Trés French on the Upper East Side

Monsieur Francois Payard has many tentacles in the city now. One being across the street from Eric Kayser.

It's a bona fide French ghetto up there.

So if you want ice cream sandwiches with some serious panache...

... or exquisite bonbons, filled with sesame almond praline, raspberry purée or fresh ginger...

And don't forget the vachon, a delectable little number of mixed berry sorbet, sandwiched between two fine licorice-flavored meringues with just a little bit of whipped cream...

well, you know where to go.

Francois Payard Patisserie
1293 Third Avenue at 74th Street

Ever so CuRious!

I have always had a crush on Cynthia Rowley. One of the most spirited and fun, one of the sharpest and cleverest fashion designers there ever was, I simply love her (even more after chatting her up in Paris).

So when I heard she was opening a candy story on the Upper East Side, I was over the moon. Cynthia Rowley + sweets = the ultimate inspiration. I mean, check this shit out!

But in the couple months since the townhouse opened uptown, I haven't managed to get there. So I was floored while strolling on Bleecker Street to discover that she opened another Curious Candy Store there.

 

With drawers of gummies and jellies.

A wall of choco delights.

Plus adorable playthings and packaging, befitting such a style queen. 

Get yee there, for a dash of style and some servings of sweets!

396 Bleecker Street
West Village

Ode to One Girl Cookies

A little spot of magic in Cobble Hill.

Don't you just want to be there now?


One Girl Cookies
68 Dean Street, Brooklyn

The cookie plate at ABC Kitchen

Two wee shortbread cookies topped with lemon curd, two vanilla-y sweet cheesecake bars, a chocolate chip cookie and a light and fluffy homemade Mallomar.

The heavenly pretzel croissant

What is wrong with me? Ten years in this city without so much as a bite of City Bakery’s pretzel croissant? I obviously didn’t know what I was missing.

Last week, I met my agent at City Bakery for lunch. Which posed the dilemma: do we actually eat lunch, or go straight for the sweets?

Luckily my agent gets it. We had salad bar for appearance’s sake but indulged in two sweets. The peanut butter cookies, which I knew I loved. And a pretzel croissant, which opened a whole new world to me.


It’s salty and buttery and doughy and chewy. It’s crisp and delicious and I think I have a new addiction.

Best snickerdoodle in New York City

Thank goodness I read. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have seen the wee write-up in New York, which revealed the opening of Peels. And then I wouldn’t have walked into this deliciousness.


Each morning, everything is baked up fresh at the new café, the second act from Freemans owners Taavo Somer and Will Tigertt.

Circular brownies, I sampled. Oh, so fudgy.

I think I chocolate-breaded myself out a few days earlier; otherwise, I would have been all over this chocolate ginger banana bread.

Raspberry and peach cobbler. I can only imagine with those big, fluffy biscuits…

The monkey bread. Seeing the mascarpone label now and wondering why the heck I didn’t go for it.

And my champ, the snickerdoodle.

It’s buttery and sugary and cinnamon-y. All melded together in this oversized crater of a cookie.


I had the chocolate chip cookie, too, which was also nice and buttery; chewy at the edges with plenty of melty chocolate flecks.

But, really, it was all about the snickerdoodle.

Get after it.

325 Bowery at Second Street

Why not, biscotti?

Biscotti is hardly the stuff that my dreams are made of. It’s not gooey or chocolaty or rich and creamy. It doesn’t ooze pastry or almond cream or stick to the roof of my mouth in heavenly defiance. So when Niels suggested we go to Bis.Co.Latte for a snack, my expectations were as low as a short-stack from Clinton Street Baking Co.

Little did I know how cute this joint is. Never did I dream biscotti could be so fun and exciting.


A tasting bar displayed the world of flavors this sweet café cooks up.

Cherry apricot, caramel walnut oat bran, fig and date, Kahlua espresso bean, lemon poppy seed, chocolate ginger, fennel almond, white chocolate lavender, Reese’s pieces… the list goes on. And on! 50 handmade varieties of biscotti, as a matter of fact. There's even a Goober biscotti.

Accompanied by a café au lait or chai latté, this little Hell’s Kitchen café just might be what some dreams are made of.

667 10th Avenue at 47th
212.581.3900

I went in for the brownies

I mean, how could I pass them up after seeing this sign on the door of City Girl Café?

But I surprised myself; I didn’t get a “homemad” Valrhona brownie, even though they looked so fudgy and decadent and insanely delicious.

Because I saw the peanut butter balls.

Peanut butter balls?? “They’re like peanut butter cups, only more delectable,” the thoughtful barista told me. Sold. I plunked down my $2.50 for this seemingly small morsel of thick, gritty peanut butter covered in dark chocolate and bits of peanut. It was the snack that kept on giving: bite after bite of rich, savory, stick-to-your-molars chocolaty goodness.



Next time, I have to try the in-demand brownies. But the peanut butter balls will be hard to pass up.

63 Thompson Street b/w Spring and Broome
212.343.0110

Special little cupcakes

I love Butter Lane's uber fresh, top-quality cupcakes. I love Kumquat's mini cupcakes and inventive flavors like chocolate pistachio and coffee caramel bourbon. And, I am just always a sucker for Pichet's cream-filled cupcakes from Batch.

But cupcakes from ChikaLicious Dessert Club are a special breed of their own. Much ado has been made of the s'mores flavor and, with its marshmallow frosting and cinnamon-y cake, it is a fun treat. But the caramel is the one you want to get after. The burnt caramel flavor is super intense and hits the spot.

Other winners are the banana cupcake, with its tender cake and sweet but tangy frosting and the triple chocolate. With a chocolate ganache center, you can never go wrong.

204 East 10th Street between 2nd and 1st Avenues
212.475.0929

I forgot how good vegan can be

After seeing a spread of This Chick Bakes cookies at Joe, I had a hankering for one. I went for the vegan ginger molasses.

Moist and chewy, with a kick from the ginger and crunch from the sugar granules sprinkled on top, it hit the sweet spot as good as any traditional cookie could.

This chick can bake.

Best recession special

Like many others in these gloom and doom times, I am not giving up my splurges on sweets. I take too much comfort in them.

But I also get that a $4 cupcake or $5 cup of cocoa is stretching the concept of "affordable luxury." Especially when you indulge every day like, um, me.

So I was especially thrilled to see the peanut butter cookie back at City Bakery. I had a cocoa date with Emmanuelle there and, in all my ladylike modesty, almost skipped a cookie. Thank goodness I didn't. I had forgotten how creamy-crunchy and heavenly this little beauty is. And, for just 75¢, an absolute must-eat.

Best cookie ever? That's a tight race. But best peanut butter cookie? Absolutely.

3 West 18th Street near Fifth Ave
212.366.1414

The red, original Kookaburra

I went to Russ & Daughters for my dried pineapple movie snack (saw Two Lovers… not bad). I love this place as much as the next New Yorker and always want to lick the window when I walk by and see the dried fruit piled high. But I have to say, the dried pineapple—as fresh and chewy as it is—is just a titch too sugary for me.

But while I was there, I saw they have Kookaburra by the ounce. These are great, big, thick heavenly nibs of strawberry licorice from Australia. You can buy packs of the stuff at certain Duane Reades but they're not always easy to find. Besides, ordering just a few pieces at a time is one way to not demolish an entire bag.