One Week of NYC Eats

Free to roam and eat in New York for one week. I was excited but also overwhelmed. I hadn’t planned out anything more than my 3 restaurant week meals. That left open a lot of eating time. The great thing about NY is there is something great any street you turn on… a hip cafe, street cart, a bakery with a line out the door. I subwayed, bused and walked all over Manhattan and here is my tasting diary:

I went to Columbus Circle. Through the glass entrance was a gorgeous Williams-Sonoma. A fitting way to start my day. I made my way to the 2nd floor to Bouchon Bakery. I’ve visited the Napa location but always late in the day when most of the sweets have gone.

I love Thomas Keller’s take on old classic treats such as the Oreo (TKO, which was not available that day) and Nutter Butter, which was HUGE, about 4″ in diameter. Ultimately my eye was on the pastries. I selected the Blueberry Pistachio Turnover.

The portion was huge and I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Devouring the whole thing on my own was probably not such a good idea.

The pistachio cream was very light and tasty. The blueberries, appropriate for summer, were plump and juicy. They did overpower the pistachio a bit but overall I loved the combination.

Later that day it was off to Lower East Side to have breakfast for dinner at Clinton Street Baking Company. I first heard about it when the famous blueberry pancakes with maple butter were featured on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown. My mouth was watering over the camera shots of maple butter dribbling down the sides of the pancakes. Went on a Wednesday evening and it was still early so no problem getting a table.

They were so fluffy and light. The top pancake had nice crispy edges which I loved. Wish the rest were like that.

Even better with the maple butter on top. They need to jar it.

I passed through Little Italy which was quaint and brought back memories of the real Italy with the little sidewalk cafes and funny enough, waiters standing outside near the menu trying to persuade me to eat at their cafes. I guess that made for an even more authentic experience.

Read a Serious Eats article where someone was in search of rainbow cookies. I saw them at an outdoor bakery cart and decided to try a couple.

The texture is in between a cake and cookie. A bit more like a dense cake with thin layers of jam in between and a chocolate top. It was a little expensive though- two small 1″ squares for a dollar. Maybe because of all the labor going into building them?

After walking in SoHo, stopped by nearby Nolita for a snack at Cafe Habana to have the famous Mexican-style grilled corn. Seasoned with crumbly cheese, chili pepper and a squeeze of lime. My lips were actually burning from the chili, but the corn is so good I’d get it again.

After a bit of shopping, took a little break at Dos Caminos. The SoHo location has an outdoor patio.

The guacamole on almost everyone’s table won me over. Make sure to ask for spicy (they don’t make it that spicy) with nice warm tortilla chips. The blueberry lime lemonade was yummy. Love the blueberry twist to a traditional lemonade. The weather could not have been better, 70′s, slight breeze, not humid at all. Perfect NYC afternoon.

With my current obsession with burgers, I had to go to Shake Shack at the original Madison Square Parklocation on a Monday evening around 5:30pm. Woo hoo had about a 20 min wait, which is incredibly short I hear.

Shack Burger and Crinkle Cut Fries. The fries were crisp but still soft on the inside. The sauce was like Thousand Island dressing. You can tell all the ingredients are really fresh and not overly filling. Reminds me of my favorite SF burger, Taylor’s Refresher, but a little smaller. Also had the freshly squeezed lemonade. Sat in front of the shack in the park. Perfect meal.

Sadly after many days of beautiful sun, it rained the second to last day of my trip. To avoid the rain and get something warm I stopped by City Bakery.

Instantly felt better with the thick hot chocolate and flaky pretzel croissant. Pretzel was a little too salty especially in contrast to the hot chocolate but it was still good.

I love taking apart the croissant and seeing the layers inside.

Off to West Village. It was a bit gloomy walking around when it was all gray but nevertheless, I was in the mood for a falafel. Yelped this one, Taim Smoothie and Falafel Bar. Turns out this one was also a Bobby Flay Throwdown. Got the banana lime date smoothie and green falafel.

I’m a huge fan of cilantro and parsley and I loved seeing the bright green when I bit into the individual falafel. I would have liked the them to be a bit more crispy. Only the first one I ate had that nice crunch. The smoothie was so creamy and good. Couldn’t taste the lime but I loved the banana and date combo. Not to mention it was so filling I only ended up eating 1/3 of my falafel sandwich.

After a late night showing of Harry Potter #6, I was in East Village and had stopped by Artichoke Pizza. It was 11pm and still a line out the door. I can see why.

Signature Artichoke slice with artichokes and spinach. As I reached the counter, they just took out a fresh pie from the oven (YES!) The slice was huge. Picture doesn’t do it justice. It was piping hot but it looked so amazing I had to eat it (minor roof of mouth pain after, but worth it). It was like having creamy artichoke and spinach soup on a pizza. That’s the only way to really describe it. It was amazing. The thin crust was fantastic as well.

On a side note, while waiting, I watched them make the Sicilian, and noticed them drop cubes of what I thought were cheese, but they were really cubes of butter. Ack. It’s really best not to spoil it by thinking about it. After all, if you’re choosing to have pizza, you’re not thinking about your diet anyway.

Then headed on over to Butter Lane Bakery nearby to get some cupcakes. It was the end of the evening so we had to go with what they had left. Luckily still a lot of variety to pick from.

My cupcake quartet (clockwise from left): banana cupcake with cinnamon frosting with a honey drizzle, banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate cupcake with blueberry frosting, vanilla cupcake with raspberry frosting

My favorite cupcake was banana. The chocolate was a bit dry and slightly crumbly. The vanilla held up better. I’m happy to say that I loved all the frostings. I love how the fruit ones had bits of fruit. The cream cheese is light and fluffy, not overly rich at all.

Venieros Pastry Shop also in East Village. Cute little Italian place with everything from tiramisu, pignoli cookies, biscotti, and my pick, the mini vanilla cannoli. The shell was sweet like a waffle cone. Not sure if it was supposed to be really crisp. It was slightly soggy and I guess it was 11pm so it could have been there since morning. The ricotta filling was so good. My only regret is not getting the regular size. I could have eaten at least 5 of the minis.

My last bite of NYC…the banana cupcake with cinnamon frosting and honey drizzle. It is now a tradition that I take a cupcake with me to go to the airport, which explains the mashed condition. Still tasted good though.

That is my trip in food pictures. Hope to be back soon. I’ve already started a new eats list.

My locations list:

UPPER WEST SIDE

Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Ci

LOWER EAST SIDE

Clinton Street Baking Company
4 Clinton St

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza & Brewery
328 E 14th St

Butter Lane
123 E 7th St

Veniero’s Pastry Shop
342 E 11th St

NOLITA

Cafe Habana
17 Prince St

SOHO

Dos Caminos
475 W Broadway

FLATIRON

City Bakery
3 W 18th St

Shake Shack
E 23rd St & Madison Ave

WEST VILLAGE

Taim Falafel & Smoothie Bar
222 Waverly Pl