La Tía Delia – Congratulation, you’re in Paterson’s Peruvian Paradise

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | Restaurants | 2 Comments

This past weekend, I learned that Paterson, NJ is a wonderful place, not only due to its breathtaking waterfalls, but also because of its historic silk industry, nearby American Labor Museum, and insanely good Peruvian food. Our friend and tour guide had to choose just one restaurant out of many, and that was La Tía Delia (or Aunt Delia, which makes me realize that the coffee liqueur, Tia Maria, must mean Aunt Maria). Apparently, any time you attach a familial name to food, people are more attracted to it– like “Grandma’s apple pie” sounds infinitely better than just plain-old “apple pie.” La Tía Delia made us the most delicious, homemade meal of rotisserie chicken, lamb stew, steak and onion stir-fry, creamy chicken & potatoes, and smokey bacon beans. It’s hard to imagine that there was any room left for dessert, but my friend spied some doughnut-like specimens on her way to the bathroom, so there was no question.  Dessert and coffee in funny mugs were ordered in abundance:

The Arroz con leche was rich and creamy, with a healthy dusting of cinnamon and a hint of cloves.  We then tried a mix of arroz con leche and mazamorra morada, which was even tastier.  Mazamorra morada, apart from having a kick-ass name, is a dark purple, jelly-like substance made from purple corn (maiz morado), pineapple, potato flour, cloves, and cinnamon, which is the strongest flavor.  During dinner, we had it in its drink form, chica morada.  The flan had a nice, eggy, custardy consistency, and a sweet, liquidy syrup to slurp up with your spoon.  Then there were the picarones, or fritters made from squash and sweet potato, which were the pièce de résistance.  They were fresh from the fryer, crisp on the outside, moist and doughy on the inside.  They weren’t very sweet on their own, but some thoughtful Peruvian way back when decided to serve them in a special syrup, made from chancaca (molasses tablet), orange peel, and (surprise, surprise) cinnamon & cloves.  The result is sort of a cross between honey and corn syrup.  One forkful of fritter + a dip in the syrup = Heaven.  Should you decide to make your own pilgrimage to Paterson, make sure to come on a Saturday or Sunday, because Aunt Delia only makes her picarones on weekends.

La Tía Delia
28 Market Street
Paterson, NJ  07505
973-523-4550
c’mon, there’s no website, fool

GoodieBox Bake Shop – Red Velvet Cupcake Heaven

Thursday, December 24th, 2009 | bakeries, Events | 2 Comments

Cupcake litmus test: if you cut one in half with a knife, the two sides fall down, and the frosting top comes off, the cake is too dry and/or there’s too much frosting, and, basically, you’re in trouble. If you cut one into quarters, and the four tops remain intact after impact with the plate, you’ve got a moist, delicious, perfectly balanced red velvet cupcake from GoodieBox. I mean, (elderly New Yorker who’s gushing with praise) it’s so good– you neva’!


I recently went to a GoodieBox tasting at the East Harlem Café, a cute, hip joint with gorgeous mozaic art pieces. GoodieBox is a baked goods supplier operating out of Weehawken, NJ that specializes in classic and simple baked goods.  Their red velvet cupcake was the best I’ve ever had. Perfect, light, vanilla cream cheese frosting– not too much to be sickening, not too little to be sad plus the aforementioned moist, springy cake.  You can either order these babies online or hope that your local coffee shop starts carrying them.

GoodieBox Bakeshop
201-430-8634
goodieboxbakeshop.com
 
 
East Harlem Café
1651 Lexington Ave
(between 104th St & 105th St)
New York, NY 10029
 

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Roni-Sue’s Chocolates – the Bacon Speaks for Itself

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | chocolatiers | No Comments

I realize the whole “bacon for dessert” thing is a bit played out at this point, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still delicious! Roni-Sue’s Chocolates, located in the Essex Street Market, lets both the bacon and the chocolate sing in its “Pig Candy.” Crispy bacon strips are hand-dipped in either milk or dark choclate. The saltiness of the bacon makes your mouth water, then the smooth chocolate melts and you have a heavenly bite indeed. I wish this could become a fixture on my brunch plate!


Since I’ve been dipping my bacon in maple syrup since I was a kid, I also had to try the Maple Bacon Lollipop. Holding it up to the light, I was reminded of those novelty lollies which contain horrific grasshoppers or worms. No bugs here, though, just visible chunks of bacon <sigh of relief>. The maple candy itself I found to be a bit too strong, like molasses– perhaps they use a very dark grade of maple syrup. But I found that once you make your way down to the bacon chunks, the flavor balances out.

Hie thyself to the Essex Street Market and get thee some bacon treats!

Roni-Sue’s Chocolates
Essex Street Market
120 Essex Street (at Delancey) – closed on Sundays, btw
212-260-0421
http://www.roni-sue.com/

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PastryScoop’s Fall 2009 Conference

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | Events | No Comments

My beloved French Culinary Institute & PastryScoop.com held their annual conference in October. They invite some of the best pastry chefs & chocolatiers in New York to come and do demonstrations of their signature treats. It’s open to the public, so I ponied up $65 to watch Cookshop’s executive pastry chef Emily Wallendjack make her famous Cookshop Candy Bars, with layers of Devils food cake, gianduja crunch, praline ganache, frozen peanut nougat, and chocolate shell. She invented these after her stint at Jean-Georges working with pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini. Chef Johnny made a wonderful peanut butter dessert that cemented her love of peanut butter and chocolate. (I don’t blame her– Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a guilty pleasure of mine.) She joked that if she ever dropped her Candy Bars from the menu, her customers would have her head. Once I tasted the completed confection, I understood why:


It was such a delight to watch her and her team work. She gave us the complicated recipe to follow-along with and make at home ourselves (hah!). She explained everything patiently, clearly, and with humble humor. Her sous chef, Natasha Hillendahl, was so efficient. Cake would get baked, chocolate would get melted, and needed cooking implements would appear by Chef Emily’s side without a word.

I learned the following random baking tidbits along the way:
-Gianduja is milk solids & hazelnuts, which civilians can purchase at Whole Foods and is made by Valrhona.
-Mayo (I know, ew!) actually works better than oil in cakes because it incorporates better. And yes (double-ew!!), you can use Hellmann’s. Chef Emily uses mayo in her Devils food cake.
-When making ganaches, it’s better to use a heat-proof spatula than a whisk so you don’t incorporate air bubbles. Also, using milk chocolate is dicey because it burns much faster than dark chocolate.
-Water is one of chocolate’s worst enemies, as it causes it to sieze up. When using a double-boiler to melt chocolate, make absolutey sure there’s a tight seal over the water, don’t let the water boil, and look out for condensation.
-Gelatin sheets (available at Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market) are great, flavorless thickeners. You put them in ice water to soften and wigglify. Then you squeeze them out before you use them.
-It’s good to whip cream with side-to-side motions using a flat whisk. It’ll still take forever, though!
-Pâte à glacer is just chocolate & grape seed oil, and is used to make chocolate coatings. You don’t refrigerate it.
-Chocolate “feet” form when you’re coating something, and it flattens and cools on a surface.  Tasty feet!

After Chef Emily was done, I asked her what her favorite dessert was to make: “ice cream and sorbets,” she said. She loves experimenting with different flavors and selling them at their sidewalk stand outside the restaurant, where they don’t need a permit and are in a prime spot for High Line foot traffic. I get the sense that ice creams are the preferred form of expression for many pastry chefs. It certainly seems like those Iron Chef guys just can’t stay away from the ice cream makers. Lobster and shiitake sorbet, anyone?

After the Cookshop demo was over, I saw that next door’s Ice Cream Social with Flex Mussels’ corporate pastry chef Zac Young was still rockin’. I snuck in and was immediately struck by the frenetic atmosphere of the room. Chef Zac was making seemingly endless varieties of ice cream and sorbet, and his sous chef and the poor FCI students were busting their butts to keep up. I got to try the cream cheese ice cream and white chocolate mint and passion fruit sorbets, but I think my palate was shot by then or I was too full, because I didn’t find the flavors to be well-balanced; maybe they just weren’t sweet enough to my liking.

Looking forward to seeing who’s coming out next year!  And, as always, I can’t wait for my next trip to L’Ecole, FCI’s amazing student-run restaurant.

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Bûche de Noël – My Erstwhile Nemesis

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 | Homemade | 5 Comments

Since I’m down with the old adage, “write what you know” (or kinda know in my case), I do some baking occasionally.  It might have something to do with stealing tastes of the batter, frosting, or pure vanilla extract (resist this particular urge!) as I go, but even I get sick of whatever it is I’m making by the time it’s ready.  By the next day, however, I’m craving my dessert again and eat it with great relish and (often) pride.  And of course when you make something at home, you’ve got free license to eat it!

With an upcoming dinner party, I was inspired to make a Yule Log or Bûche de Noël, the classic French treat consisting of a thin layer of sponge and some sort of cream/jelly/flexible edible,  all rolled up.  I turned to Martha for guidance, and although the end result, I think, looked pretty good:

after 6 hours of working on this thing on a Friday night after work, I get why it’s a “seasonal” dessert.

Bear with me, because I’m about to get all Julie & Julia up in this piece.  Once I made my chocolate génoise (or French sponge), which I did not burn or, by the looks of things, overbake, plus my chocolate mousse filling, I began to ease it into its roll using a towel & parchment paper, as suggested.  As luck would have it, the cake broke almost immediately, then proceeded to not roll so much as fold in on itself, to create, rather than a round log, a flattened log with mousse oozing unstoppably out the sides.  Sweating and cursing, I then tried to move the mass over to some plastic wrap to chill in the fridge and set before decorating.  It was so full of stuff, I couldn’t get a good hold on it, and it started collapsing.  AARGH!!  I looked at the pile of crap I was dealing with and was struck by the absurdity of my pursuit.  Undoubtedly, everything I had here was delicious.  Now why was I insisting on rolling it into a shape it obviously had no interest in forming?  Why didn’t I just toss it all into a large bowl, pour some ganache on top, and have at it?  Because I didn’t want to accept defeat, that’s why.  So, after much mousse-loss, I wrapped it up and threw it into the fridge, so that I could work on the easiest thing in the world: chocolate ganache.

As you can see from my pics, I was eventually able to successfully turn my messy pile into a thing of humble beauty, using a fork, evergreen sprigs, and powdered sugar.  Pastry chefs must not only be great bakers, but also great sculpters and artists.  My respect for them grows by the day.  I was so proud, I didn’t even want to cut through it during our dinner party.  But I did, and found that the light génoise, mousse, and touch of strawberry jam melded perfectly with the smooth ganache.  I guess I’ll make another one next year.

D.C. Dessert Roundup – Capital Confections Part 5: Baked and Wired

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | bakeries, Travel | 4 Comments

We were in Georgetown; we wanted cupcakes.  Georgetown Cupcake was (GASP!) closed.  My dessert-deprivation panic began to set in, but then my trusty guide remembered something about another cupcakerie thereabouts.  With her keen sense of direction, especially when it comes to sweets, she led us through an out-of-place mall, past the C&O Canal, to Baked and Wired– the perfectly-named coffee shop/bakery in this collegiate neighborhood.  And what splendors we beheld inside:

These cupcakes were very fine indeed.  The origami-like pointy wrappers were very pretty.  (I wonder if they’re more difficult to frost than cupcakes nestled in normal wrappers?)  The cakes in our chosen specimens were moist enough to be tasty, but not so moist as to collapse under their icing roofs.  The Strawberry cupcake had real fruit chunks in the cake.  The Mocha cupcake had a slight coffee flavor, but was mostly chocolate– just the way I like it.

Since Baked and Wired is a café, you can also get some coffee and a slice of quiche, then take a load off under a big American flag they’ve got as part of their modern, minimalist, hipster-attracting decor.  Georgetown Cupcake, you shouldn’t be closed on Mondays– people’s eyes wander… their heads turn… and before you know it, they’ve got a new favorite.

Baked and Wired
1052 Thomas Jefferson St., N.W.
Washington, D.C.  20007
202-333-2500
http://www.bakedandwired.com/

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D.C. Dessert Roundup – Capital Confections Part 4: Afterwords

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | Restaurants, Travel | 1 Comment

Where else can you eat, drink, listen to music, and buy books, all in one place?  Afterwords, part of Kramerbooks, that’s where, and not surprisingly, a D.C. institution.  While I don’t think their desserts are anything to, uh, write home about– if it’s 3 in the morning on Saturday night, and you find yourself, as I often do, simply unable to go to bed until you’ve had a piece of goober pie, then this place is a godsend.

The goods (obtained via takeout in un-eco-friendly plastic containers):

The double chocolate cake had ok cake, ok frosting, and decent chocolate fudge– the problem was a large chunk of said frosting in the middle of the slice that was too sweet and rich to deal with.  The pecan pie had a tasty enough filling with a dry, boring crust that is made to be left behind.  The key lime pie was quite good, though, with a great balance of sweet and tart.  The menu claims it’s made with real Key limes, which I’m inclined to believe, since it really was excellent– I’d eat this while half-asleep again.

Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café
1517 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, D.C.  20036
202-387-3825
http://www.kramers.com/index.cfm

Next stop: Baked and Wired

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D.C. Dessert Roundup РCapital Confections Part 3: Caf̩ Saint-Ex

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | Restaurants, Travel | 2 Comments

No, I don’t normally go for dessert after eating brunch, but I made an exception at Café Saint-Ex, named after The Little Prince author and aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, after my dessert guide claimed that she didn’t care what I did, she was having dessert.  I don’t back down on a dessert throw-down, plus I knew I was in good hands when I saw the dessert menu, which listed five unique-sounding desserts (not including the requisite ice cream and sorbet selections) and listed the pastry chef’s name at the bottom: Alison Reed.  This lead me to believe that someone in the kitchen actually cares about sweets enough to put her name out there.

In his love letter to flying, Wind, Sand and Stars, Saint-Exupéry describes one of several desert crashes that he had.  He and his navigator were dying of thirst and miraculously found an orange in their plane’s wreckage.

He wrote:

“Stretched out beside the fire I looked at the glowing fruit and said to myself that men did not know what an orange was.  ‘Here we are, condemned to death,’ I said to myself, ‘and still the certainty of dying cannot compare with the pleasure I am feeling.  The joy I take from this half of an orange which I am holding in my hand is one of the greatest joys I have ever known.”

I’m sure that he would have also enjoyed the Orange Ice Cream Sandwiches (with cinnamon chocolate sauce), which I chose in his honor:

The cookies had a wonderful buttery, oaty crunch, accompanied by the spike of orange zest.  And what heaven to dip them into chocolate.  I am quite a fan of the dipping dessert.  You get to choose just how much sauce to use on each bite, you don’t have to worry about losing it to the open expanse of the plate, and you get to take your spoon and shamelessly eat the dredges yourself.  The Raspberry Lemon Bread Pudding with white chocolate sauce and vanilla cream was surprisingly light with a sweet, lemony accent.  The Nectarine Cobbler with basil ice cream was also delicious– how boring it would have been to use vanilla instead of basil ice cream.  Being a part of the mint family, the basil was refreshing and perfectly balanced the cobbler’s richness.

My taste buds really soared with Chef Alison’s desserts.

Café Saint-Ex
1847 14th Street, NW
Washington, D.C.  20009
202-265-STEX
http://www.saint-ex.com/

Next stop: Afterwords (coming soon)

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D.C. Dessert Roundup – Capital Confections Part 2: Good Stuff Eatery

Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | ice cream, Restaurants, Travel | 3 Comments

“Herein, where good people make good stuff…”  This sentiment is expressed on a historical landmark-like plaque outside D.C.’s popular Good Stuff burger joint, where my dessert guide informed me that one can also find amazing “handspun shakes.”  Doesn’t the word “handspun” make you think of cotton candy or knitting wool or something equally charming & old-timey?  I kinda thought you usually blend shakes, but “spinning” them takes it to that next level of homey-ness.  We ordered three Mini-Moos ($3.75 each), which are made with their special “milk-ice-gelato-custard-cream” and your usual sundae fixins– behold:

If you like your shakes thick, fatty, and unslurpable, this is the place for you.  Not looking for a cheek-ache, we decided not to even mess with straws.  Instead, we popped off their lids immediately and dug in with our spoons.  The Sourhop Hop Strawberry is a cute name, but there wasn’t anything sour about this wonderful shake– it just basically tasted like the best strawberry ice cream of my life.  I also enjoyed the D-Lechable Leche, but it wasn’t really dulce de leche-flavored– more like coffee and caramel-flavored, much to my bean-hating friend’s consternation.  The best of all was the Milky Way Malt, which had fudge, caramel, and candy chunks for texture– the concentrated bottom scrapings were so good, I went into one of my dessert trances.

Good work, good people of Good Stuff!

Good Stuff Eatery
303 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20003
202-543-8222
http://goodstuffeatery.com/

Next stop: Café Saint-Ex (posting soon)

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D.C. Dessert Roundup – Capital Confections Part 1: Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections (aka A.C.K.C.)

Monday, November 16th, 2009 | chocolatiers, ice cream, Travel | 4 Comments

We didn’t see Michelle or Barack, but we did have delicious desserts.  Read on…


A.C.K.C. is a total dessert cuterie (if you don’t know what a “cuterie” is, think of the chocolate shop in Chocolat).  They’ve got everything: display cases filled with fancy chocolates & baked goods, tables overflowing with chocolate bars & gifts, friendly dessert-istas, cheerful autumnal decorations, and… naughty mosaics depicting frolicking males.  A.C.K.C. is apparently the brainchild of a chocolatier, Rob Kingsbury, and an artist, Eric Nelson.  The chocolate and the art are for sale– great concept!

The “Divas” are a menu highlight; they can come in the form of blended ice cream and toppings, crowned with whipped cream, and served in gorgeous margarita glasses ($4.25 each).  We tried The Bette Davis: “milk chocolate infused with almond syrup, topped with toasted coconut flakes.”  It was light and tasty, but nothing much to write home about.  Next was the Marliyn Monroe: “a bold, white-chocolate base with a flip of crème de menthe finished with crumbled Oreo cookies.”  What a frothy, refreshing, minty delight.  And great texture from the cookie and white chocolate chunks.  Last of the Divas was the Rita Hayworth: “semi-sweet chocolate infused with clove, orange and caramel, drizzled with caramel sauce.”  This was the best of all.  The flavors all zinged together, with the orange hitting you first, then the chocolate, then the clove, of which there were whole buds, which sent spicy shivers down my spine.

Even though we were bursting with our stomachs’ discoveries of their inner Divas, we thought we must try some of their hand-made chocolate.  We picked the weirdest sounding one: “creamy brie with apricot dropped in toasted black sesame seeds.”  Well, I never thought I’d live to see the day that I’d have brie and chocolate in one bite, but there it was– that cheesy funk with that bitter chocolate.  I’m not sure how well the flavors married, and no one tasted the apricot, but it was worth it for the experience.

The last thing we tried was their smoked bacon chocolate bar: “rich milk chocolate couverture mixed with smoked Turkish paprika, dried apple, and caramelized bacon.”  I couldn’t detect a hint of bacon or paprika at all (maybe they forgot to add them?), but the chocolate itself was smooth, wonderful, and rich, and the apple chunks were a nice little surprise.

This was a perfect start to our dessert adventures!

A.C.K.C. (DC location)
1529C 14TH Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-387-COCO
http://thecocoagallery.com/

Next stop: Good Stuff Eatery (post coming soon)

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