[I'm supposed to write about my brunch with Helen at Shopsin's that took place two Saturdays ago but I don't feel like it. I'll post it once it's ready to go...]
Last Thursday when I gotten my free sandwich from AQ Kafe, I walked over two blocks to the Time Warner Building to visit Bouchon Bakery for something sweet to cap off my lunch. When I peered in their refrigerated pastry case, I saw something I haven’t eaten since I was a wee lass, Ho-Hos.
That’s one fancy Ho-ho…
Knowing that Chef Thomas Keller likes to play with desserts and nostalgia (for example, their TKO is an upscale version of the Oreo cookie and the Nutter Butter) with pretty good results, I thought I might as well give it a try. Just looking at it before starting to ingest this baby, it’s quite large and promising.
Innards
When I took a bite, I was relatively disappointed. Bouchon’s Ho-Ho is definitely elegant but the ratio of vanilla-specked whipped cream to cake is practically 3:1. Don’t get me wrong, I love whipped cream but it was overkill for my preference. The cake was moist and chocolate-y as the crisp, chocolate coating (due to tempering) was good. I think what threw me off was the fact that I’m expecting the original Ho-Ho, which obviously doesn’t work out.
Pumpkin Pie-OH-MY! (Really)
After my work day was done I headed over to Shake Shack since I had time on my hands until I have to head over to the Serious Eats office to pick up macarons from Mitzy. (I’ll talk about that later.)
Pumpkin Pie-Oh-My! Concrete
Despite the fact that’s it’s almost 5 PM, the A-line (the line for burgers and everything else) was quite long. I would estimate a 30-minute wait by the time I would be ordering, if I felt hungry enough to eat a burger. But it wasn’t my craving. I wanted (or desire?) their Pumpkin Pie-Oh-My! concrete. Even though I had to linger for 15 minutes or so, it was worth the wait.
The dense, creamy vanilla custard blended with chunks of nicely spiced pumpkin pie. Not too sweet, not too heavily spiced that I was in custard heaven. Also the amount of whipped cream wasn’t off the wazoo compared to what I ate earlier at Bouchon.
There’s a tree house?
But while I was taking my time eating my concrete and people watching around the park, I realized that there’s a tree house. That struck me as…odd. Since when was this up?
Mitzy’s Macarons of AWESOMENESS!
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve been graced by Mitzy‘s macarons. She came in from New Jersey to drop them off at Serious Eats’ office. Here’s a photo splodge of the macarons she gave me to sample:
MACARONS!
In case you haven’t her post about her class with the legendary pastry chef Pierre Herme, I suggest you to read it. She has learned a lot from this man (or should I say, pastry god?). She’s inspired to start a macaron business hence the reason why she (along with Robyn and a few other lucky people) trying out her delightful experiments. I’m seriously grateful to be her guinea pig.
I have no doubt that she would crush pretty much all of the competition in NYC. Each time I’ve eaten her macarons, they keep getting better and better. The crust is perfectly thin and crisp. The crumb is fluffy, not too moist and flavorful of whatever flavor it supposed to be (like pistachio actually taste like a pistachio, not some alcoholic almond flavor). The fillings are spot on in terms of sweetness. I cannot find a flaw in these macarons except wanting more of them. Now I feel like I’m going through macaron withdrawal since I’m hankering for one now…
Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor
New York, NY (map)
Shake Shack
Southeast corner of Madison Ave & 23rd Street
New York, NY (map)
