French breakfast club at Lafayette

This is a sign that I like to see:

Because, inside, French pastries abound.

Almond croissants...

Pain au chocolat...

Plain croissants...

Frangiopane tart...

All these pastries are pitch-perfect, grace à pastry chef Jen Yee.

Ben and I met there for Breakfast Club and strategically selected our petite dejeuner pour deux.

We even let a slice of savoriness slide by. (The garden quiche. It was delicious.)

And added a butterscotch coffee éclair. For breakfast. It was insanely delicious.

But maybe my favorite thing was the pistachio pound cake.

 I swear, it was the taste that transported me back to Paris.

À la prochaine, Lafayette!

A French patisserie in the heart of New York

Have you noticed? New Yorkers are being seduced by the French (bien sur—it happens!).

Financier Patisserie is everywhere (just ask Carol). Macarons are everywhere. And the latest Franco-bakery: Olivier Dessyn’s Mille-Feuille on Laguardia Street.


I had the good fortune of meeting fellow Sweet Freak Kathy YL Chan there for an afternoon gouter. She had already sampled many of the patisserie’s French classics—crème brulée, vienoisserie, madeleines and more—so she chose the fromage blanc with raspberry jam. Feeling both piggish and greedy, I selected a sampling of two macarons—pistachio and vanilla—and a financier.





Dessyn, who worked with Pierre Hermé in Paris, definitely has the meringue to ganache ratio down on his macarons. And their size is just right. These two essential ingredients make for a more satisfying macaron than most anywhere in Manhattan.

And I like that you can buy vanilla pods…

…but I like that you can taste them in the sweets even better.

The financier, about the size of a playing card, probably had a half a stick of butter in it, judging by the wonderfully chewy-gritty texture.

Throw in a couple of bits of chocolate and call it a day.

The patisserie devotes most of its space to the open kitchen, which is cool to see, leaving a modest amount of counter space for noshing. But the space is welcoming and the sweets are the real deal.


Next time: the signature millefeuille, which comes in vanilla, pistachio or praliné, and the praliné stuffed brownie—the perfect merging of Franco-Anglo heaven if I ever saw one.

This is what peace and happiness tastes like

Squired away, upstairs at Thé Adoré...

...a lovely little breakfast of sencha tea and an apple-walnut scone.


Modest, moist...

... with lovely apple bits.

(And, for later, homemade French tarts.)

Big blues

Some mornings just warrant a humble little breakfast.

Cafe au lait and a blueberry muffin.

At Thé Adoré.


17 East 13th Street between Fifth and University
212.243.8742

Breaking for cream puffs

Remember when there were lines out the door to get a Beard Papa Cream Puff?

Four years later and as many outposts, the craze has been eclipsed by other sweet imports like Grom. But when my friend Tanya wrote from San Francisco, “We’re eating our first Beard Papa cream puff,” I knew it was time to pay it another visit.

It’s not like Beard Papas are now barren. Locals come in to buy them by the dozen, and tourists stand around, pondering whether to get the classic vanilla cream puff, or to go with the daily flavor, like chocolate or strawberry. All in all, it’s a Willy Wonka-ish experience, in a wacky Japanese sort of way. Great fun.

The airy puffs are baked in small batches.



The creamy custard is pumped inside each puff using these steel contraptions that look like coffee urns with protruding pistols.



And then they’re dusted with confectioner’s sugar.



The result? The puff is really light—barely there—and yet crunchy.



The cream is ridiculously generous. Nice and egg-y with flecks of vanilla.


Now that ice cream season is largely over, it’s time to start adding on the winter layer of fat, cream puff by cream puff.

Kindred spirits

Anyone who loves food and booze and caffeine and sweets is ace in my book. And anyone devoted enough to photograph burgers on dates and wax poetic about the versatility of Nutella is soooper ace.

I'm talking about Blondie and Brownie.

Here, Blondie's 5 favorite NYC sweets:

1) Glaser's Black and White Cookies - This is the apex of black and white cookies, in my opinion. The cakey cookie is golden, airy, and moist, while the frosting has a thin skin on the top, but is moist and creamy underneath. The cookies are, of course, baked on site and are incredibly fresh.

2) Sugar Sweet Sunshine's Cupcakes - All of them. I think I've tried every regular flavor combination (we've had a lot of SSS deliveries to the office) and each is moist and delicious. I tend to find buttercreams too greasy and buttery, but their frosting is perhaps the only buttercream in the city that I like and enjoy.



3) Sugar Sweet Sunshine's Banana Pudding - Every time I'd gone to SSS, I've immediately headed for the cupcakes, disregarding the other items on the menu, but recently, I was tipped off to try their puddings. I love bananas (eat one every morning) and 'Nilla wafers, and this is the perfect marriage of the two. There are chunks of bananas, the pudding is thick and creamy, and filling. I hope to one day try the other puddings, but that means passing on the banana and cupcakes.

4) Mexican Chocolate Brownie from Treats Truck - This was the very first item I ever had from the Treats Truck, and it's still my absolute favorite. It's moist and fudgey without being greasy or oily, and I still haven't figured out how Kim bakes the cinnamon flavor into the crust.



5) Nutella Turnover at La Dolce Italia (Astoria) - Yes, there is a turnover with Nutella baked into the middle. I have a severe addiction to Nutella. The dough is a little thick, but the ample amount of Nutella deliciousness baked into the middle more than makes up for it. It's even better warmed up a bit.

No, we didn't forget about Brownie. She dishes soon...

J’adore…

I’ve walked by the antique-y tea salon with its rusted aluminum lawn chairs and wabi-sabi storefront for four years now, promising myself I would go sometime. This morning, I finally indulged at Thé Adoré.

While a lot of New York bakeries make their goods in-house—resulting in fresh and delicious pastries—there’s something different when the in-house kitchen is small. Everything tastes like you baked it at your own place. Except you didn’t have to go to the supermarket for flour, or mix the ingredients until your bicep ached, or wash the dishes afterward.

Adore’s “cupcakes” are more like muffins… which is why I could justify having them for breakfast. And there's really no excuse for having two, like I did, when one will suffice, except they were still just barely warm— that perfect temperature that smacks of freshness—and they had two of my favorite flavors: banana and raspberry.

The banana flavor is just a dense, mushy, happy blend of cake and banana. The raspberry cupcake offers a sweet gooey texture with the little seeds popping between your molars like raspberry jam. It's hard to say which is better. Both.

And they’re super buttery, which is a good or bad thing, depending on your predilections. You can smell the butter (yay), taste the butter (yay), but the butter leaves a little grease on your fingertips (nea).

17 East 13th Street between Fifth and University
212.243.8742

5 best ice cream spots

What's the difference between ice cream and gelato? Air and fat. Ice cream whips more air in, losing some concentration of flavor. It also uses cream—gelato, milk—which has more fat... which is a good or bad thing, depending how you look at it. In any case, they're both delicious and, more important, neither are frozen yogurt. Here's where to find the best scoops in the city:

• Ciao Bella
The original. Apple caramel crisp, bourbon pecan, mango, fresh mint, white chocolate raspberry swirl. Love the packaging, too.

• il Laboratorio del Gelato
The hipster. Thai chili chocolate, black sesame, vanilla saffron, licorice, earl grey.

• Grom
The import. Hazelnut, whipped cream, gianduja, nougat, cinnamon.

• Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
The fun factory. Avocado, lychee, red bean, peanut butter and jelly, watermelon.

• Ben & Jerry's
The classic. Sorry — had to do it. Ever since I drove up to Waterbury, VT as a college sophomore, I've been hooked on the company's history, vibe, mission, morals and crazy flavors. I mean, Phish Food and Half Baked? Come on.

Cupcakes never get old

If ever there were a local cupcake aficionado, it would be Rachel Kramer Bussel, co-founder of the omigod-amazing Cupcakes Take the Cake blog. What are her top five NYC picks?

1) Sugar Sweet Sunshine: Have loved them from the moment they opened. Such a cozy, wonderful neighborhood bakery. Delicious cupcakes - simple but perfect. Their vanilla/vanilla sunshine cupcake as well as red velvet stand out, but my very favorite is their occasional (I had them at Christmastime) peppermint frosting. Wow! And shhh...sometimes I indulge in their coffee cake. Also try the chocolate bomb (chocolate cake mixed into pudding) - to die for!

2) Kumquat Cupcakery: The best mini cupcakes! They are the perfect size, really creative flavors (omg the peanut butter chocolate!) and are just so cute. Keavy sells these at two Brooklyn flea markets and at Newsbar on University.

3) Little Cupcake: Way out in Bay Ridge but such fabulous flavors. Go there hungry. Really. Coconut cloud is outstanding.

4) Martha's Country Bakery: Like Little Cupcake, a great space, huge variety of cupcakes, quite delicious.

5) Tribeca Treats: These cupcakes are smaller and a bit more nuanced. The flavors are very specific and intense in a good way.

You going to argue with any of that?

Fun with friends

It's so nice to eat vicariously through a friend with an appreciation for great chocolate.

After sending my friend Alex into diabetic shock from pain au chocolat (Penelope's), peanut butter cookies and cocoa with marshmallows (City Bakery), and doughnuts (Doughnut Plant), it seemed only appropriate to bring her to the Dessert Truck. She and her husband Nick live in San Francisco and introduced me to the salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery, after all. Tit for tat and all that.

So after a divine dinner at Centro Vinoteca (where, omg, we passed on hazelnut cake with nutella mousse?!), we walked over to University and 8th. Unlike my first visit when I felt gluttonous just ordering hot chocolate with my chocolate bread pudding, this time I was able to sample three whole desserts.

The chocolate bread pudding, which I snitched a taste of from Alex, is still shamefully rich and deliciously spongy. The goat cheese cheesecake was a little too hoof-y for me, but Nick seemed to enjoy it plenty. Me, I got to sample the weekly special: chocolate truffle cake with praline crunch, and the praline crunch made the dessert.

So that leaves the slow-baked apple, chocolate and peanut butter mousse, and vanilla crème brulee as unexplored menu items. Alex, when are you coming back to NYC?

University & 8th
Every night except Monday

Keep truckin'

It’s like the Loch Ness monster, Superman, dust fairies, the perfect brown boots: it doesn’t exist. This Dessert Truck that New York magazine and Eater.com rave about… where is it? I’d like a helping of bread pudding for god’s sake.

The concept alone makes me happy: a mobile bakery. Just walk right up for a serving of molten chocolate cake, crème brulee or hot (Valrhona & Guittard) chocolate. If I could only find it, that is.

After weeks of being the crazy stalker girl who takes the long way home to see if “he’s” there, I gave up trying to play it cool. There were only so many times I could skulk around University and 8th, trying for that chance encounter with the Dessert Truck. So I Googled him. Natch. Turns out my folly was the hour of the day — he only comes out at night.

So now I know, and now I am among the blessed to have had the chocolate bread pudding. And the hot cocoa.

All I can say is the rave reviews are deserving. Both treats are over-the-top rich, and sent me immediately into orbit. Chocolate oozed and rolled around my mouth in unimaginable ways. The cocoa is thick and chocolaty-sludgy. The bread pudding is both smooth and mildly textured, dense chocolate at the spongy edges and denser chocolate in the molten middle. It was an experience so decadent, even I could barely tolerate it.

But tolerate I did, and tolerate it I will again. Like that crazy stalker girl who just can’t leave well enough alone, I’ll be going back. Oh yes, I will be going back.

University & 8th
Every evening except Monday

Hey, Cupcake

The cupcake brigade just keeps getting louder.

“Look at these cupcakes! They’re ridiculous!” This is exactly what you hear, standing in line at the new Crumbs on Eighth Street. What started in 2003 as an Upper West Side bake shop is now a sugar magnet for locals and tourists alike. At the newest café—the fourth in the city—NYU girls duke it out in front of the display case with parents toting baby strollers and pirouetting two-year-olds for a view of the candy-studded creations. It’s the sort of perverse glee that pretty, sugary pieces of cake inspire.

Carrot and raspberry swirl cupcakes are relatively modest in appearance, if slightly oversized beneath their dollops of buttercream frosting (“Mini” cupcakes, about the size you’d bake at home, are also available). But what Crumbs does really well is inventive and irresistible flavors. Reese’s Peanut Butter, Fluffernutter, S’Mores and Banana Split are just a few of the 25+ options, many of which are topped with chunks of candy and drizzled in chocolate.

The cake is moist; the frosting, sugary; and they’re next to impossible to eat with any dignity. But who’s thinking of dignity with a Devil Dog cupcake in hand? As another fan put it, “We’re coming here for breakfast tomorrow.”

Crumbs
37 East Eighth Street
212.673.1500