A Morning Walk in New York
I started off on the Lower East Side this time, for breakfast at the Clinton Street Baking Co. They’re known especially for their pancakes and biscuits…
Blueberry Pancakes w/ Warm Maple Butter. The pancakes were good enough — if a bit heavy — but it was the warm maple butter that I finished… And maple + blueberry is good.
Another time that I was there, I got the Spanish Biscuit Sandwich, with Scrambled Eggs, Melted Jack, Tomatillo Sauce, Grilled Chorizo, and Hash Browns. This was a great way to start the day, but I prefer it when you can eat breakfast sandwiches with your hands. This one demanded a knife and fork, or else each chorizo would be gone in an extended bite and the biscuit would crumble all over the place. I liked how the tomatillo sauce anchored all of the flavors and textures, though.
Pistachio Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Vanilla Cupcake. I got these to go, but I was a bit disappointed. The cookie was bland (my feeling is that bread flour dulls the flavor of choc chop cookies, and I think there was bread flour in it; it’s usually used to contribute a greater chew), the cupcake dry, and the brownie was only decent and fudgy enough, although I loved the idea of the pistachios on top.
Vanilla Cupcake and Chocolate Cupcake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery. The vanilla cupcake was the best of its kind that I had in NYC — moist, sweet, and tinged with vanilla… that’s all I’ve wanted all along. Plus, it was compact enough to eat in civilized bites, which is an under-rated good quality in a cupcake. All of their chocolate icings seemed to be made with ground almonds, so I didn’t try them — I like my chocolate pure for cupcakes. Unfortunately, the chocolate cupcake was dry.
Then to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, at Bayard & Elizabeth.
Black Sesame and Red Bean Ice Creams. I was surprised that I liked the black sesame the best between the two. The flavor approached a mellow peanut butter. The Red Bean wasn’t very stongly flavored — I only tasted the red bean when I came across little pieces of them.
Raspberry Doughnut and Tres Leches Doughnut from the Doughnut Plant. Both very good, if a bit chewy and sweet. I really liked the ribbon of caramel-ish cream inside the Tres Leche, which made it even more moist and cakey.
Then I went down to the Financial District.
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My destination was Financier Patisserie on Stone Street. I had no idea that this wonderful street existed — packed with restaurants that have tables lined up on the street. Perfect for lunch on a sunny day.
Croque Monsieur w/ Salad. Speaking of perfect, I liked the Croque Monsieur a lot — which was perfectly heated and, in addition to the ham, was creamy on the inside and chewy/pungent on the outside. Even the salad was just right - the lightly anointed dressing was an acidic contrast to the creamy sandwich.
Napoleon and St. Honore. The napoleon was too dense and all around soft for me, but I loved the addition of rasperries to the St. Honore and the caramelized choux puffs, even if the choux was a bit tough.
And that was all the food I had until dinner… when I atoned for all the sugar and flour with Whole Foods sushi.
