Macaron Cafe

Clockwise from cut macaron: caramel, coconut, creme brulee, mocha

I believe that they opened a week or two ago, so perhaps that's why the waitresses in cute pink dresses (that put me vaguely in mind of candy stripers' uniforms) weren't quite as efficient as they were enthusiastic. They seemed happy to have a customer (I was not the only person there, so I'm not sure their excitement was justified) but not entirely sure what to do once they had one. They were nice enough (and kept the water glass full enough) to make up for the fact that they couldn't figure out the bill.

The salads looked nice and the sandwich selection was relatively broad considering the place is devoted one type of cookie. I was with a friend and we split two sandwiches that were nice but nothing too impressive. One was a goat cheese, apple, raisin, pine nut, and mustard sandwich; the other was brie, apple, raisin, and mustard. I knew these would be same-y but they sounded good. Both had a very reasonable amount of cheese--both good quality cheeses--and apple. The mustard--a honey dijon, I believe--was very nice. The raisins were odd with the of the sandwich, I picked most of them off. My real complaint was that both of the sandwiches were on the same bread--an overly crusty (and perhaps faintly stale?) baguette. That's alright, I was hungry and despite the fact that I was underwhelmed by the sandwiches I ate my whole portion. Anyway, I was there for the macarons.

Their selection of macaron flavors is impressive. Not wanting to spend to much, my friend and I agreed to split four different flavors. We opted for more traditional flavors, partly because we didn't want to be too adventurous at $2.50 a pop and partly because (at least for me) I like trying the normal flavors to judge the item on its merits before trying unusual flavors that might distract me from deciding if the texture of the meringue and nut flour based cookie is how it should be.

Allow me to make a few generalizations about the state of their macarons before discussing the individual flavors. First, the ratio of filling to cookie is quite good. Second, most of the macarons were beautiful colors that worked perfectly with the favors, but there were a few (like the turquoise vanilla) that were too bright for no apparent reason. I saw no apparent reason, because I'm fine with, say, cassis being chartreuse because the color makes sense...I just don't think you should dye them completely random colors. Third, the surface of the cookies were not smooth. The surface of the macaron cookie should be beautifully smooth, almost shiny, with no texture or color variations. This is easier said than done, trust me. Theirs were very bumpy; presumably because their soft ball sugar was cooked too hot and hardened in little pieces when it hit the cold meringue or it crystallized when cooking and was grainy. This wasn't just a problem with one flavor, it was across the board. I guess it wasn't a mistake with one batch and was, rather, a conscious choice...I can't imagine why. Happily, that didn't mess up the texture of the cookie too much, so it was more an aesthetic issue than anything--although that could be a happy side effect of the humidity of an NYC August, which makes macarons (and most sugar-based things) slightly soft. Fourth, they should probably have a little more height than they did. I'm assuming this problem was linked to the problem with the graininess but it may have been the humidity.

Now for the flavors. My friend and I opted for somewhat traditional flavors, as I mentioned above. We had coconut, mocha, caramel, and crème brûlée. From my least favorite to my favorite:

My least favorite was the crème brûlée, there was something odd about the flavor. I can't put my finger on it exactly--there was something slightly acidic and bitter, almost like verbena, behind the sweet taste of the eggy filling. The filling, at least, had a lovely light and creamy texture to it.

The caramel, unfortunately didn't work terribly well either. The taste was good and the cookie was fine but the filling was bad. They were going for a straight caramel filling, not a cream or ganache filling. That's fine, the problem was the caramel was far too though. They should have made it more of a caramel mou, because as it was it was hard, but not brittle, and so sweet that it hurt your teeth a little. Shame, it had a lot of potential.

Top: mocha; bottom: coconut

The mocha macaron was very nice. One cookie was chocolate, the other was coffee, which I think is very cute, and they were held together by mocha ganache. It had a strong coffee taste but that didn't overpower the chocolate. The cookie was a bit chewy and the ganach filling could have been slightly creamier, but overall quite nice!

The coconut macaron was far and away the best! The cookie was nearly perfect, the cream was light and fluffy and the whole thing was strongly coconut-y without getting soapy (as I find some very sweet coconut flavored things can be). Yes, Laudree's are better, but these were excellent and I didn't have to flips to Paris to get them (yes, I know there is a Laudree in NYC but it isn't nearly as good as the original).

Overall, I'm not terribly impressed by the macarons, which is a pity since the place is called the Macron Cafe, but I can overlook that since the other food was yummy and the staff was nice. I'm not sure I'll go back, there are too many other places I want to try, but I'd recommend it if you happen by it and are hungry.

Francois Payard Bakery

I've met Chef Francois Payard, but I'd never been to his bakery. I decided that was silly and headed over to the shop he recently opened near me. I had heard excellent things about the roulades, so my friend who I was with and I split a piece of coffee roulade. It was delicious! The cake was tender and flavorful. The cream, which I believe was an enriched pastry cream, was incredible and had a perfect, rich, creamy texture. The glaze was on the sticky side and, like everything else, pungently coffee flavored. The macarons were a bit chewy and damp, but they were stuck to the outside of a cake and it was the end of the day.

By the way, the staff was very kind and professional. In addition, we were there at closing so they gave us each a baguette. Obviously they couldn't sell day old baguettes but no point in tossing them, so we got delicious baguettes for free! Very good customer service. I shall have to go back. Plus I want to try the chocolate raspberry roulade, it looked delicious and that is one of my favorite flavor combos.

Brunch at Bar Boulud

The prix fixe brunch at Bar Boulud is a good deal, especially for NYC. It is $32 for four courses, though I'd really call it three and a half given the diminutive size of the first course. I went here with my mother, aunt, and uncle. We had a lovely time and all of us enjoyed all our food--and I got to taste what everyone else ordered. Anyway, the prix fix brunch comes with American coffee, which they refilled quite frequently, or tea for a supplement. It's always cracked me up that places charge more for tea when it's just unlimited hot water and one tea bag, but I digress.

The first course is termed "pastries" but we all only got one very small viennoiserie. I had a pain au chocolate, as did my mom. My aunt had an apple croissant, according to her, delicious. My uncle had a raisin danish, which was also lovely. 

For the second course I ordered the creamy grits with rhubarb compote, a maple whisky sauce, and pecans. Oh my goodness it was good. The grits were the perfect texture; not clumpy but not at all runny--I suppose calling them creamy about sums it up. The rhubarb compote was excellent, with just a hint of tartness which complemented the sweet sauce nicely. My only problem with the compote was that I'd wished there had been a bit more--not too much more or it would have overwhelmed the dish, but a bit more would have been nice. The sauce was quite sweet, but very thin and not syrupy so it did not overpower the mild flavor of the grits. The pecans worked well and added a nice crunch, however there was something slightly incongruous about them...maybe they needed to be toasted or perhaps chopped a little bit finer, they just seemed a little too strong as they were for the dish.

My mom got the grits as well. I wanted her to get the sheep's milk yogurt, granola, and berries (a former classmate of mine at the FCI told me they import their strawberries from Italy and I don't think I've ever eaten an Italian strawberry) so that I could try it but she wanted the grits and I didn't want to taste those strawberries enough to give up the grits. My aunt and uncle both had the potato soup with smoked haddock. They wouldn't let me try their haddock or croutons, apparently they were just too good to share, but I had a sip of the creamy potato broth--it was incredible. The taste was strongly potato-y, perfectly spiced, and wonderfully smooth.

For the third course we were very boring...the three of us ladies all got the croque madame and my uncle got the more manly croque monsieur. For those of you who don't know, a croque madame is a croque monsieur with a fried (typically sunny side up) egg on top. I'd heard about the croque monsieur and madame so I was always going to get that. The fact that everyone followed suit is perhaps due to the fact that, while delicious sounding, the other third course items were easier to come by at other establishments (brioche french toast, for example) but it's nearly impossible to find a proper croque monsieur. Happily, these were proper croques! My croque madame was cooked perfectly. The ham was excellent quality, the cheese was delicious, and the béchamel sauce on top with browned to perfection. The egg on top was perfect as well; the yoke was runny but the white was cooked as throughly as it can be without overcooking the yoke or making the white like rubber. We all cleaned our plates. Well that's not entirely true, I left over a bit of the side salad. It was nice with crisp mixed greens and a light vinaigrette, but I needed to save room for dessert.

The final course was not at all a let down, though dessert after breakfast never really could be a let down. There were three options, a clafoutis du jour, a sundae du jour, and a poached meringue. I'm not a huge fan of poached meringue--something about the texture--and after I mentioned that no one at the table decided to be adventurous and try it. My aunt and uncle both had the clafoutis, which was made with sour cherries--the traditional fruit for clafoutis--and had a delicious creme anglaise sauce and toasted almond topping. It was very nice. I'm not a clafoutis fan, but they both loved it. My mom and I both had the sundae. It was amazing. The waitress was quite soft-spoken and I couldn't quite hear what the sorbet was--I heard "sour" and "sorbet" but there was a word in between that none of use could catch. The what-ever-it-was sorbet was served with creme Chantilly, vanilla tuiles, and pistachio crumble. I believe the ice cream was a sour yogurt sorbet, though I could be wrong. Whatever it was, it was deliciously tart but not too sour and quite refreshing. The "served with vanilla tuile cookies" was a bit of a joke, there were three hippen batter tuile cookie dots that were smaller in diameter than a dime. That said, they were yummy. The creme Chantilly was surprisingly thick and rich, I'm wondering if it was stabilized with gelatin. By the way, that isn't a complaint, just an observation. The best part was the crumble. There were whole chunks of pistachios in a streusel-like, buttery, nutty crumble. Happily they were not nearly as stingy with the crumble as they were with the tuiles. This wasn't my favorite dessert but it was delicious and light (which is nice after a large and filling meal). More to the point it was an excellent end to an excellent meal.

The service was excellent. It is a little slow at times, for example the coffee came well after they'd served us our pastry. On the flip side, they don't rush you through courses or out the door at the end. They weren't perfectly attentive with keeping our water and coffee full, but then again I was drinking water like a fish (though fish don't drink water, I suppose) so they probably just couldn't keep up.

Overall an excellent experience for a (relatively) reasonable price. A great place to bring family from out of town if you want to impress them or just a nice place for a bit of a splurge. I'm not sure I'll be going back for brunch anytime soon--there are at least four other places I have to try first and I don't go out to brunch very often--but I'd definitely recommend it!

The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

I'd already started eating it, then remembered
I should take a picture, oops!

The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is quite famous and has made numerous appearances on the Food Network. Recently--within the last year--they have expanded from being a food truck to being a food truck and an actual store front. That is excellent news, because it meant I could just stop by one long weekend when I was craving ice cream. I went with my mom so we got two different things and split them. I got the Monday Sundae which is similar to their famous Salty Pimp, but with more chocolate. It's a waffle cone, lined with nutella, filled with chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream, drizzled with salted dulce de leche sauce, and topped with whipped cream. The way the salty-sweet sauce mixed with the sweet vanilla ice cream and the chocolatey chocolate ice cream and nutella was perfect.

My mom got the mermaid. It is a cup of vanilla ice cream, with graham cracker crumbles and lime curd. The great thing is that the graham cracker crumbles and lime curd are mixed throughout the cup in little pockets between the creamy swirls of ice cream. You think you must have gotten the last taste of that tangy and sweet curd when suddenly your spoon hits another well of limey goodness.

Their ice cream is all--or at least mainly--soft serve. But bears no resemblance to the airy and overly sweet soft serve you get at a Mr. Softie truck. It reminds me of a slightly less rich version of the soft serve you can get in Cornwall, England where the cream is wonderfully thick, so the ice cream is incredible.

I loved both desserts I tried and will have to go back and try more. The oink-wich (as I believe it's called) sounds strange but remarkably appealing and their daily specials look like they are delicious--when I went it was a red velvet sundae, which was cream cheese ice cream with chunks of red velvet cake. I hope that have that again next time I go, because I definitely want to try it!

Alice's Tea Cup

Pumpkin scones in their front case, waiting for me to take
 them home! You see the shine on them? That's the
caramel sauce they put on them. Yum!

Alice's Tea Cup is the home of Jean's-not-yet-but-soon-to-be-famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake, which is superb.  Also, some really amazing, non-traditional scones.  If you ever make it there I highly recommend having a pumpkin scone and herbal chai tea; although I've never not liked one of their scones (the salted caramel and chocolate chip scone is very nice) and all their teas are amazing (if you are a black tea fan, I recommend the Margaret's Hope Darjeeling, which is spectacular darjeeling that is pretty difficult to find).  Their other food is good too.  Their BLT on pumpernickel with blue cheese is excellent, as is their tea-infused granola with plain yogurt, which they serve for breakfast and brunch.

The restaurant started out on the Upper West Side and was run by two sisters. Their mother, Jean, made the coffee cake. Once they became busy and successful, Jean handed over the cake making duties to the kitchen staff and the sisters stepped back a little. After that the service and quality slipped a bit, but it was still very good. Now, they've franchised the restaurant and since that expansion the service has gone down hill and the food isn't quite as good.  For example, they are very stingy with the icing on the coffee cake and the staff doesn't recognize regulars as reliably. They are still nice and efficient, just not nearly as good as they used to be. In addition, they are very irritating about not seating incomplete parties (it drives me nuts when the restaurant is half empty and they won't give me a table while I'm waiting for a friend to meet me.)  That said, they are almost always busy because the food is good, there are pages and pages of teas offered, and the atmosphere is so much fun!

Cafe Luxembourg

Cafe Luxembourg is an Upper West Side bistro that actually approximates a real French bistro. Their food is excellent. I've tried a number of different things, and loved everything. Their "Luxemburger" is my favorite thing on the menu, but is their fish and chips with minted peas (the peas are amazing!) is a close second. They have a nice, traditional French onion soup and good salads for appetizers. I've never tried their omelets but I've been with people who have and they all raved about them.

One of the best things about Cafe Luxembourg is their desserts. Their homemade ice cream is wonderful: a perfect texture and great flavors. I also have enjoyed every plated dessert I've had there as well. For more on their desserts see my post, Dessert at Cafe Luxembourg, on my other blog.

The atmosphere is nice, very French bistro-esque. It is often crowded and can be quite noisy--the tables are on top of each other--so probably not a place for a business dinner. Then again how many business dinners do you have on the Upper West Side?

The restaurant is almost always busy for dinner---I highly recommend making a reservation. But if you are like me, you won't think that far in advance and you'll just show up, hoping for the best. Usually they can squeeze you in at the bar if you do that. They serve the full menu at the bar and the bartenders are very nice, so I recommend that option. The table service is reliably decent. It is often better than that, but not always. Luckily the reliably excellent food makes up for any shoddy service.

Hello!

You may know me from my other blog, Pastry Place, where I chronicle my culinary adventures at home and school--I'm studying pastry arts at the French Culinary Institute.  I had a small restaurant review page on the blog, but decided I needed to devote more room to it, so I've decided move it here to a proper home.

I live in NYC, so obviously most of the restaurants I'll be talking about are based in New York, but do leave the City from time to time, so I'll be sure to write about restaurants outside the City too.