LWF&D soaks up the Limelight

Saturday, after a delightful brunch with PR (more to come on that), the two of us made our way from West to East Chelsea to check out the new Limelight Marketplace. Housed in a former church-turned-nightclub on the corner of 20th Street and Sixth Avenue, the Limelight just opened. Neither of us was sure what to expect, but suffice it to say that it's an interesting place.

The marketplace has three floors and lots of little warrens and staircases and mirrors, so it's very easy to feel that you've somehow gotten lost in a cross between an Escher drawing and Candy Land. Every shop has a small bit of real estate, whether it's a tiny shop-like nook or a cart or a stand pretty much in the middle of the floor. Everything is very precisely displayed, as though an interior decorator was unleashed with free rein on the space .There's loud music. The lights are bright. There are crowds. It's pretty much sensory overload.

The view from just inside the 6th Avenue entrance

But if you can focus on what's on offer, there's really some cool stuff. Yes, there is real merchandise for sale (leSportSac, Hunter boots), but more importantly, there's lots of food. And even MORE importantly, there's lots of sweets. Below, a pictorial journey of some of what you'll find there:

The MarieBelle cart, with their signature truffles. They also have a chocolate shop and bar on the second floor.

It'Sugar, if you want to go for the straight-up candy.

The obligatory frozen yogurt stand. Although at 5.25 for a small, this is some of the most expensive frozen yogurt I've ever seen.


The Cupcake Stop's brick-and-mortar outpost! I was tempted by the Nutella Crunch cupcake...


...but I ultimately went for a mini cake at Butterfly Bakeshop. Full post on that to come.

There was a significant line at Baci gelato, to be expected on a 70 degree day.

Oh yeah, there was savory food, too. Check out that cheese case! Beyond it there was a bread counter with some sandwiches that looked pretty delish.

But back to the sweets. Wanna Hava Cookie had some nice-looking whoopie pies, but at more than $3 each, they were a little too dear for me.

And to cap it all off, one of the most...interesting concepts I've seen in a while: The Little Candy Cake Co. And yep, it's pretty much true to its name: there are little mini wedding-cake type things that are made of chocolate. So little candy cakes, I guess. Other than for wedding favors, I can't quite think of an exhaustive list of occasions that might necessitate a little candy cake, but just in case you ever have a yen, now you know where to find them!

And that concludes our preliminary tour of the Limelight Marketplace. Check it out if you're in the mood for a whirlwind, somewhat food-centric adventure-- it's a nice way to spend an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

Cupcake Stop shocks and awes

Even casual readers of this blog will know that I'm a cupcake lover, so I'm ashamed to admit that prior to today, I'd never experienced one of Manhattan's most faddish cupcake entities. I'm talking, of course, of Cupcake Stop, the cheerful white cupcake truck prowling the city's streets alongside Frites 'n' Meats, Wafels and Dinges, the Treats Truck, and a dozen other mobile food meccas. Yes, I have technically visited once before, to get a red velvet cupcake for AV, but since I didn't technically eat a cupcake then, it doesn't count. On Wednesday, I ventured out into the midtown wilderness to hunt down my frosted quarry for real.

I had my sights set on a funfetti or maybe even a carrot cake number, but when I got there, I was taken by how I immediately decided upon neither of those. I left carrying an Oreo cupcake in a small clamshell package, somewhat confused about what had just happened.

Cupcake in cage

The guy manning the truck described the Oreo cupcake as vanilla cake batter with Oreos mixed in, topped with vanilla buttercream with Oreos mixed in. Simple. And, it turns out, really really good. After dinner I dissected the little beauty and went in for the first bite, of cake alone. In the best way possible, this cake reminds you of cupcakes baked from a mix when you were little. The vanilla is powerful, and the texture is moist and ever so faintly greasy (you know what I'm talking about). The swirls of Oreo add little bursts of chocolate to the batter. And the edges of the cupcake top, where the frosting doesn't cover, have crisped to a taste and texture just like a sugar cookie. Incredible.

Off-center frosting

The frosting is quite good, not too buttery and quite sweet. Its texture is light, almost whipped. It's not quite as good as Amy's Bread white buttercream, but it was good. I wished there were more of it, but since the cake was so good I forgave the Cupcake Stop frosters. Before I knew it, the cupcake was gone, and I was left wanting another. And another.

The cross-section (yes, I moved it to a different plate)

For $2.50, you can't go wrong. I daresy this very cupcake is one of the best in Manhattan at the moment. Track down the Cupcake Stop and judge for yourself.

Cupcake Stop
Locations around Manhattan

A red velvet break at the Cupcake Stop

Sunday morning, AV and I went out to explore the rare weekend-morning quiet that envelops Hell's Kitchen at times of the day I don't often see. As we rounded the corner of Ninth Avenue, we spotted none other than the Cupcake Stop, inexplicably parked at 47th and 9th at around 10AM. AV hadn't had breakfast, and after I explained to him the story behind the Cupcake Stop (law school, truck, cupcakes, etc.), he had to try one. Ever a red velvet man, he chose an RV cupcake to go.

Frosting like a jaunty beret

While I am and always will be partial to Billy's, this RV wasn't bad. The tiny bite I took revealed a flavorful and somewhat spongy cake and a soft, vanilla-inflected frosting. I didn't detect much cream-cheesiness in the frosting, but then again, I only had about half a gram, not enough for a truly accurate judgment. My only squabble was with the frosting-to-cake ratio-- much too much cake for the frosting, in my humble opinion. But in the end, if you're nowhere near a Billy's and need an RV cupcake stat, I say cautiously that the Cupcake Stop will do. It'll do, pig, it'll do.