I have been meaning to get down to Locanda Verde to try some of their baked goods (ok, so it took nearly a year, I’m slow).  The restaurant itself as well as the bakery has received raves from all over the place.   Sometimes this can lead to a let down but not in this case.

Both the lemon rosemary scone and the nutella cookie were first rate.  And for a scone bought at 1:30 p.m. to still be really good after sitting around for half a day means that if I had tried it at 8:00 a.m. it would have been totally off-the-hook.  You could taste both the rosemary and the lemon but what makes this scone so good is the texture, like a slightly less buttery biscuit.

The nutella cookie reminded me of the Bouchon Nutter butter in that the filling is even better that you can imagine.  The cookies surrounding the filling are crumbly, textured and delicious.

The woman in charge of Locanda Verde’s bakery counter is Karen DeMasco from Craft.   She is also the pastry chef.  Grub Street had a cool chart of what was on the marble bakery counter last June.

Recommended: Lemon rosemary scone and nutella cookie

Locanda Verde is  located at 377 Greenwich Street (off North Moore St.)

Bouchon, Craft, Locanda Verde | 3 Comments »

Still available as of March 28th, 2010

I  am hearing reports that Jacques Torres on Amsterdam is out of  large dark chocolate covered matzo so I thought I would let readers know that Zabar’s still has Ozem brand dark chocolate matzo in regular and orange flavor.  The Ozem product is not in the same class as Jacques Torres but in a pinch they’ll do, and they come all the way from Israel.  The Ozem product is real dark chocolate and the matzos underneath stay reasonably crunchy but they just aren’t as flavorful as the locally made Torres matzos.   $5.69 at Zabar’s 2245 Broadway.

I am also told that some Vosges stores still have some Dark Chocolate matzos left as well.

Jacques Torres, Zabar's | No Comments »

I’m not sure exactly what role dark chocolate covered matzo played in the original Passover seder.  But if I ever had to flee somewhere, one of the things I would grab on my way out would be the nearest batch of good dark chocolate.   It travels pretty well, doesn’t need to be refrigerated and provides valuable calories for long treks in the desert.  Add in a little unleavened bread and you have a nutritious sandwich, chock full of antioxidants (ok maybe not that nutritious).

I do know that if the Israelites had access to a Jacques Torres they would have equipped themselves with all 3 kinds of chocolate covered matzo’s: dark, milk and peanut butter.

The small dark chocolate pack contains four, 3-inch square matzos and is a good deal for $5.00.  The Dark chocolate provides a nice snap when cracked open.  The matzo inside retains all of it’s crispness underneath the chocolate.

Dark chocolate covered peeps

If the historical connection between Passover and dark chocolate matzo is murky then the record on chocolate covered peeps and Easter is even more muddled.

Both Jacques Torres and Gristedes are selling dark chocolate covered Peeps  right now.  Surprisingly, the Torres Peep is the far better deal here given Christedes pricing of $0.99 for one, mylar-shrouded Peep vs. Torres 4-for $4.00, hand-dipped and gift-packaged version. Both use actual Peep brand flourencent-yellow colored marshmallow with Christedes selling a bird shaped Peep and Torres selling the rabbit shape.  Both coat the marshamallow with dark chocolate but as you might expect the Torres chocolate is far superior to the shelf-stable covering on the Christedes Peep.

The Christede’s Peep was not bad but the dark chocolate was just a bit sweet for my tastes, I checked in my local CVS to see if they could be had for cheaper there but they didn’t carry it.

Recommended: Dark chocolate covered matzo and Peeps from Jacques Torres

Jacques Torres has 3  locations in the New York City.  I visited the Upper West Side location at 285 Amsterdam Ave (73  St.).

Jacques Torres, Passover | 2 Comments »

In the flesh: an actual Bomboloni

Updated: Wednesday, March 24: Bombolini confirmed open!  After many false starts Bombolini, the highly anticipated Upper West Side Italian bombolini, gelato and specialty latte cafe is now open.

The super friendly staff of the Upper West Side store

After receiving just slightly less hype than the premiere for Avatar I was concerned that the opening of Bomboloni was going to be a let down.  But after being greeted by the super-friendly staff (in Italian)  and then immediately being offered a few free samples of gelato, I was won over.   During the day they had pistachio, raspberry jam and traditional (custard and powdered sugar) filled bombolonis but by the time we arrived at 9:00p.m. they only had traditional left.   We purchased two for $2.18 including tax, which is pretty reasonable.

Pick your bomboloni carefully: this one is half the size of the other...

The Bombolonis themselves were actually really good.   I know some people are concerned that these things are  just Krispy Kremes dressed in Italian suits.   In fact they are quite different and in my  opinion much better.   For one thing, the bombolonis are much less sweet and not quite as light and airy.  There was only a small amount of traditional filling in the two that I ate.    The dough reminded me a little of fresh baked challah bread, just a little bit sweet but almost bread like, a really fresh bread.   At $1.00 each this place is going to be mobbed this spring and summer.

There are some other interesting things on the menu that I didn’t try such as toasted marshmallow or dark chocolate raspberry latte.

Bombolonis are $1 each or 6 for $5.

Dessertbuzz prediction: a  huge Grom-like response on the Upper West Side.

Recommended: Traditional bomboloni, cioccolato gelato

This one hardly had any filing at all

Updated 9:00 a.m. Friday, March 19:

Last nigth at 10:00 p.m. I spoke to the man behind bombolini last night and due to Con Ed having to prioritze customers who lost service due to the storms last week, his appointments have been postponed.  He said he is dissapointed but that people having electricity is more important.  Definitely not opening this weekend.

Bombolini looks good and is just about ready but we are going to have to wait a bit longer

Just stopped by on the way home from work and there are about 12 workers laying tile,  doing stuff in the basement.  It looks like tomorrow for first open.   I suppose they could start making donuts tonight bit there seem to be a lot of stuff on the counters.

Thanks to Flo-Fab’s reminder, I grabbed my camera and headed down to Columbus Ave and 68th Street to check out Bombolini only to find a sign in the window that said “due to Con Ed issues we are delaying opening day until tomorrow”. Damn, I was in the mood for some deep-fried dessert.   Hopefully by the time you see this post I will have eaten, photographed and reviewed these guys.  Until then, here are some other great Bombolini’s from Dessert Truck Works and From David Burke Townhouse.

With filings like peanut butter cup, Gianduia (chocolate hazelnut), Apple Filled, Raspberry Jam and  Tahitian Vanilla I think there will be a flavor for every taste.

Bombolini or donut from David Burke Townhouse

Bombolini, David Burke Townhouse, Dessert Truck Works | 3 Comments »

Ben & Jerry’s is holding their annual birthday celebration and giving out free ice cream cones to anyone willing to stand in line for a while.   This is scheduled to last from 12- 8 p.m. .  You should call to confirm that your nearest location is participating.  Find locations here.

Ben and Jerry's | No Comments »

Saturday was Macaron Day and two great bakeries in my hood were participating.  Macaron Day is a good idea and I was curious to see how things were going.   The closest participating bakery is Georgia’s which is about 10 minutes from my apartment.  Impressively, they were still providing free macarons at 2:30.   Not only that, but they were going above-and-beyond the macaron day guidelines and had put out a small plate of macarons were not really limiting people to just one.   Interestingly, most people did only took one.   I took 3.   But also bought one, plus two scones and a cookie.

I found Georgia’s chocolate and strawberry macarons to be absolutely top-notch.   Especially the Strawberry.  It had tons of flavor and was perfect in texture: really smooth on the inside and crisp but not hard on the outside.     The chocolate was also very smooth.   I would buy both those again in a heartbeat.  They did have one flavor called “oreo” that had a kind of odd taste.

Strawberry Macarons from Georgia's are A+

I should note that Georgi’a also has excellent scones and cookies.    In the scone category I recommend the chocolate chip.  Their whole wheat oat scones are also worth a try.   In the cookie category you can’t go wrong at here.  Chocolate chip, oatmeal or double chocolate chip.

Recommended: Chocolate and Strawberry macarons, scones, chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies

Georgia’s is located on 2418 Broadway (corner of 90th).

Silver Moon Bakery chestnut Macaron

Silver Moon Bakery was also participating in Macaron Day but by the time we got there they had stopped giving out free macarons.   One of the employees said that they had given away 150 by noon.   I imagine their close proximity to Columbia may have led to a run on their inventory by internet savvy starving grad students.

After asking a few more questions and purchasing a $5.00 bread the Silver Moon employee took pity on me and offered me a chestnut macaron.  Honestly, when he said it was chestnut flavored I was kinda disappointed but after tasting it I was sold (have I been stupid to avoid chestnut flavored desserts all this time?)  When I was 5 blocks away I regretted not purchasing  another macaron to see how they were.

I have written about Silver Moon bakery before but in case you haven’t read those posts,  just know that nearly everything is excellent at this bakery, especially the breads.

Recommended: Chestnut macarons, and of the fresh breads.

Silver Moon Bakery is located at 2740 Broadway at 105th St.

Georgia's, Silver Moon Bakery, Special Events | 1 Comment »