I'll swallow that

“I’m a soy bean-eating, recycling-devoted, vintage clothes-wearing, used Volvo-driving, low-carbon-footprint person in the first place. Sometime during the Bush years, that administration’s intense assault on the environment left me feeling that as a business owner with a large and loyal customer base, I had a responsibility to begin talking about the environment.”

Go, Maury! Here’s to the New York-based, French-trained, bi-coastal pastry chef who’s now sharing his good morals and gut-busting cookies at a third location.

Spot on cupcakes and dessert

I flew 3600 miles for one of Pichet’s cupcakes. And was richly rewarded with cheesecake, chocolate ganache and semifreddo.

I was crushed when Batch and p*ong closed. Crushed. My favorite cupcake in the world, the carrot salted caramel cupcake, gone. Ovaltine, lychee and huckleberry surprises on the dessert menu, no more.

But say hallelujah. Pichet opened a new dessert bar in the East Village, Spot, and I was so happy to catch him there when I was home in New York.

I dragged Bennie along with me; my perfect partner in crime. As soon as we sunk our teeth into the cupcakes, he said, “Forget the flavors—the cupcake itself is so much better than a Magnolia cupcake.”
Of course he’s right. We sampled the mocha maldon salt caramel and the vanilla caramel Vietnamese coffee cupcakes (along with the coconut macaroon nutella almond bar, just for kicks. Anything with Nutella is a must-try).


The cake was so moist, the flavors were potent and the frosting was super generous. Pichet’s cupcakes never disappoint.

But he wouldn’t let it rest there; he sent out other goodies to try.

The soft cheesecake, elegantly spilling out of a highball, with huckleberry compote, crushed walnuts and lemon foam.


The white miso semifreddo, a surprising, sweet-savory plate of moist cake, flavorful olive oil, raspberry sorbet and almonds.

And lastly, the uber rich chocolate ganache cake, served with green tea ice cream, crackly caramel crunches and Pichet’s patented malted chocolate (also on the cupcake) bits.

Maybe I’ll have to fly back again for the imminent opening of Village Tart.

Baby brownies

Best brownie ever? I surely wouldn’t go that far. But when your hotel offers turndown service with a nice two-bite Fat Witch brownie, you can’t complain. At least I didn’t.

I was surprised and a little sad that, instead of going across the street to City Girl Café for their decadent Valrhona brownies, 60 Thompson scoops up these babies from across town at the Chelsea Market.

So in addition to testing out new chocolate chip cookies and indulging at Pichet Ong’s new dessert bar, Spot (more on those later), I plunked myself down for a few bites of baked goodness every day during my short but sweet stay at the hotel.

The brownie fared better than the blondie with a dense, undercooked middle (the way I like ’em).


The blondie had the chocolate chip bonus, but were a bit on the dry, crumbly side.


Next time I’m in town, I’ll have to give some of the other flavors—available only in full size—a shot.

It's only fair that I try the walnut, caramel and spicy brownies before denying Fat Witch the best brownie title.

Parisian douceurs, New York style

The grass is always greener and the sweets, sweeter, when you’re away from your home territory. Here are five sweet spots in New York where I’m indulging in Parisian douceurs.

Michel Cluizel
The master is back in NYC after closing shop in ABC last year. Now you can sink your teeth into a cup of cocoa or a grand cru chocolate bar at his new boutique at Fifth and 47th.

Kee’s
Or scoop up some artisinal chocolates instead. Kee Ling Tong puts the same meticulous care into her insanely delicious bonbons as she does her homemade macarons. You just can’t go wrong.

Ceci Cela
Anyone who’s ever had a croissant from this Nolita darling—be in butter, almond or pain au chocolat—knows they’re the real deal.

Butterfield Market
Payard, lost and found! While the patisserie sadly closed earlier this year, you can still get Francois’ exquisite French éclairs—or go whole hog with the buche de Noel—at this Upper East Side market.

Thé Adoré
I love this little spot on 13th that always goes under the radar. Once you step inside the narrow salon de thé and get a gander at the pretty fruit tarts, you might as well be in Paris.

November Tour: Rue Montorgueil’s Embarrassment of Rich-Riches

I don’t mean to boast, but I chose my neighborhood well. At the one end of rue Montorgueil, you have Deliziefollie. At the other, Eric Kayser. And in between, it’s a sheer embarrassment of riches.

Let’s start with Deliziefollie (7 rue Montorgueil), the Italian gelateria. They have dozens of decadent flavors to ogle, from the savory (hazelnut) to the spicy (cinnamon); from fruity (mango) to boozy (rum raisin) to just plain sweet (strawberries and cream). And if a frozen dessert on an autumn day doesn’t cut it, you can get a piping hot Nutella crepe from their stand out front.

Just a couple doors up, Charles Chocolatier (15 rue Montorgueil) is a heavenly oasis of artisinal treats. The long-standing chocolate shop (since 1910) offers lovely dark chocolate bonbons and tablettes, plus killer hot cocoa.

Does Stohrer (51 rue Montorgueil) have the best chocolate éclair in the city? Despite the obscene number of times I’ve been in this gorgeous little patisserie—a historic gem, founded in 1730 by King Louis XV’s pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer—I still haven’t tried one. Although Stohrer has received city’s best honors from Le Figaro, I can’t seem to get beyond the puits d’amour, tartelette aux figues or Neptune cake, which is like a giant Rocher chocolate.

I know Paul (63 rue Montorgueil) is a chain, and I can be a world-class snob when it comes to chains. But besides their heavenly baguettes, Paul makes a perfect pit-stop for pain au chocolat, tartes aux citrons and those pepito loafs that are chock full of chocolate chips and sweet pastry cream.

My love for dried pineapple is no secret. Nor should it be a surprise that A la Mere de Famille (82 rue Montorgueil) is my supplier. Beyond their luscious bins of dried fruit is a cute little store filled with caramels, marzipan, lollis, marshmallows and chocolates.

My incredibly rich mocha birthday cake this year came from Maison Collett (100 rue Montorgueil) so I have a soft spot for this patisserie.

Despite having all these delicious options, I will often walk by them to get to Eric Kayser. Another master breadmaker, Kayser also knows his sweets. With goodies like the chocolaty Opera cake, beautiful raspberry pistachio cake, and strawberry bressane—a round, flat pastry topped with cream, sugar and berries, from the Bresse area of the Rhône-Alpes—wouldn’t you?

Nante's candy bins

Not only did I try the caramel kouignette from Larnicol in Nantes, but I went back twice to load up on the chocolate bonbons by the kilo.

How could I not, with such a bright and tempting selection?

Dried pears dipped in milk chocolate? Praliné, inside dark chocolate, inside a crispy candy shell?

Technicolor macarons in flavors of the rainbow?

It's no wonder that I went straight into one of my mini sugar detox programs after my weekend getaway.

The great Breton kouign amann

There are two desserts that I’m sort of obsessed with, though I rarely eat them: upside down cake and bread pudding.

I like them both for different reasons. But I guess what they share in common is that heaviness and density that means your belly is going to be nice and bloated, along with a gooey stickiness that I find absolutely irresistible.

So it’s been with excitement and envy that I’ve been stumbling upon great reading and recipes for all things sticky and sweet lately.

First, there were the posts by Dorie Greenspan and David Leibovitz (can I please have their lives??) about kouign amann. No, this pastry/cake (depending how you want to look at it) is neither upside down nor a pudding. But it has same gooeyness that covers your tongue and sticks to your teeth and the same heft that feels like a happy bullet in your gut. All kouign amann is is pastry dough, baked with copious amounts of butter and sugar so that the butter and sugar do their chemical magic and caramelize and congeal and make it sweet and sticky.




I tried my first kouign amann in Nantes last month (the pastry originates in Brittany). Actually, it was a mini version called a kouignette. This candy store where I got it had all kinds of flavors from chocolate to apple, coconut to caramel. As I had anticipated and hoped, it was sugary, sweet and sticky. But sadly, it lacked the omigod factor.

What I’m looking for is something like Molly Killeen’s St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake that Melissa Clark wrote about last week. “A treacly mix of corn syrup, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla”?? Yes, please! Or this week’s Minimalist ode to a maple pear upside down cake: “Then pour this syrup over the cake, making it tender, sweet and gooey.” It’s almost enough to make you forsake the macarons and pains aux raisins. Almost. But not quite.

Prelude to a birthday cake

Rich mocha cake from rue Montorgueil’s Masion Colett. Potent and fudgy, but oh-so refined, just a little sliver was all that was necessary to sate my wicked sweet tooth.


100, rue Montorgueil
2eme