A few months ago, while looking for a new breakfast restaurant (because breakfast is the best meal of the day!) to try during a weekend trip to New York, I happened upon Sullivan Street Bakery on Yelp. I blogged a little about the restaurant at the time, but I wanted to share more because the place is just that wonderful!
Our first trip to the bakery's Chelsea location was back in May, when ordinarily it would have been in the 70s outside, but it was actually about 40 degrees. When you're quite chilly and in dire need of something warm, stepping into a warm cozy bakery is pretty much the best feeling. We were even lucky enough to grab a table in the tiny space.
(Helpful hint: Be prepared to wait a bit if you want to grab a table. There aren't many, and because the space is so cozy, people tend to lounge with their drinks and snacks for a bit.)
The three of us after some hemming and hawing over all the yumminess at the counter decided on Panini D'Uovo, with warm coffee and tea all around. Our paninis came with soft cooked eggs, prosciutto, demi-sec tomatoes and basil. The sandwiches are freshly made to order and come out warm and quite possibly perfect. The eggs are hard to describe - a cross between egg salad and scrambled eggs. I'm still trying to figure out how they're made. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that it might be the best egg sandwich I've ever had!
Of course, when you're surrounded by sweets and you've just had a delicious savory, you must order dessert too. Every breakfast deserves a good dessert in my opinion. I had read on Yelp that their Bombolonis (Italian filled donuts) were quite delicious so we tried the vanilla and the chocolate cream. Now I'm usually a chocolate girl, but the vanilla in this case was much better - it tasted just like vanilla custard.
That brings us to yesterday when I was back in the city, looking for a place to have a quick lunch. This time we decided to try the Hell's Kitchen location. I missed the part of the Yelp review that said this location was the size of a mouse hole and that they don't warm anything over for you. However, those eggs that I just spent a paragraph on? They're still to die for at room-temperature served on a brioche roll with some crispy prosciutto. If it wasn't 332 degrees yesterday, and I wasn't eating my lunch outside (due to the lack of inside seating) I could have eaten at least 3 more!
This time around, since I had already had the Bombolonis, I chose to go for the pastry with chocolate and crumble for dessert. Forgive me but I have no idea what it was called. I pointed and the nice baker handed it over. Super sweet but I enjoyed it much more than the Bomboloni.
So, what's the verdict?
If ever you find yourself in New York City, craving an out of this world egg sandwich, I highly recommend you make it over to Hells Kitchen or Chelsea, and enjoy what the Sullivan Street Bakery has to offer. Even if you're not an egg sandwich fan, you'll find something else to strike your fancy!
Sullivan Street Bakery | 533 West 47th Street & 236 9th Avenue, New York, NY |Website
I've never been a big candy eater. If I want sweets I go straight for the cookies or the cake or the ice cream or any number of other yummy chocolate things. And of I do go for the candy, it's NEVER fruit flavored. I was the kid in the class that was bummed when teachers handed out lollipops or starburst. Those were definitely not my style. It's always been chocolate for me. And more specifically Dark Chocolate. Don't get me wrong, I'll eat milk chocolate if that's all you have, but I definitely prefer me some Dark.
In the candy aisle, my favorites are:
~ Dove - either Sea Salt Caramels or Dark Chocolate squares or Dark Chocolate Truffles
~ Hershey's Dark Chocolate Miniatures - You can't always find them, but when you do, it's like Christmas!
~ Kit Kats - Yummy normally but even better when you can find the bag of White, Dark and Milk. However, the White Chocolates always go to waste. (What's even the point of white chocolate, anyway!?)
~ M&Ms - Always plain, sometimes peanut in a pinch
~ Vanilla Butter Creams and Marshmallow Creams - In a box of chocolates, those are the ones I eat first. My absolute favorites of these are found at the Annapolis Farmers Market - their handmade candy eggs are like heaven on earth
~ Mounds - Never Almond Joy: that pesky almond just gets in the way of more coconut and chocolate
~ Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
~ Caramellos
~ Milky Way Darks
While looking at this list, it actually does sound like I'm lying when I say I'm not a big candy eater. But I promise you all of these come in tiny sizes and those are the ones I eat : )
I watch a lot of cooking shows. I'm not really one for the shows that teach me how to cook. I'm more of a fan of the ones that go all over the country for the best food - it's pretty much how I plan vacations. Anyway, that means I spend a great deal of time checking out Cooking Channel hoping that Unique Sweets is on. So, today after my usual channel flipping, I happened upon a new show - Cake Hunters.
And, usually one for a new food show - especially one involving cake, I decided to give it a shot. And? And it was basically a train wreck. But a train wreck that I couldn't look away from. The premise is simple. A couple goes on the hunt for the perfect wedding cake so they meet with 3 bakers and get their thoughts, then choose their favorite for their wedding.
It could have been decent - not fabulous, but good in a pinch. But it's just not. Tonight's couple was from Maryland and seemed a little too focused on a cake for the wedding. At one point they decided that the cake was the most important focal point of the entire wedding. Really? I thought professing your love in front of friends and family was the most important.
Now I'm willing to give them that the cake is important - not the most important - but a big part of the reception. I judge most receptions by how yummy the cake is, so it's at least in the top 10. But the groomzilla - yep, in this case the groom was a little off his rocker rather than the bride - was sharing what he was most wanting to see in his perfect cake. Patterns. Not taste. Not flavors. Not texture. He was most interested in a cake that had "patterns" on it. What?!
In the end they decided on some 4 foot monstrosity full of gilding, aqua butter cream strawberries and passion fruit. Not a chip of chocolate to be found! Most definitely not what I would have chosen for my future wedding. But then again, I would definitely not choose to go on a show this ridiculous either...
