dessert

to eat / lady m cake boutique | bryant park

French-influenced Japanese cake boutique, Lady M, recently opened on the south side of Bryant Park. Close enough to hop to on a work day.

Simply put, I adore cake. Especially the light, fluffy, not super sweet kind. I’m partial to the elegant Gâteau aux Marrons (with almond cake and chestnut cream) but will pretty much eat anything from Lady M.

Bryant Park Boutique
36 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
+1 212-452-2222
Monday to Friday: 8am-7pm, Saturday: 11am-7pm, Sunday: 11am-6pm

If you like creamy chocolate, check out Japanese Hokkaido brand, Royce, which is a few steps east of Lady M. It’s no surprise they are neighbors – they share an owner, Ken Romaniszyn.

to eat / sprinkles cupcakes

I have an illness. Even though I think that cupcakes are totally over, I can’t help but walk an few, extra blocks to visit the “new” Sprinkles, and spend some hard earned dollars to consume unnecessary calories — just so I can cross it off my mental list. And no, I couldn’t just buy 1. I had to get 4.

I was a huge fan of the strawberry cupcake. I’ve always been a fan of strawberry cake, so anything with strawberry cake gets at least one thumb up from me. Since it was right before St. Patrick’s Day, I also got the Irish Chocolate which is chocolate cake with Baileys frosting.

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to eat / {my east village} peels, laboratorio del gelato, pok pok wing, and more

1) Peels (325 Bowery, NYC; East Village)

Affogato and a Build a Biscuit (fried chicken, fluffy scrambled eggs, and red eye gravy).

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to eat / {my east village} van leeuwen & big gay ice cream

I love ice cream. When I heard E 7th St was getting not one, but TWO, ice cream shops, I thought to myself once again, I love my neighborhood.

Van Leeuwen is a little further away and outside of from my area of frequent movement. After my experience, it’ll be a while before I return. VL ice cream is still good on its own and you can also buy it at Whole Foods. My advice is to stay away from the hot fudge. There was a weird waxy, unmelted texture going on and I got sick from it.

Big Gay Ice Cream started out as a truck. I’d only been to the truck once and the lines were horrendous. I was ecstatic when they decided to open a storefront really close to me. They had a Groupon that forced me to eat there more often then I preferred, so I visited it frequently. The lines were long when the shop just opened, but they have died down. Also, their staff is super friendly. I witnessed a proposal here. The last time I popped in, I got a salty pimp for free. I have no idea why none of the other patrons wanted a freebie. Not pictured are the ice cream sandwiches from Melt Bakery, which will be another post. I’m no ice cream sandwich connoisseur, but these were the best I’ve ever tasted!

My top recs are the sundaes and the ice cream sandwiches. I like the spicy hot fudge.
I advise studying the menu before visiting as the store layout is not slow decisionmaking-friendly.
Subscribe to their Facebook/Twitter for specials and updates.

Some pictures with commentary. Please note that the following items were consumed across a span of four months.

The menu that changes – and has changed a bit since it opened.

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weekends / chicago in september

Warning: massive food post. Don’t read while hungry.

It’s only appropriate that I remind my Illinois friends how nice the weather in September was now that Chicago is snowy and cold. Or I am just catching up on past events. Or both.

Chicago has a special place in my heart. Even though I’ve never lived there, plenty of university friends do and I’ve visited many times over the years. Each trip to the windy city is always super productive. We have all matured over the years and have developed more complex palates for good food and good wine.

Another warning: I was lazy and many of these photos were taken with my Blackberry.

First stop was dinner at Telegraph in Logan Square. I love places that have a market to table approach. We started with the corn tartine. Then, I had seared frog legs with dill creme fraiche/smoked cinnamon/pimiento and a huge endive salad with greens, cheese, beans, and peaches. We shared a corn panna cotta with spicy bacon streusel and raspberries. They also have a fantastic wine selection, but since I had to drive, I only had a glass. Thanks, E!

I stayed at a friend’s. Their cats are so well trained they stay within the study. Say hi! (And thanks for letting me stay over!)

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to eat / gitane and kristall

I’m so sad that the holiday break is coming to an end. Happy New Year’s Eve! I’m looking forward to a raclette party tonight.

My new favorite nude opaque nail polish – UK import, Nails Inc. Basil Street, thanks to Ms. Eva.

I met up with C to give her shoes I got at the October YSL sample sale. I found these on a random table and figured one of my Asian girlfriends wore 5.5. Lucky C =P They were marked down to $50! Insanity. These usually run close to $500!

We lunched at Café Gitane. I had a citrus salad with avocado, organic chicken, and hearts of palm as well as freshly squeezed OJ. I loooove freshly squeezed OJ.

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to eat / {portland, or} random order coffeehouse & bakery

I first posted about Portland, Oregon in June and never went past Part 1. Continuity and administrative tasks are not my strength. In this case, I blame it on not having a centralized photo repository sitting on a cloud. Not that I don’t have space…

As I mentioned here, I went to Portland again. My friend, Steve, is a coffee connoisseur/fanatic and gave me another bunch of recommendations on places to eat and drink [coffee]. Random Order Coffeehouse & Bakery was my very last stop before my red-eye flight back east. Traffic was on the top of my short list of things I did not like about Portland, but I still managed to get a good glimpse of the different neighborhoods. This place was in a particularly chill hood. I grabbed a sandwich (made of two halves – one salty and one sweet), a brownie, and 4 slices of pie for the road. I’ve been so busy with work lately that I forgot about the brownie until this weekend. Yes, it was still edible 🙂 The cherry pie was a favorite. If you’re in the area, it is definitely worth a stop!

Pictured in order: Cardamom & Sea-salted Pistachio Brownie, Farm sandwich (fresh veggies/herb cream cheese), Peanut Butter Panini (with banana, cinnamon, and honey), Oregon Cherry pie, Tahitian Vanilla Salted Caramel Apple pie, Coconut Cream pie, and Banana Cream pie (with a very healthy dusting of cinnamon).

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to eat / pies ‘n’ thighs & co.

It was a rare weekend as I spent not one, but two, days in Williamsburg (eating). My friend, L, decided to celebrate her birthday at Pies ‘n’ Thighs. Moments like these with friends are cherished. The food was excellent and the waitstaff was patient with our large group. I shared the Rob Evans (sausage gravy/biscuit/egg/cheese) and chicken/waffles with a friend. As much as I love sausage gravy and biscuits, I’m focusing on the chicken only next time.

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to eat / what i ate recently

Some things I ate recently in no particular order. All of the pictures were taken with my shoddy Blackberry camera because I’ve been too busy to open my new camera’s box, but you get the idea.

1) Petrie Court Cafe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, NYC; Upper West Side)

I had Friday off so we decided to go to the Met, exclusively to check out the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit, which was extended to August 7. We got there around 10:30am and the line was 45 minutes long. The exhibit is highly recommended, if you can brave the lines and crowds! If you can’t, the book gets you close to it. Be forewarned that the cover is lenticular and can be scary. It was absolutely packed inside and I probably could’ve gotten away with a few Blackberry pictures, but I decided to respect the Museum’s wishes.

After the exhibit, we were famished and decided to grab a bite to eat at one of the cafes. We were one of the youngest tables there. This cafe is, not too surprisingly, very “in” with the folks way past retirement age. The lemon orzo chicken soup was delicious and the bruschetta was very in-season and fresh.

2) Lady M Confections (41 East 78th Street, NYC; Upper West Side)

After the Met, we walked over to Lady M, which I’ve wanted to visit for years but just never got around to it. It’s a Japanese cake boutique, opened by Tokyo’s Paper Moon. Their signature cake is the mille crepes cake. In NYC, you can also find it at Dean & Deluca. Out of towners, you can order from the boutique or from Saks (and probably Gilt City). It is delicious! After ogling the cakes for a few minutes, we settled on the banana mille feuille and the checkers cake. They have a lengthy tea and coffee menu, so we paired it with coffee drinks. I love afternoon breaks of cake and coffee. I’d previously read that pictures were not allowed – maybe just of the cake displays?

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to eat / what i ate recently

Edi & the Wolf (East Village) – Brunch. Super fluffy scrambled eggs with crispy onions and speck.

Torrisi (Nolita, previously featured here) – Limited seating every night. Menu changes every day depending on what is in season. We got a table for 9:30pm. The antipasti consisted of fresh mozzarella and toast (AMAZING), sweetbreads, seafood salad, and another salad. We had the gnocchi, which were fluffy little pillows of goodness. For the main, we shared the John Dory (which wasn’t cooked with marsala as stated on the menu), the bbq lamb, and an amazing shortrib (we cleaned the bone real good). The house pastry was an assortment of cookies, after a quick grapefruit sorbet palate cleanser. The rainbow cookie and fresh cream puff were faves. The celery salt cookies were not. You can take away cookies $0.50/per.

Manhattan Cocktail Classic “British Invasion” event at Eleven Madison Park (Flatiron) – This was on the EMP “patio”. The charming Crooners played Beatles songs for hours and they passed around excellent fish and chips. I won’t mention how many I had, but it made me miss my trip to Ireland last May! There were 6 signature cocktails and table service 🙂

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