Balthazar Bakery

There is no better way to start the morning, than with some sweets from the Balthazar bakery:

Start off with some Canelés: (some people spell it Cannele)

Chewy caramelized exteriors, with soft - almost custard-like interiors: (made with egg, flour, milk, sugar, rum, and vanilla)

And finish with some lemon Madeleines: (little French butter cookies that have an almost cake-like consistency)

Their bakery also offers an assortment of croissants (the almond croissant is my favorite), tarts, cookies, and of course breads. It's only a matter of time before I try them all


Balthazar Bakery
80 Spring St 
New York, NY 10012

Ladurée (again)

It's nice to discover that some things don't change... even after a year

Maybe the color of their boxes have been upgraded (vs. down-graded (?) depending on your preferences: last time I was at their Madison Avenue store for a purchase, the boxes were a Tiffany's-blue color)...

...but Ladurée is still churning out delicious macarons daily:

(and oh-so-photogenic!)


Ladurée
864 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10021


*The macarons pictured here were a delicious gift. This month's special flavor was mint (the turquoise one at the bottom of the photo). Although it may seem boring, the vanilla and coconut flavors have always been my favorite though...

Fiorello

This weekend the weather was great and some friends and I spent Sunday afternoon playing in Central Park.  In addition to getting a few mosquito bites: I managed to earn 2 - one on each forearm (which I placed Bandaids on at work today to prevent myself from scratching, and instead ended up looking like a "cutter"), we also got a chance to have dinner in the Upper West Side, where none of us often venture out to.

Our wandering took us to Cafe Fiorello, which is located across Broadway from Lincoln Center, in the middle of a strip that is packed with restaurant options.


I don't entirely remember how we made this choice, but once there, we ordered:


Bowl of meatballs:
(The Meatball Shop downtown on the East side does a better job with these)

Prosciutto plate:

(Paired with some yummy bread)

Jumbo lump crabmeat and avocado salad: with orange segments
(I had envisioned a large bowl full of greens and maybe some crab and avocado sprinkled on top... imagine my surprise when there were no greens and instead just a "cake" of crab and avocado: best surprise EVER, and very yummy)

Arugula and caramelized pear salad: with crispy Italian cream cheese and black currant vinaigrette
(The best part was the crispy Italian cream cheese, which was a good balance to the sweetness of the pears)

[You can just barely see the cheese tucked behind the pears in this pic]

Pappardelle with eggplant parmesan:

Specialty jumbo lump crab steak:
We had no idea what this was until it was served - ended up being about 5 crab's worth of crab meat all lumped together into the shape of a steak

Lobster seafood risotto: with scallops, shrimp, mussels, and calamari
(This looked delicious, but was reported to be over-cooked, resulting in overly-soft/mushy rice)

View of the bar, where the bartenders all wore straw hats:

Overall it was a decent dinner, although not earth-shattering. The bonus at the end of dinner was the opportunity to visit the fountain outside the Lincoln Center and snag some great shots:

 Overall rating: 7.5/10

Cafe Fiorello
1900 Broadway
New York, NY 10023

DBGB

This post has been a long time coming. What with my recent move back to NYC and starting a new job at a new hospital, my poor camera and stomach have been neglected.


My pal Alex actually visited the city shortly after I made my move back, and since I was craving a burger, we decided to do lunch at DBGB - located down near Soho

They have 3 burger options on their menu:

1. The Yankee (this is the one I chose): 6oz patty with iceberg lettuce, tomato, and onion on a sesame seed bun

2. The Piggy: 6oz beef patty topped with pulled pork, jalapeno mayonnaise, and Boston lettuce on a cheddar bun (not sure what "Boston lettuce" is... last I checked, Boston isn't exactly the place for growing vegetables)

3.  The Frenchie: 6oz beef patty with confit pork belly, arugula, tomato-onion compote, and morbier cheese on a peppered brioche bun (I don't think I understood what half of those ingredients are...)


I got my burger medium-rare (which in my opinion is the only real way to have a burger - unless of course you're eating at McDonalds - in which case you need to "well-done" that patty or else risk catching that H1N1 E-coli diarrhea)

My burger ended up being a bit over-cooked, so wasn't outstanding, but it was tolerable


Overall rating: 6.5/10

DBGB
299 Bowry
New York, NY 10003