Macaron Parlour via OpenHouse NYC

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Have restraint, don't try and eat macarons on the NJ Transit train, weird Indian girl will stare at you for the whole ride. 


The same day that I encountered the craziness that is the Hot Josh, I also encountered Macaron Parlour at the OpenHouse NYC. Another place that do not have an actual store front, their base of operations is located in the Lower East Side and mainly do orders. They are a regular at the Hester Street Fair and although they have the traditional flavored macarons, they have some interesting combination such as the Thai chili and S’more flavored macarons. Although any French pastry chef would scoff and be applauded by these kinds of flavors, I for one am interested and support people that are stepping out of the conventional and trying out new flavor combination.

 Rainbow of sugar French Cookie Awesomeness

With the macarons, I went with six of them: the Candied Bacon with Maple Cream Cheese, the Peanut Butter Cup, the S’more, Red Velvet, the Earl Grey and the Nutella.

Macarons.

Overall, they were good macarons. The macarons were light and chewy, mushy meringue with a thin outer shell. Yet, their flavor combinations were all solid. As great as bacon is, it has unfortunately become a cliché. It seems like every place needs to throw bacon on for the hell of it and will unfortunately get “bastardized” in dessert dishes. I was hesitant trying their candied bacon however after my first bite; I knew this was no cliché. The bacon was nestled in a thick, creamy pillow of maple cream cheese and achieved salty sweet Zen. The bacon was still crisp melded perfectly with the light and mushy interior.  Another flavor that stood out was the S’ more, which tasted as advertised and the exterior even had a bit of that graham cracker taste to it as well. The Peanut butter I originally had low expectations for because of the preconception that the peanut butter filling would just be well, Skippy’s but it was a smooth whipped buttercream that was not overtly sweet and executed well. The owners of Macaron Parlour Christina and Simon who I was able to talk to a bit, are passionate about their craft and are always happy to talk and answer any questions about their macarons. They are able to instill a creative American touch on a classical sophisticated French cookie and do it well. I will be on the look out for these macarons in the future at the Hester Street Fair and other places. Also, like all macarons, they do the whole fancy box thing again, emasculating me every time I buy macarons. 

Nothing says I am a tough guy eating a box of macarons with a ribbon around it

 Macaron Parlour

http://macaronparlour.com/
Check website for locations

Robicelli's Cupcakes at OpenHouse

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Nothing wrong with eating cupcakes for lunch by yourself in a AstroTurf fake park 

I guess it has been a cupcake kind of weekend....

After two weeks of searching and no hope from anyone at all, I found what I have been looking for: Robicelli’s Cupcake Chicken n’ Waffles. Last night before going to New York City  the Arctic Tundra, I randomly went to the Robicelli’s Cupcake site to find that they would be at the Park Here at OpenHouseNYC. It is basically a weird indoor astrotruf park that people can hang in. Now that I think about it, not so weird given the snowy Nordic conditions that the East Coast has suddenly become. OpenHouse allows vendors such as Robicelli’s and others to showcase their products.

Robicelli’s only had a few that I regret to not record but I went above and beyond stomach capacity (I did not really eat lunch and trekked through Williamsburg fending off hipsters beforehand) and chowed down on four of their unique cupcakes. Although seemingly unhealthy for a lunch, the composition of the cupcakes technically made it for a balance meal. Take that Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Campaign! **Note I do not endorse replacing meals with cupcakes**

 

Hot Josh top left and El Guapo bottom right