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Valrhona Pastry Chef Alex Espiritu's superb desserts
The New York Chocolate Show is back in town again this Thursday through Sunday at the Metropolitan Pavillion. The shows brings together over 65 local and international chocolate vendors under one roof. Tickets are $28.00 if purchased in advance and $30 at the door. Here’s a tip: take advantage of the advance purchase option and avoid the massive lines. This will enable you to maximize chocolate consumption time. (more…)
Dessert Truck Works Chocolate Tart
Every time I visit the Dessert Truck or Dessert Truck Works (their brick and mortar store front in the East Village) I’m reminded of all the reasons I love this place. Let’s take an inventory shall we? First, I love their model: three-star, restaurant quality plated desserts without having to drop $100+ on dinner. Second, they always have something new on the menu like goat’s milk cheese cake. Third, they often have a special combo deal such as a large dessert, macaron and coffee for $8.00. How can you beat that? You can’t! (more…)
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This week’s guest judge was Shinmin Li – she’s got some beautiful cakes and was very well spoken on the show. What I like about her most was that she really gives it to the contestants, telling them exactly what she liked and didn’t like. She seems tough but honest. The contestants have to make something with candy flowers. Eric and Morgan think they have a good chance in the quickfire and start talking smack to the camera. Danielle says she “doesn’t do sugar flowers”. Morgan “accidentally” destroys one of Yigits edible vases. Shinmin was very tough judging these. Even with her favorites. Morgan wins the quickfire. (more…)
The Corn cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar at Ma Peche
I finally had dinner at Momofuku’s Ma Peche in midtown last Friday. The dinner and savory was (mostly) excellent but all I could think about during the meal is what I was going to order at the Milk Bar. There are so many options at the Milk Bar and so many ways to mix and match it’s worth spending a good part of your dinner discussing the options.
I decided to go with one new item and one old standby. I also got a sample of some absolutely awesome “cereal milk” flavored soft serve ice cream (yes, it really tasted like cereal milk!).
Malt truffle cake balls from Ma Peche
Fabio’s interview from three weeks ago was such a success that we just had to go back for more. Is he really tight with William Shatner? Does he put Nutella on sugar cereal? Find out below. Part II is here.
DessertBuzz: Chef, we covered the crying last week but what do you think of the Seth Caro leaving the show–
Fabio Viviani: The last episode the guy (Seth) got kicked out -well he didn’t get kicked out, he quit from emotional distress like from an anxiety attack. But it doesn’t even exist an “Anxiety attack”. I never heard of an anxiety attack in Italy. I’m not crazy, I know someone can get an anxiety attack but–
DB I think–
FV: This is something the United States has!
DB: I think they were trying to find something to get him off the show, he was so disruptive–
FV: Come on man! You want to come up with something to leave the show because you can’t take it! Run into a wall and crash your head open. If you’re a chef take it like a chef!
DB: Chef, that seems kind of extreme.
Peanut chocolate chip cookie from two little red hens bakery
Here’s the thing with cookies: Even the not-so-special ones are pretty damn good. If a bakery has high turnover even pedestrian cookies are often really good. After all, the main ingredients are butter, sugar, flour and perhaps some type of chocolate, peanut butter or other type of candy chip. Ben and Jerry’s already proved with their cookie dough flavors that you don’t even need to bake these ingredients for them to taste good.
So how does a bakery distinguish itself from all the others and deliver a cookie that stands above the crowd? Truthfully, I don’t know, but I do know that Two Little Red Hens has some of the best cookies in New York. They might not be as talked about as Levain or Jacques Torres but that’s only because their tiny bakery is all the way up on 2nd Ave and 86 St.
The peanut chocolate chip cookie is slightly crisp around the outside and softer and cake-like on the inside with an awesome peanut flavor and nice big square chunks of chocolate. For peanut and peanut butter lovers, this cookie is a “must eat” right behind the Bouchon Bakery nutter butter.
Pumpkin spice scone from two little red hens bakery in NYC
Next up was the seasonal pumpkin spice scone. I was mentally prepared for a letdown after the cookies but the scone was every bit as good as the cookie.
Don’t be turned off by the scone’s huge size. Instead, just think of it as a good value. The first thing you’ll notice is all the great spice flavors inside. Then, you taste the bits of Cranberry and pumpkin. The texture reminded me of banana bread. It’s also very moist. And this moistness is all the more amazing given that it was 2:00 p.m. when I purchased my scone. That means if you get there early in the morning you’ll have an even fresher product than I did. Look for more Two Little Red Hens reviews soon.
Recommended: Any of the cookies but especially the Peanut Chocolate Chip and the Pumpkin Spice Scone.
Two Little Red Hens bakery is located at 1652 2nd Ave (86th St.)
Their website is here.