank you so much! Good for our souls, but not our waistlines. But, we are full of joie de vivre now!
oh my all these goodies!!! the first photo looks sinfully delicious :-)
What a terrific post! You've made it so easy to find the good stuff in the Big Apple. I'm printing this one out for future reference.
LOVE THIS POST.......aren't doubletree cookies the yummiest!!!
I don't know how it's possible, but I think I gained 5 lbs. just reading through 10 days of euphoria.
Thanks for visiting our blog.
More places to visit. I think I've only made 1 off that whole list! But I did make it to this fabulous Japanese bakery that had the most amazing cream puffs I have ever had in my entire life! I forgot the name but will ask my Mom and let you know so you can try it out next time you are in town!
What a FUN tour! going to NYC in a few weeks and sending this list to my best friend who lives there! wheeeee!
Dhanggit: It was, it was!
StickyGooey: Awesome! Let us know where you go!!
Obsessive Foodie: Thanks, and yes, they were pretty good! I was very surprised!
Giz: You might have, if you were eating cookies while reading it. ;-) You're welcome, and come back any time!
Ello: ooh, can't wait to hear what that bakery was! The only "cream puff" place I can think of is Beard Papa (I think that is their name).
Scoopalicious: YEAA! Let us know where you go (and where you get ice cream!).
How did I miss this post?
I'm kind of a dork when I go on vacation. I get really excited about little things. Like the airplane and hotel cookies. Yeah, I would totally be excited about them.
I went to Ray's when I went to NYC, and I think I had an old piece or something, because it was not good. A cab driver told me it was the best pizza, so there I went.
Have I mentioned how cool it is that you point out vegan treats? You rock!
Looks like I could get lost in NYC for weeks and still not eat all the yummy desserts there...
Wow, you've basically written the sweet guide to New York :) sounds like you had a blast!
This post is a gift! Thanks!
Emiline: Did you go to the Ray's we went to? There are so many Ray's in NYC, there is even a place in brooklyn called "NOT RAY'S" ;-) Not all of them are created equal though! Also, glad we're not alone in getting psyched about free cookies!
Vegan Noodle: But of course! We can still enjoy them, naturally! ;-)
Tablebread--You said it, it was an awesome time! Tiring!
Surcie: You're welcome!! Glad you enjoyed it.
Ah this list will certainly come in handy next time we visit my family in NY. I actually worked at Rocco's, way back when!
Pixie: No way!! What did you do there? So curious! What was it like?