Being from Manhattan I refuse to admit that this island is as played as Kobe Bryant’s stupid forearm bands. So in the name of keeping my site on the cutting edge I thought I would cover some Brooklyn Desserts. If you want to have a cool dining experience the kind that Manhattan used to offer in spades head to Smith St in Brooklyn.

One place that just offers a silly amount of gourmet value for your dollar is Chestnut. Their chocolate budino dessert was something special. The Budino is Half Panna Cotta and half dark chocolate molten cake. Super smooth with a rich dark chocolate flavor and not too sweet. Definitely the real deal. Though I understand they have been serving it for some time now. I also had some of their chocolates which were also superb. Make sure you fill up on their outstanding house made bread too so you can enjoy at least one or two “dark and Stormy” cocktails (Black Sea rum and Regatta Ginger Beer).

chestnut | No Comments »

Who would believe a jaded native New Yorker and dessert snob like myself would agree with so many of the recommendations in New York’s 50 Best Places to Enjoy Dessert? And though I am loathe to admit it, I even learned a few things! For example: Who knew the cool lounge area of 11 Madison Park was open in the afternoon before dinner for snacks and desserts? They also correctly recognize the entire Craft franchise (Craft, CraftSteak, Cratbar etc.) as a royal bloodline of fantastic desserts. There is hardly a miss in the entire book.  Ok, if I was forced to come up with something resembling a criticism I could say the authors may have gone with popular sentiment in recommending certain places which, though solid, are not necessarily “best in class” such as the soggy crusted pies from the Little Pie Company.

The small format is perfect for a back pocket, pocketbook or man-purse and the book features 2 indexes (alphebetical and by neighborhood) and a glossary of dessert terms. How about this gem: Religieuse: (ruh-lee-JYUZ) Usually a small pastry made of chocolate eclairs arranged in a pyramid, piped with mocha buttercream, whose color is said to resemble the homespun habit worn by French nuns. Until I publish “The Dessertbuzz guide to New York’s Best Desserts” this is your best resource for NYC dessert recommendations, tips, locations and advice.

New York’s 50 Best Places to Enjoy Dessert: A City and Company Guide
by Andrea Dinoto (Author), Paul Stiga (Author)

Available at the Rizzoli bookstore, Amazon and many other local sellers.

Book reviews | 2 Comments »

Whole foods at 59th St. is really pushing their locally sourced items.  Their dessert and sweets section always seems to have something new from our area. I spotted this $6.00+ Chocolate s’more from Azure Chocolat based in Long Island.  About the size of two Zippo lighters the s’more was composed of a thick homemade graham cracker, a thin layer of chocolate and a solid layer of marshmallow  The dark chocolate was high quality and the marshmallow was fresh (can a marshmallow really be fresh?)

Coming soon:  The definitive “Best chocolate chip cookie in New York” contest.  Win books! win chocolate! just for nominating your favorite cookie…

Whole foods market, Azure Chocolat | No Comments »

A few years back I went to a birthday party for a single female friend of mine. She always had a lot of wealthy, intellectual-type suitors who would attend and try to impress her by by their taste in wine, going through a lot of trouble to make sure their bottle somehow stood out. Either it was expensive, just reviewed in the NY Times, blessed by the Pope etc. So, by the end of the party my friend had about 25 bottles of good wine.  And about 25 bottles of good wine from her party the year before.

Is there a lesson here? Yes. The next time you go to a party where you need to make an impression and don’t want to look like a jackass (I hope that’s every party) bring something original like some Sarah Magid Organic Goldies instead of bringing wine.

Seriously, if you show up with a box of these, is there any chance your name will be forgotten by the host? No. Most likely everyone will tell you how fabulous you are and express shock that you can buy baked goods in New York somewhere besides Magnolia Bakery.

Aside from how good they look, these aren’t just some gold dipped twinkies. They are made with all organic ingredients and edible gold powder on top of chocolate frosting with cream filling inside.

Sarah Magid will be selling her Organic Goldies (her version of twinkies–dusted with edible gold powder) at Henri Bendel today through Monday, June 2. located in the atrium, at the table piled high with gold boxes and hot pink stickers.
Goldies are $8 each, and sold in packs of 1, 3, and 6

Google map to Henri Bendel

Don’t forget to check here for all your dessert related news in New York City.

Sarah Magid Cakes | No Comments »

As many of you know the “next generation” of frozen yogurt stores are hitting New York. Locations are opening as fast as you can say “have as much as you want its yogurt right?”. Is this a case of deja vu?

Pinkberry showed there was a ripe market, Red Mango came from South Korea shortly after. Even Zabars got into the mix with their one (albeit large and high volume) location. Now “16 Handles” and Yogurtland are coming to town to price the others into submission.

Right now “16 Handles” is just a clever name and a listing in Cranes. Yogurtland is actually open now so I went last night for the second time, with some friends.

Yogurtland

Bring your sunglasses or you’ll burn your retinas from the florescent lights. Yogurtland, while clean and pleasant, is not trying to be Starbucks like Pinkberry. There is no cool furniture that looks like it came from Moss, and is definitely not a place you want to chill in. But, and this is a big but, it’s essentially a make your own yogurt sundae party. You fill up your cup with as many flavors of yogurt as you like, then choose your toppings from a huge selection. It’s set up to get people out as fast as possible and it does, though they need to work on managing the line so people don’t block you when you’re trying to get to the toppings.

But what about the product?
We all felt that Yogurtland was trying to cover all its bases and did so successfully. There were “tart” and regular versions of a large selection of flavors (Vanilla, strawberry, plain, chocolate, green tea, etc.) and toppings (highlights were graham cracker crust, mochi bits and a variety of fresh cut fruits).

All my friends thought the yogurt itself was good. Two of my friends thought the yogurt was sweeter but better tasting than Pinkberry. I liked that I was able to get exactly what I wanted and didn’t have to compromise or pay for more that I needed. I had the plain tart with delicious mochi bits. A nice big cup for $3.55.

Pinkberry vs. Yogurtland:

A half cup (4 oz) of original flavor Pinkberry has 70 calories, O grams of fat and 3 grams of protein. A 4 oz Yogurtland vanilla has essentially the same calories (72), 0 grams of fat and also 3 grams of protein.

Like Pinkberry, Yogurtland offers many really fun and tasty toppings such as Mochi rice bits, cocoa puffs and graham cracker crumbs. They also offer more flavors than Pinkberry and Red Mango.

But at $0.39 an ounce they are about 50% less expensive than Pinkberry or Red Mango. A medium Pinkberry costs $3.50 and $0.95 per topping. Lets say you get chips, coconut flakes and Fruity Pebbles your total is about $6.50 for the 8.5 ounces with toppings.

Compare that to 7.5 ounces of yogurtland yogurt with 1oz of toppings at $3.35.

All nutrition information is company reported.

Here’s a Google map of Yogurtland’s location.
Eventually, I’ll have a map of all the NYC frozen yogurt destinations.

Zabars, Pinkberry, Yogurtland | No Comments »

Question: How do you get someone who doesn’t love ballet to come with you to Lincoln Center?

Answer: Tell them a 5-star dessert is waiting for them if they can make it to intermission.
Imagine how smug you’ll feel sitting down at the Grand Tier restaurant in Lincoln Center for a ballet-themed dessert made especially for the ballet you are there to see. Very cool.

Read the full press release here.

More on the MET at Lincoln Center here.

More info on The Grand Tier Restaurant here.

The creator of these beautiful desserts is Michael Gabriel. He is the executive pasty chef for a number of midtown restaurants as well as the Grand Tier.

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The Grand Tier | 1 Comment »