Dominique Ansel Bakery

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: figure out how the hell he gets his madeleines so light

In Soho I usually try to walk as fast as I can to avoid the random tourist that just kind of stand there or sometimes in the middle of the street to take a picture and I hope that a cab hits them. What? I just said hit, not kill them, there is a difference. However I find myself slowly down to stop at Dominique Ansel Bakery. Dominique Ansel is not a cutiesy cupcake baker, rather one of those, trained in France and worked in Boulud kind of bakers. He ventured out on his own and started up this bakery, sometime last year. At Dominique Ansel bakery, they are making delicious sweets and pastries that would make a Frenchman think twice that there are no good croissants or pastries in America (though they would never tell you that). Like more bakeries that have croissants, I always go for one step further and get a chocolate croissant.

 Any reason to get more chocolate in my diet in the morning is always a good thing. The chocolate croissants are rich and airy and have a shattering flakiness. Of the flaky awesome butter pasties is the kouign amann or DKA for short or to skip butchering the name of this pastry. This is a pastry from Brittany that uses salted butter and has sugar laminated in resulting in a caramelized pastry.

The caneles here are some of the best I have had. There are few places in New York that have caneles, which is odd because when I visit Taiwan, almost all the bakeries there have them. However, the caneles here are the best I have had so far. The outside is rigid, but break through the caramelized exterior; you get a custard-like center. These are so good it makes me finding reasons to justify the purchase of canele molds. Canele molds, the no-shit ones, are made of copper and average about 20 a piece. So, who wants to be my Sugar Mama?

Madeleines are one of my favorite cookies and whenever a place has them, I always need to try them even if I know they are going to bad (like the ones in a Dakar gas station). Tangent, I do not know why they are considered to be cookies by the French, they are just mini cakes. Anyways, the madeleines here are baked to order so you need some patience on your part but you are rewarded with light little cake bites that are fresh from the oven.

The staff at Dominque Ansel is friend and you can see him there all the time either baking to running the register. He is committed to his place and the food and pastries here are the result of his hard work. I find myself now trying to be in area so I have an excuse to come by. 

Dominique\Ansel Bakery
189 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
http://dominiqueansel.com/

Donut Quest: Italians can make donuts too!

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Apparently I have been getting double espressos all my life and have not realized it.

Bottega Falai Bread

My continuance on finding and tasting the best donuts that the city has to offer has led me to Café/Bottega Falai and to Balthazar bakery. Falai is Italian influenced to the core that and Balthazar is a Francophile’s New York oasis that is like a bouchon plopped in the middle of Soho. Donuts are an American claimed pastry, one that America has forcibly adopted as their own creation, like we tried to adopt Elian Gonzalez, I was curious to see how two great cuisines stacked up in making fried treats. 

First up was Bottega Falai. Bottega Falai is newly opened, like with the past week or so it has opened. It sits next to Café Falai and it is the retail and takeout store of the Falai ever growing empire. Bottega Falai is modeled after a Bodega, but compared to the Bodegas I have been in this was clearly the nicest one and there was no Negro Modelo being sold either. The inside of the store has the ever popular Euro chic meaning it is white, lofty looking and sterile. Although they boast having Italian products and odds and ends of groceries, it was few in selection, maybe about 4-5 shelves worth and about 3-4 baskets of produce. It is mainly a pick me up kind of place, where you can grab a sandwich or something prepared and be out the door. The second I walked in, I was instantly greeted and berated by an over enthusiastic barista/counter person. I walked up to the counter and he was already pressing on what I wanted, I felt like he was interrogating me and given the chance, probably would have taken a car battery and alligator clips and went to town. I already knew what I wanted but dude, give me a minute. I got an espresso, single shot and I picked up two doughnuts, or specifically bombolinis.

Chocolate Bombolini

 Bombolinis are not the round holed doughnuts that you get at a Dunkin Donuts; instead it is round and resembles a beignet. They are filled with crèmes or jams. Here at Falai, the choices were chocolate, coffee, wild berry and a vanilla. I could have easily eaten all of them but with restraint I got a chocolate one and a wild berry one. After being told on how I should be drinking my espresso, in a ceramic cup and not in a takeout container I was finally left alone to have my single shot espresso and donuts. Oh and by the way, I do not even put sugar in my espresso and I was intending to drink it in the damn espresso cup so there!

Jam Bombolini

 The bombolini were made that morning next door at Café Falai. The chocolate was rich and thick. I cannot confirm but I am pretty sure it was filled with a chocolate hazelnut filling, not Nutella, closer to Nocello, I have eaten way to much chocolate hazelnut spreads in my life time and have unfortunately developed a palate in noticing the subtle differences between hazelnut spreads. Not really a skill that I want but oh well. The bombolinis were yeast based donuts which made them light and airy. Compared to other yeast doughnuts that have a doughy and chewy characteristic, this had a crumb structure to it and lightness. It was like comparing a brioche to white bread. The wild berry jam was apparently homemade as well and had the right amount of sweetness to it. All bombolinis are sugar coated and shower eaters with sugar after each bite. Bottega Falai is a neat place that not only has fresh breads and pastries, but also had a chocolate and macaron counter which I will most certainly come back and explore and try…and have a double espresso. 

Chocolate and macarons at Bottega Falai

Next up and within the vicinity, was Balthazar. Balthazar is a classic and old spot were it was doing the whole French bistro style restaurant before it was cool. They are like what hipsters would be seeking out when it first opened, because it was like, “no one else was doing it” coolness when it opened. However, Balthazar is still a bustling place that is filled with tourist and regulars and is rarely ever empty. Next door to the restaurant is the bakery which is a counter that is filled with breads and pastries to a point it is like a fire hazard…but a tasty fire hazard. Here I got one of their donuts as recommended by via SeriousEats the banana walnut cake doughnut and a coffee. I was not told how I should have my coffee, which by the way, either black or a little bit of cream. The banana walnut cake doughnut after first bite is apparent why it is rated as one of the best doughnuts. It also goes to show on why Balthazar bakery/restaurant has people lined up at 9 in the morning because even though they are putting care and great effort into all their food and doing it with quality ingredients.  

The donut was like eating a cake. The only resemblance to a donut was that it was round and handheld. First bite was moist and full of banana goodness but had a delicate crumb structure. It was topped generously with nuts giving a great meaty crunch with every bite and I devoured this thing. I am impressed by both places in producing some good donuts as well as other pastries (I had a canele at Balthazar, you cannot resist those!) and I am optimistic about my donut quest. This part of the donut quest was successful and did not require an outer borough trip. This quest is far from over though and I am craving another bombolini. 

Banana Nut Donut from Balthazar...and my leg

Bottega Falai

267 Lafayette St

New York, NY 10012

Balthazar

80 Spring St
New York, NY 10012

Harney & Sons

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Tea Snobs are 10x better than coffee snobs

** Lagging a bit in entries because I was eating and trekking it up in Peru! First Entry later this week! Stay tuned!!**

I do not know much about tea or a crazy tea enthusiast. I drink both coffee and tea and for a short time in high school and college I did a double whammy and mixed them together with lots of sugar for the insane caffeine fix to get some of that late night studying done. I know enough that I can tell the difference between say a Darjeeling tea to a Chinese black tea and I do not like drinking weird Lipton tea. Although I do have a fondness for the old school Brisk lemon Ice Teas. Do they still make those? Those commercials were AWESOME.

Anyways, I thought I had a decent knowledge of tea but when I went to Harney & Sons, just walking into the place I immediately knew that stuff I knew about tea was amateur hour.  Harney & Sons is a renowned tea seller and blenders with their original shop in upstate New York and now their newly opened shop in Soho. Apparently, I have a quite a few friends that are tea enthusiasts and I decided to check this place out with them. The airy and bright space overwhelmed a person like me (ie. Simple minded) and the walls were lined with boxes and tins of tea. It was not what I was expecting at all. I had imaged it being a small, stuffy shop that was ran by the stereotypical Brit that had on a double breasted suit and had stories and tales of adventure from the Boer Wars. I mean, seriously, when you think tea, you either think Asian guy or British guy, and generally the British guy. The Brits take their Tea very, very seriously and the nerd I am, I find the Opium Wars the clear event that tells you, you do not get in between the Brits and their tea. The short version is:

Brits: Hey China, we want your tea and got a lot of opium, want to trade?

China: Opium, yo drugs are wack, na its ok.

Brits: WTF? No. you will trade your tea for our opium right MEOW!

China: Pissh, no, way, we don’t want youre opium, what are you going to do? Start a war?

Brits: Hells yea.

Basically, Britain started a war, forced the Chinese to take opium and smoke it, and Britain got their tea, such a classic Imperialism happily ever after ending.

Boxes o' teas