Posted by Kathy YL Chan, August 21, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Fried chicken, shrimp & grits, and a buttery one-eyed caesar salad should be more than sufficient to lure one to Redhead, the East Village newcomer reviewed this week by our own Ed Levine. But should you need another reason, let me kindly throw in a mention of their devilish chocolate-oat cookie, presented to each diner upon departure. This very satisfying five-bite cookie has a touch of salt, and gains added crunch from little bits of oats. The dark chocolate that slips into every bite appears not in the form of chips, but in shards of broken discs layered in a manner somewhat reminiscent of City Bakery. After an indulgent meal at Redhead, the cookie is best saved for the next day, but it would be completely understandable if you couldn't resist devouring it whole on the subway ride home.
The Redhead
349 East 13th Street, New York NY 10003 (b/n First and Second Avenues; map)
212-533-6212
Posted by Zach Brooks, August 12, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Billy's Bakery admits that their Hello Dolly Bars are "baked with everything but the kitchen sink," but that still isn't enough to prepare you for this monstrosity. Chocolate and butterscotch chips, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, pecans, and for some unknown reason, sweetened condensed milk. Some here at Serious Eats HQ complained it was too sweet (imagine that!) but for me this sugar bomb was just right. Diabetics beware.
Billy's Bakery
184 9th Avenue, New York NY 10011 (nr. 22st Street; map)
212.647.9956
billysbakerynyc.com/
Posted by Zach Brooks, August 8, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. —Zach
Photograph by Blondie and Brownie
Congratulations to bloggers Blondie and Brownie, their cookie "The Jamwich" was selected as runner up in the Treats Truck's "Name a Treat" contest. The creation, a peanut butter sandwich cookie filled with peanut butter and jelly, is already for sale on the truck. The winner of the contest—a nut studded oatmeal cookie called The Nutty Co-worker—is also available. treatstruck.com
Related:
Sugar Rush: 'Swirly Dots' from the Newly Unveiled Treats Truck
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Posting a photo that is meant to convey size is always a tricky thing. Sure, the cookie looks big, but maybe my hands are freakishly small. In this case, you are just going to have to take my word for it: the chocolate chip cookie at the Bryant Park Le Pain Quotidien is gigantic. It's also pretty tasty too. Making the cookie chewy isn't really a practical option for a cookie this size, so they go with the thin and crunchy approach. As somebody who normally likes my cookies soft, I found the crunch to be strangely appealing; the perfect companion to an afternoon cup of tea. Admittedly, it's probably not the best chocolate chip cookie in the city (especially if soft cookies are your thing), but the look on your co-workers' faces when you whip it out will be completely worth the $3.50 price tag.
Le Pain Quotidien
70 West 40th Street, New York NY 10020 (nr. Sixth Avenue; map)
212-354-5224
Posted by Ed Levine, July 29, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Amy's Bread
Location Visited: 75 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (Between 15th & 16th Streets); 212-462-4338; amysbread.com.
Additional locations at 672 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10036 (Hell's Kitchen) and 250 Bleecker Street, New York NY 10014 (West Village)
Service: Friendly, accommodating, and quick (except when you order a pressed sandwich)
Setting: Bakery counter with some tables and chairs. Look to the left and you can watch bread being made.
Compare It To: Balthazar, Sullivan Street Bakery, Mangia
Must-Haves: Ham and cheese biscuit, grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, Cuban sandwich, cherry cream scone, butterscotch cashew bar, lemonade, lemon mouseline cake.
Cost: $10-15 for a sandwich, cookie, and drink.
Grade: B+
Here at Serious Eats world headquarters we work in what can only be called a sandwich, bread, and baked goods-challenged neighborhood. For sandwiches we have Salumeria Biellese, but it limits itself to big, meat-centric sandwiches on unsatisfactory bread (they still haven't taken me up on my suggestion to carry Sullivan Street Bakery stirato). The bread and baked goods situation is even more dire. Basically, we've got nothing unless we're willing to brave the line at Whole Foods.
Over the past few months while going down to Chelsea Market for various meetings, I rediscovered Amy's Bread. To the people who live near or work in Chelsea Market, Amy's Bread is a godsend. And to those people I say, do not take Amy's Bread for granted. Proximity should breed support, not contempt.
Almost everything Amy Scherber and her hardworking crew make—from bread to cake, from cookies to sandwiches, from pizza to focaccia—is damned tasty, with a few items reaching the level of serious deliciousness. Scherber brings a taste, know-how, and pride to everything she sells here, and the result is an eatery I would kill to have in my neighborhood. She has proven herself to be a dough wizard; the breads, cookies, and cakes all have a chance for greatness. And even though all the sandwiches at Amy's Bread are premade, usually a sandwich no-no as far as I'm concerned, she manages to transcend the limitations of that tired genre.
Continue reading »
Posted by Zach Brooks, July 16, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Photograph by Robyn Lee
Ed Levine did an Upper East Side treats run on Monday, and this was one of our favorites; the "Mocha Madness" cookie from Two Little Red Hens. The walnut studded dark chocolate batter gets spiked with a little bit of brewed Irving Farm coffee, giving it that faint hint of mocha that never quite reaches madness levels. 1652 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (nr. 86th Street; map); twolittleredhens.com
Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 2, 2008 at 6:00 PM
A debate regarding patriotism has us puzzled here at Serious Eats Headquarters. Is it un-American to eat a flag? Destruction it may be, but we're not dragging the cookie through the dirt or anything. Just nibblin' on the stripes. Mmm, America.
Amy's Bread will be closed on the 4th, so grab these today or tomorrow. Flags are $3, big stars $2.75, small stars $1 and those flip-flops with the adorable "toe polish," $2. By the 5th, they'll likely just be crumbs, but Amy's Bread should have patriotic cupcakes all weekend. Amy's Bread has three locations in Manhattan.
Posted by Zach Brooks, June 17, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Left: Chocolate mint; Right: Lemon Raspberry
"Swirly Dots" made their debut today when Treats Truck owner Kim Ima drove "Dot", the second truck in her growing fleet, into Midtown Manhattan for the first time today. These sugar cookies with frosting will be available with many different flavored swirls (today was Mint Chocolate & Lemon Raspberry), but you will only be able to buy them from "Dot", so check the Treats Truck website for the daily schedule. $2 each. treatstruck.com
Posted by Kathy YL 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.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, June 9, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but around this time of day, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to something sweet—as an inspiration for your sugar fix. Enjoy! I know we will. —Zach
This isn't just any stack of fat, soft, chewy cookies—these cookies are from the Upper East Side's Two Little Red Hens, a bakery that seems unable to make anything less than delicious. I once ordered a custom birthday cake from Two Little Red Hens—which I highly recommend—but hadn't tried the cookies until last Friday. I tried some of them again after they had been sitting in the Serious Eats kitchen over the weekend and they're still deliciously moist and chewy. These large cookies are worth more than the $1.60 price tag, which is a bargain in New York City's cookie market. My favorite was the orchard cookie, a unique cookie filled with trail mix (like a deluxe version of an oatmeal cookie), but standards like chocolate chip, ginger spice, oatmeal, and snickerdoodle are also worth getting.
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028 (map)
212-452-0476
Posted by Zach Brooks, May 23, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but around this time of day, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to something sweet—so you can rush out and get your fix. Enjoy! I know we will. —Zach
Photograph by Blondie and Brownie
With 'a strong caramel flavor and a nice thin layer of vanilla buttercream frosting", this cookie from the Treats Truck is "extremely rich, buttery, and sweet, like a sophisticated take on the shortbread cookie". [Blondie and Brownie]
Posted by Zach Brooks, May 20, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Editor's note: I don't know how things work at your office, but around this time of day, our collective sweet tooth starts acting up at Serious Eats HQ. Enter Sugar Rush. Every afternoon, we'll point you to some sweet something—so you can rush out and get your fix. Enjoy! I know we will. —Zach
Photograph from NYCNosh
The Yuzu lime flower from Batch, the tiny bakery that Pichet Ong recently opened up next store to his more upscale P*ong. NYCNosh calls these shortbread delights with yuzu frosting "one of the best cookies in the city."
Batch
150B West 10th Street, New York NY 10014 (map)
212-929-0250
Posted by Ed Levine, December 19, 2006 at 7:00 AM
Whether you’re a New York expatriate who’s been exiled to a software development job in Silicon Valley or just someone who discovered the delights of quintessential New York food on a trip to Gotham, we all love New York food. I don’t think it’s chauvinistic to say that there are some things that are better in New York.
That’s true for other parts of the country as well. Barbecue is better eaten in North Carolina or Texas or Kansas City. Frozen custard should be licked in Wisconsin or Saint Louis. Chili should be eaten in Cincinnati. But for things like pastrami, bagels, bialys, and cheesecake, you've got to go to the source. Or have someone from the source ship it to you, bring the mountain to Muhammad, so to speak. So without further ado, here’s the Serious Eats Guide to Quintessential New York Mail-Order Foods.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, August 29, 2006 at 8:42 AM
I have found the ice cream sandwich of my dreams at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, 350 Hudson St. 212-414-2462. This photo, courtesy of Flickr, is of Torres' hazelnut ice cream sandwich, but I wanted to give you an idea of what his ice cream sandwiches look like.
It was made with two of his chocolate chip cookies (see review below) and roasted banana ice cream. Roasting the bananas concentrates and intensifies their banananess and makes the resulting ice cream very creamy. Even more remarkably, the cookies themselves were not that soggy, which is always the problem with designer ice cream sandwiches made in advance as these were.
I have tried four other designer ice cream sandwiches in the last week, two from Ciao Bella (lousy cookies, good ice cream) and two from Ruby et Violette, and the Jacques Torres sandwich is definitely winning the designer ice cream sandwich at this point. The Ruby et Violette brownie ice cream sandwich filled with fromage blanc was pretty damn fine and a reasonably close second.
I also bought an ice cream cone from JTCH covered in chocolate with vanilla ice cream and brownie bits inside. Sounds amazing, doesn't it. I'm desperate trying to summons the willpower not to dig into it for a day or two
Updating yesterday's post, I had the chocolate chip cookie at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven (350 Hudson St., 212-414-2462) yesterday.
It was good, not great, a little too sweet, though it did have as you'd expect a very high chocolate to cookie ratio. What was really cool about the cookie was that they would warm it up on a griddle if you asked for it. It didn't get as warm as I would have liked, but it was a nice touch nonetheless.
New York Mag's take on designer ice cream sandwiches
Posted by Ed Levine, August 28, 2006 at 9:24 AM
I'm on the lookout for the best chocolate chip cookie in the tri-state area. Once I've located that I will expand my search nationwide.
What do I want my chocolate chip cookies to be? Moist and light, crisp and yet slightly chewy, even pliant. There should be enough high quality chocolate in the cookie so that you get some chocolate in every bite. I don't want any chocolateless bites when I eat a chocolate chip cookie. They should be buttery without being greasy.
All right, those are my criteria. Here are the contenders I have come across to date:
Bouchon Bakery: I know ELE readers are sick of hearing me extoll the virtues of the baked goods at Bouchon Bakery. And I will in a future post explain my disappointment when I actually had a sit-down meal there. But now we are talking about chocolate chip cookies, and BB makes a phenomenal one, with Valhrona chocolate, plenty of French butter, and just enough brown sugar. The chocolate chip cookie here is the ideal combination of crispy, chewy, and pliant. 10 Columbus Circle, 212-823-9366
Levain: The Levain chocolate chip cookie, beloved by many, weighs as much as a hockey puck. It is moist and dense. It has no crisp veneer whatsoever. When you finish a Levain chocolate chip cookie, you feel bloated and satisfied. You have indeed swallowed a mouthful. 167 W. 74th St. 212-874-6080, 354 Montauk Highway,Wainscott, LI, 631-537-8570
Balthazar: Balthzar Bakery founder Paula Oleand is the best bread baker and pastry chef you've never heard of. Her chocolate chip cookie are small, light, intensely chocolatey, and are just crisp enough. 80 Spring St. 212-965-1780
Tate's Bakery: These cookies, made by Kathleen Tate (formerly of Kathleen's Cookies, which are now horrendous by the way), have achieved cult status on the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan. They are extremely crispy (in fact they often come broken in the bag) and have the proper ratio of brown sugar to butter to chocolate. They come plain or with walnuts. They are available at Citarella's and a lot of Korean produce markets. Available at Citarella, Balducci's, Barney Greengrass, Garden of Eden, and a ton of other places.
I have had good chocolate chip cookies from Ruby et Violette, but the one I had last week was a little greasy and not up to their usual standards. crispy. I'll try to get back there this week and report. 457 W. 50th St., 877-353-9099.
Again, this is not my list of the best. It's just the ones I have tried and liked. What have I missed?
Posted by Ed Levine, April 11, 2006 at 10:59 AM
Is Bouchon Bakery overpriced? To help me answer that question I have decided to eat lunch at Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center (3rd fl.) every Saturday after squash, until I have sampled the entire menu. This time I had a really good Pork Tonnato sandwich ($8.25) along with a bowl of chicken soup ($9.25!) . The soup was a rich brown color, obviously made from a dark stock, which is fine by me. There were a few inconsequential herb dumplings, some al dente vegetables, and a few pieces of tender dark meat chicken floating in the broth, but I actually liked the taste of the soup more after I had eaten all the other stuff. That has never happened to me before, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. The soup itself had great chicken flavor. For dessert I had a serious peanut butter sandwich cookie ($2.75) that may have been the finest peanut butter cookie I have ever eaten. The cookies were light and flavorful, and the filling tasted like an intensely flavored peanut butter mousse.
Note: All of my Bouchon Bakery meals are being eaten and purchased in the retail bakery and not the sit-down restaurant.
