Popbar

Look at all those Popsicles!

This restaurant, in the West Village, is so cute. All they sell is artisanal gelato and sorbet Popsicles! For a small additional fee you can get unlimited "dippings" and "poppings." The dippings are dark, milk, and white chocolate. The poppings are chopped nuts, coconut, and sprinkles. The basic procedure is: pick a pop, add dippings and poppings, and eat. Ice cream on a stick--what's not to like?! I love the idea of upgraded childhood favorites. Who didn't love licking a Popsicle or ice cream bar pop when they were little? At a certain point you felt as though you have gotten to old to eat them, right? Well with these you are never too old. Their gelato and sorbet are high quality and all made on site. And poppings like pistachio can't possibly be too childish. The staff is friendly and don't make you feel like a vacillating, indecisive idiot when you can't decide what to have. After all there are so many choices; what flavor pop--and all 15 or so flavors look too delicious not to eat--what dipping(s) and what toppings. Think of all the combinations!

Now for the important part: what I ate. I decided to try one sorbet pop and one gelato pop. For the sorbet I had a strawberry pop--you can't go wrong with strawberry--dipped in white chocolate and coated with shredded unsweetened coconut on one side and chopped pistachios on the other. Everything about it was good! The sorbet was intensely strawberry flavored, the white chocolate wasn't too waxy, and the coconut and pistachios went wonderfully with it. The texture of the pop was on the icy side, but it's sorbet so that was to be expected.

Look at the color of that peanut butter gelato, perfection.

The gelato pop was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Okay, probably not ever but at least it's the best gelato I've had in a while. I went for peanut butter gelato. The gelato was creamy and pungently peanut buttery. Not peanutty, peanut buttery--yes there is a difference. It was like eating frozen peanut butter on a stick, dipped in dark chocolate and covered with chocolate sprinkles. Yum! I'm not sure I'll be back anytime though, because it is a schlepp from where I live. But I did have my eye on the kiwi sorbet pop, so I might have to schlepp for that.

Epicerie Boulud, update

I am standing at Epicerie Boulud with my new iPad (I'm very happy!) and am sorely disappointed by their croissants. I've never bothered to get their pastries, since they are tiny and expensive. But they look delicious and I've heard excellent things about their croissants. I was in the mood for a pain au chocolat, so I caved in and bought one. It did satisfy my craving, but for the price and the fact that it was from one of Daniel Boulud's restaurant it wasn't great.

It looked large and puffy, but in reality the size was from giant air pockets, rather than a network of small/medium ones. This shows that the dough was either not folded/shaped properly or over proofed. Also the chocolate batons did not run the full length of the croissant and were far sweeter than I'm used to--I think it must have been milk or very light semi-sweet chocolate.

Had I found this at a little local bakery I'd have been happy with it, but given the big name behind Epicerie Boulud, meh. Not to toot my own horn, but mine are better. (Possibly because the recipe and technique I learned were from Jacques Torres, who makes the best pains au chocolats I've ever had.)

On a positive note, I had the pulled pork sandwich, which was delicious. The roll, the coleslaw, and the pork (with its sweet and sticky sauce) were all excellent. Obviously it was not traditional Carolina pulled pork, but that's okay, I wasn't expecting southern barbecue at a French restaurant.

Regardless, the mediocre croissant will not stop me from going back, but I certainly won't be bothering with any more of their baked goods. If I want sweet when I'm there I'll stick to their delicious gelato and sorbet.

Shake Shack (at 77th and Columbus)

Two Double Shack Burgers:
one for me and one for my mom

Danny Meyer does it again! I haven't eaten anything here that I haven't liked. I always get a double shack burger with everything on it--everything being cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, pickles, and sauce. The sauce is somewhat akin to the sauce on a big mac, but better.

Everything they make is done with high quality, fresh ingredients, which greatly improves the flavor of the food. Nothing tastes like fast food, not even the burger patties which are more flavorful and much leaner than most. The flavor is enhanced by the cooking technique; they sear the patties so that it is sweetly caramelized and almost crisp.

Shroom Burger

For vegetarians, there are shroom burgers. Basically, it's a portabella mushroom that's stuffed with cheese and breaded. I've never eaten it, but I've been with people who have--they both said it was delicious.

Cheesy Fries!

Of course you have to have fries with that. There's a choice between plain old crinkle cut fries--made with Idaho potatoes and nothing else (except the frying oil, obviously)--and cheesy fries. The cheesy fries are their normal fries with copious amounts of melted cheese (American, I believe). Gosh they are good.

They have milkshakes made with their frozen custard. These are very good, but not the best milkshakes I've ever had. The frozen custard plain is delicious. It's basically very rich soft serve ice cream. They have special flavors every day as well as the classic chocolate and vanilla. Both the regular flavors are excellent, especially when swirled with toppings and sauces to make a "concrete". The special flavors, a different one for each day of the week and changed monthly, have always been delicious. My favorite was coffee and donuts; coffee frozen custard with chunks of plain, sweet, cakey donut. Could it get any better?!

There are only three bad things I have to say about Shake Shack and none of them are all that bad. First, the service can be hit or miss, but it's counter service so that's not the end of the world. Second, the prices are steep for counter service. Then again, the food is high quality and it costs less than burgers at sit down restaurants. Third, it's impossible to find seating and the line is almost always out the door; and kI suppose that's a good thing if you look at it from the restaurant's point of view!

Epicerie Boulud

Daniel Boulud opened Epicerie Boulud this past summer. I am very happy about this addition to my neighborhood. Basically this is a restaurant that only serves take away--they have bar height tables inside and outside under a breeze way, but no chairs. It is, like all of Daniel Boulud's restaurants, French food done right. Epicerie Boulud boasts an oyster bar, the DBGB dog from his midtown restaurant named for the famous comedy club CBGB's, some staple French pastries and bread, sandwiches, soups, salads and other vegetable dishes, a daily hot meal, some charcuterie, coffee, and gelato.

I don't particularly enjoy oysters so I can't comment on the oyster bar, but I have sampled a bit of everything else!

The DBGB dog is excellent. It's more of a beef sausage than a hot dog, but that's really not the point. The point is the toppings and the roll. The dog/sausage sits in a brioche roll and is topped with a zingy but not spicy mustard/mayo/ketchup sauce, pickled relish of a variety of vegetables, and sauteed onions. I always get a bag of the gaufrette potato chips on the side. 

The other sandwiches are more along the lines of traditional French fare. They include a wonderful ham and butter on baguette, a delicious turkey BLT club with avocado and fried egg, and an excellent lobster roll. The one problem with all their sandwiches--including the numerous other ones which I have not tried--is that they are quite expensive for the size. I know that they are pricey because they are made with high-quality ingredients, but the mark-up is a bit on the steep side. 

Their salads and cold vegetable dishes are again overpriced for the quantity, but delicious and made with quality ingredients. Their beet and blue cheese salad is one of my favorites.

The hot meal is very good, although I've only tried it once, so I can't comment on how consistent it is. The soups are delicious, both the hot ones in the winter and the chilled ones in the summer. They recently started serving quiche, which is delicious.

The coffee is excellent; their iced tea is so-so. They serve wine as well. I've only tried one or two of their reds and I was quite impressed.

Their baked goods, such as macarons and various tarts, look delicious but I've never tried them. Honestly they are very pricey and I can make fancy French bakery items at home. Their gelato, on the other hand, is completely worth the price. Firstly, it isn't much more expensive than any other ice cream place in the city and, secondly, it's delicious. I've liked every flavor I've tried, unfortunately they keep rotating out my favorites (such as mint chip). The only real problem with the gelato is that some of the staff give tiny scoops and leave off the free wafer cookie (and give you a nasty look when you ask for it) that are barely worth the price while others give nice, substantial scoops. You have to know who is at the counter and only go when the stingy people aren't there.

Speaking of the staff, some of them are wonderful, some are not. The manager (at least I think he's the manager) is snooty and unhelpful. My biggest problem is that I go very frequently and most of the staff never recognize me. I don't expect them to know my name or my usual order (especially because I don't have a usual order) but I'd like a glimmer of recognition--at least they are typically nice. Of course a few people there are very nice and not only know I'm a regular but also as about my mother (she frequents it as well, often with me) and my dog (who comes with me sometimes since they have outdoor tables.)

All in all, it's well worth a visit, just be prepared to spend quite a bit, especially for a place without chairs.