Chillin' out max at Village Tart

Last weekend, AC and I met at Village Tart to catch up. Village Tart is a cute little desserterie/coffee shop/cafe run by Pichet Ong, the dessert genius behind such delights as Spot Dessert Bar. AC and I took a booth in the cafe and sat to chat.

For her, an iced latte with extra milk and a walnut cookie. The cookie was incredible-- oblong and free-form, dotted with walnuts, redolent of brown sugar, simply delightful.

Sweating iced latte

Walnut cookie-- homely, yet powerful

My choice was the beet salad, listed as "beets, grapefruit, candied pistachios, Greek yogurt." It turned out to be so much more, both in terms of taste and quantity. There was a hefty pile of red and golden beets, cooked slightly al dente and resting on a thin slick of mild Greek yogurt. Three grapefruit supremes triangulated the plate-- much sweeter than I expected the grapefruit to be, which was a pleasant surprise. There were little clusters of candied pistachios to provide crunch. And the whole thing was covered with some sort of spice dust, mysterious and tasty all at once. While the portion looks small in the picture, I almost couldn't finish the salad. For $9, not bad.

Plateful o' beets

And that was that. We caught up, ate, and relaxed. The laid-back server let us linger as long as we wanted, and we did. If you're looking for a chill place to, well, chill in Nolita, Village Tart will fit the bill. I'll be back to try some more of the sweets, for sure.

Village Tart
86 Kenmare Street at Mulberry Street
212-226-4980

LWF&D finally goes to Grom

When Grom first brought gen-u-ine upscale Italian gelato to NYC a few years ago, my ears perked up. Gelato? REAL gelato? I'm in. Except-- then I heard about the prices. And the long lines. And I stayed away.

Well, this past week, when I found myself on the UWS in search of dessert, I broke my proverbial Grom fast. There was no line; I just waltzed right in. I tried a taste of the tiramisu flavor; it tasted strongly of coffee. I tasted the hazelnut- yup. I asked if you could get two flavors in a small- yup. (In yo' face, Screme!). So two flavors I got.

The menu

I went with half hazelnut, half stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate bits). The hazelnut was strong and nutty, clearly made with fresh hazelnuts. But the stracciatella knocked me out. The vanilla gelato base was so strongly creamy-- it's one of the few times I've eaten ice cream that tasted simply like drinking cold, fresh cream. The bits of dark chocolate provided textural contrast. The whole thing was pretty darn delicious.

Already beginning to melt

Was it expensive? Yes it was, with a small cresting well over the $5 mark. Was it good? Yes, yes it was. Will I be back? If I'm in the neighborhood with a craving, I may not be able to stay away. But I'll think of it as a very occasional splurge, but for the wallet and the taste buds.

Grom
2165 Broadway, between 76th and 77th Streets
212-362-1837

Brunch at Cookshop gets 'er done

Over the holiday weekend, I met up with PR for brunch at Cookshop. Usually I expect something of a scene there, but maybe because people were out of town, it was actually relatively low key. There were empty tables. The servers seemed laid back. It was actually quite... pleasant.

They started us off with a couple of slices of bread-- standard fare, rustic slices of the kind you see at a bunch of places around town. Add some soft butter and you've got a good carbohydrate base, especially if brunch is a palliative for the night before (not that it was in this case. I'm just sayin').

Starting things off

PR went straight for the eggs and bacon. The Cookshop Scramble came with caramelized onions creme fraiche, and chives; there were big pieces of thick bacon mixed into the eggs, and the whole mixture was plopped on a big ol' buttermilk biscuit. The side salad was studiously avoided as PR made her way through the protein. While the portion was too huge to finish, she gave her hearty approval of the dish overall.

A whole mess of stuff

My choice was the relatively paltry Seasonal Fruit Salad. I'm not sure what season they were going for, actually, since this salad contained the following fruit: banana, grapefruit, orange, pineapple, strawberries. I'm not too big on banana, grapefruit, or orange (note: this is why you should ask what things contain before ordering them), but this salad was decent overall. Everything was fresh enough, and while it was rather small for $6, it did the trick.

Fruit salad in tiny cup

I'm not sure I'm really qualified to assign a spatula rating based on one tiny fruit side salad, but frankly I'm not qualified to assign spatulas in any situation, so I'm going to do it anyway. Cookshop receives three Offset Spatulas. Is it the best restaurant in the city? No. Is it pleasant? Yes. Would I go again? Sure. And there you go.

Cookshop
156 Tenth Avenue, at 20th Street
212-924-4440

Widening our wine bar horizons at Bocca di Bacco

Last week, on a particularly humid and balmy evening, AS and I ventured out for some food and drink. We ended up at Bocca di Bacco, a wine bar on Ninth Avenue that for some reason I've always passed by before. After a heated discussion among the hostesses, we were led to a table in the back, by the kitchen door (boo) but in the most AC-heavy part of the restaurant (yay... given the oppressive humidity and the balmy temps in the rest of the restaurant).

A bottle of wine was procured, and we started in on the bread that was placed on our table. Torn pieces of that common all-purpose bread often found around town-- flaky crust, chewy pull-apart insides-- paired well with the olive oil and started soaking up the wine immediately.

Rustic

AS started with the Fava Fagioli soup. Billed as a creamy fava bean, spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese soup, this turned out to be both very hot and very good. The highlight was a little exploding sphere of goat cheese hidden in the depths of the bowl, waiting to explode in the mouth (careful).

Green soup

For an entree, I went with the arugula & taleggio salad, paired with walnuts and a honey mustard sauce/dressing. This was quite good-- the dressing was surprisingly sweet, but with the big chunks of taleggio and the crunch of the walnuts, the whole thing worked pretty well. I would have liked an extra sprinkle of salt over the whole thing, but that's just me. I like salt.

Cheese and greens

AS went for the classic tomato and mozzarella. This came beautifully plated, clearly composed with more care than was required for what's usually a throwaway appetizer. The tomatoes were fresh, the pesto vibrant, and the mozzarella was high quality and admirably creamy. One of the better capreses I've come across, certainly.

A beauty

We debated dessert but ultimately went with Cold Stone, a few blocks away. Turns out Bocca di Bacco was a pleasant surprise-- the atmosphere is rustic but comfortable, and the food is a bit better and a bit more upscale than you'd expect. I'd certainly go back, especially since there are a few other dishes on the menu that I'd like to try, so I'd say Bocca di Bacco earns its four Offset Spatulas handily.

Bocca di Bacco
828 Ninth Avenue, between 54th and 55th Streets
212-265-8828

Mini cake, mild flavor at Butterfly Bake Shop

On Saturday, during my inaugural trip to the Limelight Marketplace, I had my eye out for an after-dinner treat. Would I go for another cupcake from Cupcake Stop? Would I go for a, um, Little Candy Cake? Nope. I went straight for a mini cake at Butterfly Bake Shop.

Displayed very attractively in their cold case, the mini-cakes at Butterfly were available in a half-dozen flavors, but I zoomed right in on the Red Velvet with traditional cream cheese frosting (they also had toasted coconut frosting for the RV, an interesting little twist). It was packed in a sleek little box, and I was sent on my way.

That night, after dinner at Zigolini's Pizza Bar with the bro, I headed home for dessert. As I was instructed by the friendly folks behind the counter at Butterfly, I left the cake out of the fridge for a little bit to let it warm to room temp before eating. And then I dug in.

First off, the cake was pretty-- attractively portioned in little rounds, rimmed in stiff plastic for a clean appearance. There was a tiny candy butterfly decorating the top (awwww). Once I cut it in half, I realized each cake was actually pretty big-- about the size of two standard sized cupcakes-- which made the $4.25 price tag a bit more reasonable.

But what about the taste? Overall, enjoyable but not the best red velvet I've had. The cake itself was spongy, definitely not dry but not exceptionally moist either. The crumb was large and on the denser side. There wasn't much discernible chocolate taste, despite the fact that Red Velvet cake is technically supposed to be a light cocoa cake. Pretty bland.

But it made a good conveyance for the frosting. The cream cheese frosting had a bit of cream cheese tang, but it was a bit on the buttery side for my liking. It was sweet enough, and it went well with the cake, but all in all I wished there was some sort of stronger flavor in the mix somewhere in there. It was a very mild treat, to say the least.

So was it enjoyable? Of course. Was it the best in the city? Nope. But a decent red velvet still brightens your day. If you're looking for a personal-sized cake or a party favor or simply something classy and tasty to make you smile, this'll do, so give Butterfly a try.

Butterfly Bake Shop
Limelight Marketplace, 6th Avenue and 20th Street
888-544-CAKE

Testing the waters at Zigolini's

On Saturday night, the bro and I voyaged across avenues and down streets to check out the latest entrant to our 'hood, Zigolini's Pizza Bar (which I captured as it was preparing to open). When we got there, the front of the restaurant was open to the warm night, and there was a couple at one of the two-tops in front and a couple occupying the communal table that ran down the long, narrow space. The tables were marble; the chairs, black; the whole effect was sleek and borderline stark.

But the service was warm. Our friendly server brought us menus and water; we ordered quickly and chatted to fill the time. Since we were seated close to the pizza oven, we could see the bro's pizza being made, and as soon as it popped out of the oven, it and my salad were hustled over.

First, the salad: for $10, it was somewhat small, and I'd actually say somewhat short on the promised ingredients. I ordered the Insalata di Capra, which is composed of watercress, bosc pear, goat cheese, and pistachio (my request for walnuts instead of pistachios was duly honored). The salad was mostly watercress, a bit overdressed; the few slivers of pear were ripe but so thin as to barely register on the taste scale. The goat cheese was a quarter-sized round that crowned the salad; tasty, but small. There were tiny bits of walnut scattered about, more for color than for taste. If there had simply been much more of the ingredients, this would have been a good salad, but as it was it wasn't anything to write home about.

Almost looks larger than it was

The bro had chosen the Prosciutto di Parma pizza, with mozzarella, prosciutto, fresh arugula, and shaved parmesan. Again, for $16, it was somewhat on the small side, but barring that it was pretty good. I tasted a bit of crust and it was chewy and on the salty side; not exactly Motorino, but a significant step up from your neighborhood slicery.

'Za, ham & cheese blanket

So that was it-- we were in, we were out. (Hey now...) We weren't bowled over, but we left pleasantly sated. Would I return? Sure. Should you go? If you like pizza, yes. Therefore, Zigolini's earns its three Offset Spatulas, honorable for a newcomer, with room to grow.

Zigolini's Pizza Bar
675A Ninth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets
212-333-3900

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.