Junoon desserts: Quince tarte tatin by Jenny Lee

Here’s a look at some of the great desserts and pastry chefs from New York’s Michelin starred restaurants.  I also included some notes about the desserts, the restaurant’s location and a link to their website. 

Rouge Tomate's James Distefano's Ill Flotante

I really enjoyed my visit with James Distefano.  He’s enthusiastic and his desserts are superb.  What makes these desserts great is that you get to indulge in a 1-Michelin star creation however, due to Rouge Tomate’s special nutrition guidelines the plates are always light.  I recommend ordered two or three and sharing.   Rouge Tomate is located on 10 East 60th Street.  Their website is here.

Quince Tart Tatin from Junoon's Jenny Lee

Junoon’s Jenny Lee is young, ambitious and not afraid to call her own dessert shots at this hot new restaurant.  Her quince tart tatin doesn’t pander to the sweet tooth palate. The textures and flavors of the fruit are allowed to shine in this dessert.  The coconut rice pudding with crunchy candied almonds and ginger ice cream (best ginger ice cream I have had this year) was my favorite offering although every dessert I tried was great (look for a full review soon).  Junoon is located at 27 West 24th Street.  Their website is here.

Coconut Rice Pudding from Junoon by Jenny Lee

The Gotham Bar and Grill is as solid as they come.  Year in and year out they serve great food and  particularly great desserts. Their pastry chef, Deborah Racicot has kept up this fine tradition during her tenure.  You can’t go wrong with any mousse or their classic dark chocolate cake.  If they have the pineapple upside down cake order that as well.  Gotham Bar and Grill is located at 12 East 12th Street.  Their website is here.

Gotham Bar and Grill peanut butter chocolate mousse by Deborah Racicot

What more can you say about Annisa?  Anita Lo does her own desserts at Annisa and does them quite well.  The atmosphere is unusually quiet for a New York City restaurant and the couch-like seats are comfy and relaxing–all the better to enjoy her doughnuts or chocolate 4 ways.  Annisa is on 13 Barrow Street.  Their website is here.  Their dessert Menu is here.

Annisa - Valrhona chocolate cake with malt by Anita Lo

Dovetail's Pain perdu pears, sour cherry, maple ice cream by Michal Shelkowitz

I have been a fan of  Dovetail and their desserts since they opened with Pastry Chef Vera Tong (now at Buddakan). Vera’s Pain Perdue was one of my all-time favorite NYC fancy-pants desserts.  Dovetail kept up the strong dessert emphasis with Michal  Shelkowitz (the current pastry chef).  I recommend the deconstructed carrot cake (if it’s on the menu).  The ice creams and sorbets are also superb.  Dovetail is located at 103 West 77th Street and their website is here.

Dovetail's baked chocolate tart with pretzels, caramel and beer ice cream

Additional one-Michelin star pastry chef recommnedations.  I have experienced desserts from these chefs outside of their restaurants.   Joshua Gripper from A Voce and of course David Bouley from Bouley and Brushstroke.

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Pain D'Avignon pain au chocolat

On Saturday while traveling to the Hester Street Market to try multiple desserts for my adoring fan(s) of DessertBuzz, I decided I needed some additional calories to make it the three-plus blocks from Delancy Street to Hester.   So I stopped in the Essex Street Market and hit the Pain D’Avignon retail store.

The undisputed NYC standard for croissants, almond croissants and Pain Au Chocolat

This tiny closet of a shop is a fresh bread lovers dream with all kinds of great breads lining the walls, stuffed in drawers and in rolls and baskets.  Of course they also had some great looking croissants and pain au chocolat.  For a brief moment I considered the fact that I was heading to a street fair to taste desserts and maybe a whole wheat baguette would be a good idea.  That thought quickly left my mind because who can turn down a fresh pain au chocolat?  I also needed to see how it stacked up to the Ceci Cella standard.

Another great Pain Au Chocolat - FPB

The Pain D’Avignon pain au. was slightly bread-centric, meaning, it didn’t have that much chocolate inside as compared to the Ceci Cela or the FPB.  However, it seemed to have the perfect multi-layered crust.  It was also slightly less buttery than the others (in a good way) in that it wasn’t dripping butter.  If you don’t like your croissants to make everything they touch, like paper bags and your table, shiny with butter, this is a plus!  All-in-all it was an excellent pain au.  Needless to say their bread rocks too, so make sure you don’t leave without at least one of those.

Another great choice for a downtown pain au chocolat is Francois Payard Bakery (FPB).  The chocolate is dark, the dough is flaky and if you go early enough you can get a warm one.  The added bonus of going here is that FPB is not a one trick pony–you can get all kinds of other items, like their opera cake, that are best-in-class.

The long lost Bouley Bakery Pain Au Chocolat

I have to mention another great pain au chocolat that I used to purchase regularly a few years ago from David Bouley.  I’m not even sure if you can still get them anywhere since he closed the bakery.  If any readers know please shoot me an email.

The Pain D’Avignon web site is here.  Their retail store is located in the Essex Street Market at 120 Essex St.

Ceci Cela Patisserie is located at 55 Spring St.  Ceci Cela’s web site is here.

Francois Payard Bakery is located on 116 West Houston St.  Their website is here.

Like muffins, New York City scones are a great excuse to eat cake for breakfast.  Or, depending on where you get them, to eat cookies in the morning.  Or, basically, to have dessert any damn time of day you want.  We have an especially wide array of different types here in the city as New York is truly the Madagascar of scones.  Anywho, here is my list of 12 recommended scones.

I’ll start with my favorite scone, the raisin scone from Payard. [Payard is closed, try Francois Chocolate Bar for pastry- no scones or bread to date 3-1-2010] A very thin crisp shell with a sweet soft Challah-like inside.  The aroma of the center of this scone is one of the great food pleasures for $1.50.  Notes: Go early or they won’t have any left.  More on Payard.

The Maple scones from Blue Ribbon Bakery are almost like shortbread cookies. They are very small, sweet and flavorful with a thin layer of frosting.  Perfect if you are not in the mood for a full-on bread bomb.  More desserts from Blue Ribbon.

The goat cheese and herb savory scone from Clinton Street Baking Company has a thick, crunchy, textured crust and a very salty and flavorful inside.  This is a big scone that is fun to eat in the same way ripping off pieces of French bread is.  More Clinton Street Desserts.

Perhaps I should not have included the tiny savory biscuit-like scone from Dovetail since it’s only available with their delicious brunch.  However, it left an impression on me so I felt it deserved a spot.  Chewy on the edges like a buttery chocolate chip cookie but 100% savory almost like a cornmeal grain, butter rich biscuit that’s been cooked on a griddle.  More from DessertBuzz 5-star Dovetail.

The savory bacon cheddar scone from Bouchon is a highly textured and flavorful creation worthy of the Bouchon name.  More like a small specialty bread, this scone is not at all crumbly or buttery.  Notes:  You must go early to get these as they can be dry if you get them in the afternoon.  Check with the staff if you go after 12:00 to see when it was baked.  Also for god sakes, get a pastry here if you go.

The  chocolate strawberry scone from Alice’s Tea Cup packs tons of delicious dark chocolate and fresh strawberries.  Their crust is thick and the inside reminds me of buttermilk pancakes with starwberries and chocolate.  They are the biggest scones and most filling in this feature.  Perfect for fueling up for a long walk around Central Park.  Notes: ask for a hot one. It simply DESTROYS!   More from Alice’s Tea Cup.

The chocolate scone from E.A.T. definitely has some croissant in its bloodlines.  Very buttery, light  and flaky (um, like the inside of a good croissant?).  This is the opposite of the dense Clinton St. or Alice’s Tea Cup scones.  Notes: The dark chocolate in this scone is simply outstanding.  More from E.A.T.

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The organic cranberry scone from Le Pain Quotidien is like a muffin but with an interesting glazed soft exterior that makes it stand out.  The tart cranberries and low sugar content also keep this from becoming too sweet. Notes: if you like your scones to be very distinctive from muffins you might not like this scone. More dessert from Le Pain Quotidien.

Forget the name of the scone I am going to describe here and just go buy one and enjoy it.  The vegan (yes vegan) chocolate chip scone from Whole Foods is really just a big thick less dense chocolate chip cookie that you can eat for breakfast.  It has coconut inside and some other great textures to go along with excellent dark chocolate chips and a crunchy crust, all for $1.79.  Notes: I said forget it’s vegan!  More Whole Foods here.

The currant scone from Bouley Bakery is a work of baking and culinary art. The cookie-like exterior is not buttery but is perfectly browned.  The inside is crumbly and not too sweet.  Like a less-sweet, less buttery slightly more dense shortbread cookie.  Notes: Try some other items while you are down there – almost everything is superb.

No review on New York City scones would be complete without the monster offering from the Levain Bakery.  A thin but crispy exterior layer and a super buttery smooth interior.  When hot, these scones are hard to beat in the more traditional category.  Notes: Monster size means you won’t need more food for hours.  Pair it with one of their world famous cookies and you could feed the entire Army Core of Engineers.  More Levain.

Honorable mention goes to the Street Sweets Truck oat currant scone.  Very textured, flavorful and extremely fresh, this is a perfect morning scone to go with your coffee.  Cake-like although not particularly scone-like in texture, you couldn’tt eat it as a stand alone dessert.  One to try if you can figure out where the truck is parked.  Try Midtown Lunch to see where their spot is.