Category Archives: Hell’s Kitchen

Bouchon Bakery: Lemon Tart and more

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Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Cir, 3rd Floor
(between W Central Park & Broadway)
New York, NY 10019

 

Bouchon apparently means “stopper” in French.  Not quite what I was expecting out of such a pretty word.  Bouchon?  Bouchon.  I could say it all day.  Boooo-shaaaungg.  Beautiful, just beautiful.

 

This lemon tart was equally beautiful.  The crust was not too sweet and was crumbly, which is only ever good when it is a crust (crumbly cookies?  No, thank you.).  The gooey lemon center was probably more tart than expected but only because I always tend to prepare myself for the worst: overly sweet pastries.  Why would you get a lemon tart if you wanted something super sweet?  Bouchon understands me.  The tart was very lemony, creamy, and had a nice sharp zest to it.  The top was covered with a  fluffy marshmallow meringue.   Continue reading →

Grandaisy Bakery: Cauliflower Flat Bread and Mini Pumpkin Pie

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Grandaisy Bakery
250 W Broadway
(between Moore St & Beach St)
New York, NY 10013

A friend of mine introduced me to this bakery a couple of months ago with a box of almond cake and shortbread sandwich cookies. I went to the bakery for the first time this past weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find a breath of fresh air hidden in this New York bakery. The bakery is quite large and is very spacious, unlike most New York bakeries and cafes where they try and squeeze as much as they can into a tiny space to earn more bang for their buck. The windows are full length and wrap around the entire corner of the bakery, bringing in a lot of light. Tall standing tables are scattered to be used for a quick bite.

The Cauliflower Flat Bread was so delicious! The dough is very QQ – soft and chewy with a slight crispiness around the edges. The toppings were extremely flavorful and brought out a deeply fragrant taste of cauliflower that is often hidden behind too much salt. I’m craving more of this bread the more I think about it.

The pumpkin pie tart was also very yummy. It wasn’t as spiced as I typically like my pumpkin treats but it was definitely still a very tasty tart. Not too sweet at all (probably not sweet enough for the average American) and a nice dense consistency, I also wouldn’t mind having another one of these right now…

Totto Ramen: Char Siu Mayo Don

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Totto Ramen
366 W 52nd St
(between 8th Ave & 9th Ave)
New York, NY 10019

 

This delicious little $4.50 bowl is something I know I will crave often. Totto’s classic torched char siu (BBQ pork) with thin slivers of scallions topped over a bed of semi-sticky rice that somehow maintains an aromatic sweet aftertaste… Add a bit of Japanese mayo goodness and you’ve got one of the best appetizers there is.