Umamimart » dessert

Culinography: The Village Tart (NYC)

erin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:24:51 +0000

Wine bar meets patisserie? Yes, please! Especially when it involves Pichet Ong. Imagine a place where you can sit either with a book and cappuccino in the afternoon or with friends and Cabernet in the evening.

Reminiscent of a mini Parisian brasserie, the walls are decorated with antique mirrors and the leather booths are cozy. Order a coffee and a brie & pear tart, or a six course meal. There’s a bakery counter in the front and a great wine list in the back. Does it get much better than that?

THE VILLAGE TART
86 Kenmare Street at Mulberry
NYC

photo of radish salad © erin gleeson

Bacon Cup Cake – Say No More

Yamahomo — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:44:00 +0000

People in this country are obsessed with bacon. Bacon-wrapped pork, bacon-wrapped hotdogs, bacon-wrapped corn, bacon is everywhere. Last summer, I posted bacon chocolate, and there are a lot of sweet/savor combo recipes popping up and I was getting very curious about this combination.

Sweet and salty is something we do enjoy. Chocolate-covered salty rice crackers have been available in Japan, and they are pretty tasty. Sea salt with ice cream is available at some restaurants and it’s kind of refreshing.

I always get grossed out when I see many people at brunch eating pancakes or french toast with a side of bacon, all drizzled in maple syrup. I always ask for bacon on a separate plate. But I recently saw a recipe called “French toast bacon cupcake with maple buttercream frosting”. My curiosity was pretty high, and I decided to make this unthinkable combo of bacon in a cupcake.

I found two recipes, and somewhat combined them into one. Here is the recipe I ended up using. Both recipes were pretty peculiar, but I couldn’t be bothered to go to a store to buy vanilla pudding mix, or milk, so I just used what I had in the house.

1 cup of flour
1 cup of cake flour
1 table spoon cinnamon
1 table spoon nutmeg
1 table spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon salt
1 table spoon corn starch
1 stick of unsalted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of regular sugar
1 tea spoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of water
12 strips of bacon

Cook bacon. I cooked bacon in the oven. I find it a lot easier and less messier, but be sure not to cook them too crispy. Cool them and cut them into pieces, set aside.

Mix dry ingredients except for sugars together in a bowl, set aside.

Cream butter, then add sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry mixture little by little, alternating with maple syrup/heavy cream/water. Don’t overmix, and finally stir in bacon.

Original recipe called for 1/2 cup of milk, but all I had was heavy cream, so I put 1/4 cup cream and 1/4 cup water. This might be completely wrong, but hey, it worked pretty well. Also I basically cut sugar amount by half. It is still sweet enough.

I had silicon muffin cups, and was going to use them. When I opened the container, it smelled like VERY stinky cheese. To my horror, they had bits of mold EVERYWHERE. You know these motherfuckas are very hard to clean, and I did wash them in dish washer, but I guess some particles remained there. Very grossed out and I threw out the whole thing. I can still smell it and makes me want to barf.

Since I don’t have muffin tin, I decided to make a cake instead. Muffin, cake, loaf, bundt, same difference. It’s just different shapes.

It took about an hour to cook the cake in a 325˚ oven.

It looks just like regular cake, right? While baking, it smelled like spice cake, especially with cinnamon and nutmeg, it smelled like autumn. No hint of bacon whatsoever.

So I brought it to work, without frosting, since I thought it would make too much mess. I brought them separately. I piped frosting from Ziploc bag, and it looks like a giant cupcake.

I gathered many of my colleagues, and served them pieces. Everyone was kind of grossed out by the concept, including me. Bacon + Cake = WTF?

Verdict – This is awesome. As you can see above, there are enough chunks of bacon in the cake, but it didn’t taste like bacon at all. Yes, by itself it is definitely bacon, but put everything together and it tasted very nice, with the mixture of sweetness from the maple buttercream and spiced cake, plus saltiness.

Here is the recipe for maple buttercream:

2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2 table spoon of maple syrup

Mix butter and maple syrup, add sugar.

I should have decorated the top with pieces of bacon.

What if I use whole package of bacon instead? Maybe I will try that next time.

Spring Yet?

Jones — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Coconut macaroons with Jordan almonds. Yes, Kayoko, they are color-coordinated with my Easter decor.

N.B. Not the same thing as macarons, with which all Umamimartians seem to be obsessed.

Siam Cafe: Authentic Chinese Food in… Cleveland?!

Thomas Parke D'Invilliers — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:17:00 +0000

I am totally into food. Add my friend who is also totally into food, and you get a Pepto Bismol-inducing food frenzy. On one such occasion, we visited perhaps the only authentic Chinese joint in Cleveland proper, Siam Cafe. Apparently, they also serve Thai and Vietnamese food, but we were there for the good stuff. ALSO apparently, they tout themselves as a seafood restaurant, but I don’t recall if I saw one of those huge tanks with really dirty and feeble looking lobsters in it.

Condiments: Sriracha sauce (what’s a Thai place without it?), soy sauce, salt n’ peppa, and some other weird sauce that’s probably crusting out in that dinky plastic jar.

This is supposedly a sort of mango bubble tea. It’s got dark tapioca pearls in it and a foggy liquid. And yes, I denied my friend her offer to take a sip.

Summer rolls with sweat peanut sauce. Who can go wrong with these things? To be honest, I used to really hate these, but after spending time in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and its large Thai population (Thai restaurants outnumber any other Asian restaurants, and most Japanese and Chinese places are run by Thai owners), I grew to love the chewy rice paper wrapper, the thin, white, and slightly soggy clump of noodles, fresh kick of cilantro, and the strips of shrimp. With a nice huge gob of peanut sauce and the crunch of chopped peanuts, this is awe-some!

This was a sort of chow mein, that is, with fried noodles engulfed by a thick savory brown gravy full of broccoli, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, carrots, and chicken chunks. The textures in this sort of dish is always nice, you get the fried goodness of low-quality noodles dripping with a nondescript, not quite good sauce. I feel like the sauce in this was lacking in any sort of tasty flavor, and it was not hot enough.

Probably the best dish of the night. This large portion of thick tofu slices (chunks?) fried with a weird bleb in the center (notice the light coloring in the center of the pieces). My friend would push in the bleb, fill with sauce, and proceed to eat. I adapted this method, which proved to be better than the old, cover with sauce or dip in sauce technique.

I was very excited about this dish but was sorely disappointed. I believed the “SEAFOOD RESTAURANT” part of the joint’s name, and went with a fried lobster with green onions and garlic. The dish was very very lukewarm. I think that was the problem. If it was sizzling and hot straight from the wok or frier, it would be so tasty, but it was ruined by the “I’ve been sitting on the counter for 15 minutes to come out” factor. It was mediocre and tastes like what you would expect of leftovers if you brought this home and wanted a little snack.

I don’t know if this proved to you that two girls can be voracious eaters (there was basically nothing left on the table except for some of the white rice that they give with the meal), but afterwards, we went to the Cheesecake Factory located maybe 20-30 minutes away to have dessert. Yes, we are crazy, and no, this isn’t the worst we’ve gotten ourselves into.

They give you this basket of bread regardless. It’s nice because the bread is warm and actually good for a generic chain restaurant that’s on the pricey side. The white bread is pretty standard, but the pumpernickel? with oats on top is very sweet (honey?) and is quite good.

Pumpkin pecan cheesecake. I believe this is seasonal. It’s like packing 2 of my favorite desserts into one. Literally, it is. They just stuff the pumpkin pie cheesecake layer between the pecan topping and that sweet goo that is distinctively pecan pie. Tell me, though, who seriously eats this much whipped cream? It’s actually funny that I ate the whole thing except for the whipped cream. It’s like those people who go to a restaurant and get a Diet Coke to drink but then this huge fatty 5-course meal. Oh wait, that’s me.

I think this is the 30th anniversary chocolate cake cheesecake. It looks tasty, but doesn’t come with as much whipped topping as the pumpkin pecan.

Another good bet at the Factory is the carrot cake cheesecake. It is another one of those packing 2 of my favorite desserts in one. It’s also like asking for a quadruple bypass as opposed to a triple. I also enjoy the apple crisp. I also recommend this $30 appetizer they have which is a sampling of “the best of” the appetizers which they sell. Yes, on another occasion, I’ve split this with only my friend. And yes, all of my disposable income goes into foodstuffs.

Bottom line: If for some sad sad reason you are in the metro-Cleveland area and hankering for some affordable Asian cuisine, this may be the place for you. It’s conveniently right next to a gas station so you can stop to fill up your tank before you get the hell out of there and run to the safe haven of cream cheese desserts.

Siam Cafe
3951 St. Clair Avenue
Cleveland, OH
T: 216.361.2323

The Cheesecake Factory
24265 Cedar Road
Cleveland, OH
T: 216.691.3387

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie (NYC)

kayoko — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:58:00 +0000

After spending cocktail hour at Botanica, we headed over to Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie around the corner- a definite stopover everyone should make while in Red Hook. I had run into Steve at last year’s Atlantic Antic, and over the years I’ve always ordered the pie at Brooklyn restaurants whenever it’s on the menu, but this was the first visit to Steve HQ.

According to the article in Edible Brooklyn from last winter, Steve started making key lime pies in Brooklyn in 1994, and opened this outpost 7 years ago. He ships in 365,000 “real” Key limes (more yelow than green) limes from a coastal town in Mexico every year.

There’s an awesome portrait of Steve right as you walk in:

The walls are bright “Key lime” yellow, and you are immediately welcomed onto Steve’s own tropical island off the Florida Keys (never mind that Manhattan is just a stone’s throw away). Here you can order a 8″ or 15″ pie, or a little personal 4″ “tart”. That screen door you see back there leads to the kitchen.

Pies in hand, you can hang out in the garden area outside, where there are a few picnic benches. It’s a lush haven complete with a waterfall. Look at those bright, blooming hibiscus!

The pie is excellent- no frills here. The filling is creamy, and more tart than sweet, but not overly; the graham cracker crust is buttery and crumbles into little bits in your mouth. Most importantly, it’s not a fluffy neon green mess!!! Steve’s pie defies all Key lime pie stereotypes.

Regretfully, none of us got the frozen chocolate-dipped mini pie on a stick. Doesn’t that sound awesome?? Next time.

Steve’s delivery truck.

The pier that the bakery is on has been newly renovated, with gorgeous views.

The new Ikea is such an eyesore though.

The new Real World house is just down the pier. There were lots of camera and production people running around. Here’s the entrance to the house.

Red Hook is changing so fast- Real World, Ikea, Botanica. It’s surreal to have come here over the years and watch a neighborhood transform little by little. It’s not a bad thing, but I do get nostalgic. Steve’s however is a mainstay Red Hook institution- don’t leave without one!

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie
Pier 41
Red Hook, Brooklyn
T: 888.450.5463

Wafels and Dinges

Hamamama — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:01:00 +0000

These new food trucks are going to be the death of me. This was yesterday’s eventful day in the office:

Phone rings

Lori: “Hello?”
Chris: “Kathy got a waffle”
Lori: “Be right there!”
Lori runs down hallway faster than she’s ever run before

The infamous Wafels & Dinges truck had made its way to 45th Street — parked in the same exact spot where the Treats Truck parks. When the Wafels truck leaves, the Treats Truck takes over…how dangerous is that?

Kathy proudly showed off her waffle (wafel?) to four of us, who just gathered around it like it was show-and-tell. She kindly gave me a bite of her waffle with strawberries…of course it didn’t disappoint – it was amazing! The waffle was so light and fluffy that it didn’t really taste that bad for you. Personally, I wouldnt have been so healthy with the fruit — I would’ve gone with the nutella and whip cream combo!

Pretty soon I’ll be looking for the Jenny Craig truck.

Wicked Wednesdays

Hamamama — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:23:00 +0000

The worst thing about my job is that I work near Times Square — tourist central. One of the few perks about working in this horrid area is that the Treats Truck graces us with its presence every Wednesday!

We actually stare out the window, looking 20 stories below to see if the truck has arrived on 45th Street. A line forms and remains all day with people’s mouths drooling while waiting to purchase delicious, scrumptious, homemade desserts. My favorite used to be the peanut butter sandwiches, filled with either peanut butter or chocolate (think Reese’s!).

But recently it has been beat out by my latest obsession – the butterscotch pecan brownie — you can taste the melted butter in every bite. (shown, below w/ the mexican chocolate brownie- although this photo does not do them justice AND objects shown in photo are smaller than they actually appear! the squares that they give you are rather generous/huge.)

The mexican chocolate brownie is my buddy Chris’s favorite (hint of cinnamon in every bite). They also serve gluten-free desserts too – which is great for those poor souls who suffer from celiac disease.

I love the whole concept – the owner (Kim Ima) just found something where she could mix business with pleasure. ..the website calls the Treats Truck a “retail mobile bakery” — ingenious!

Check out the website for their schedule — the truck travels throughout Manhattan every week. A true treat!

Jam Doughnuts from Down Under

erin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:47:00 +0000

Greetings from Down Under! I am in Australia, spending a few weeks in Melbourne and having a great time.

There are all kinds of funny little wordy differences here:

‘capsicum’ means ‘ bell / chili pepper’
how are you going? = how are you doing?
long black = regular coffee
opportunity shop = thrift shop
rocket = arugula
barrack = root (I barrack for the Mets)
corriander = cilantro (can you pick me up a fresh bunch of corriander?)
lemonade = Sprite or 7up (if you want a ‘7 & 7′, order a ‘lemonade and 7′)

But one of my favorites is the “Jam Doughnut” (jelly here means “jello”). Doughnut trucks on the street in Melbourne during the winter are like Mr. Frosty trucks in NYC in the summer. It’s cold here now, so it’s quite a treat to stroll up to a truck and get a warm little round goodie to sink your teeth into. These little sugar coated gems are filled with berry jam and are about $1 each (or 6 for $5). Delicious!

Yushi Panna Cotta Cups (NYC)

kayoko — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:11:00 +0000

Met up with Kiwa for lunch at Katsuhama to get our tonkatsu on, and after a meal of fried meats and julienned cabbage, we needed something sweet. We stopped into the pseudo stylish bento place Yushi Bento Bar (think untz, untz, untz) and found these cute little cups of panna cotta for $2!

There were green tea and vanilla coconut flavors, but we opted for the black sesame (after a bout of indecisiveness). Sprinkled with black sesame seeds on top, these were the perfectly sized containers creamy goodness.

Kiwa thought the seeds were a bit stale, but overall, this is an awesome little treat if you just want a few bites of something sweet. Literally, the spoon barely fit!

After we had about 3 bites each, the panna cotta disappeared. The sticker says “low guilt indulgence”- hell yes!

Yushi Bento Bar
245 Park Ave. at 47th Street
NYC
T: 212.842.1012

Johnny Iuzzini: Dessert at Jean Georges

erin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Johnny Iuzzini makes the most beautiful desserts I think I’ve ever photographed. Seriously, they were so stunning that as I left our shoot on the patio of Jean Georges, I couldn’t wait to get home and look at them. It’s dishes like these that really make me love what I do. (And they were DELICIOUS too! I got to try everything.)

Johnny Iuzzini (or as Kayoko calls him, “Hottie Iuzzini”), is the executive Pastry Chef at Jean Georges, in NYC. He has worked at both Daniel and Payard among other places, and in May 2006, The James Beard Foundation awarded Johnny “Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year”.
Don’t wait! Head on over to Columbus Circle for dessert. His creations are not only gorgeous, but completely innovative and sinfully delectable.

Click here to see Johnny’s 1st cookbook, Dessert FourPlay.

This Rhubarb inspired dish was my favorite:

Jean Georges
1 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
T: 212.299.3900