This Weeks Sweet Reviews

I threw in a few from weeks past, mostly when they had to do with frozen treats. The summer is coming to an end after all, it's time to squeeze in those seasonal goodies before they're gone!

Serious Eats: Icy Treats in Queens: Kulfi Falooda

Chow: 7 Ice Pops That Break the Mold

Candy Blog: Cookies ‘n’ Cream Bites

Midtown Lunch: Only 9 Days Left For Quality Meats’ Ice Cream Cake Sundaes

Serious Eats: Affogato at Blue Bottle Coffee

Serious Eats: The Best Egg Custard Tarts in Manhattan's Chinatown

Serious Eats: NYC's Top 10 Ice Cream Sandwiches

Sweet Freak: A wee sweet spot in Hell's Kitchen, Je & Jo ice cream

Blondie & Brownie: More New Flavors at Van Leeuwen!

Blondie & Brownie: CoolHaus Ice Cream Sandwiches are Now $6?!

Blondie & Brownie: Ample Hills Creamery is Worth the Very Long Walk

The Daily News: Best of NY: The creamiest, thickest, most delicious milkshakes in the boroughs

Wafels and Dinges National Waffle Day Giveaway

What: National Waffle Day 2011

Where: Hanover Square, New York, NY (8AM-4:30PM)
Trader Joe's at 14th St. (6-10PM)

When: August 24th 8AM-10PM

Cost: FREE


From the blog page:
Keep reading to find out how to win vintage Wafels & Dinges prizes and how to become Mister Wafel or Miss Wafel 2011 granting you (you guessed it) ONE YEAR of free wafels!

MISS WAFEL 2011 & MISTER WAFEL 2011 win ONE YEAR OF FREE WAFFLES

The Miss Wafel and Mister Wafel contestants will be judged on four criteria:
Presentations expressing how they will represent being Miss Wafel or Mister Wafel.
Trivia contest about wafels and the country of Belgium
Explanation of “How dinges can save the global economy”
A Dinges Skills Competition with practical test to apply toppings to our waffles.

To participate, reply to our Facebook* event invite. Registration is open for up to 3 entries for the Miss Election, and 3 entries for the Mister Election. Submit by Tuesday, August 23rd at 4pm. The winners get a Belgian Wafel Passport that's valid until August 23rd, 2012. Incroyable!

Contest takes place at the truck on Hanover Square
1pm: Mister Wafel competition
1:30pm Miss Wafel competition
2pm: Ceremonial bestowing of the Wafel Passport.

*For those who are averse to anything related to Facebook, you can email info@wafelsanddinges.com with the necessary info.

FREE WAFEL in exchange for a children's drawing of waffles or of the Wafels & Dinges truck. For the more linguistically inclined, write an original poem about Spekuloos! Top 3 will be posted on the website! Open to children of all ages (18 months to 103). We'll hang your picture/poem on the truck and you get the free wafel!
At the end of the day, the most original drawings and poems will receive an authentic Wafels & Dinges T-shirt, a Kompleet Wafels & Dinges Kit and a jar of Speculoos! 2nd prize is a Kompleet Wafels & Dinges Kit & a jar of Spekuloos and 3rd prize is a jar of Spekuloos!

When: all day.
AM: from 8am till 4:30pm Hanover Square
PM: from 6pm - 10pm at the Trader Joe's at 14th St.
Important! Don't forget to add your name & email-address so we can contact you in case you won!

See you there!

Sweet Deals on Cookies

Get this one fast- 20 hours remaining as of this post! Two Dozen Cookies with Free Nationwide Shipping ($25) or Ten-Person Party Tray with Free Manhattan Delivery ($33) from E.E. Cookies. Get the deal here.

35% off one dozen cookies from Downtown Cookie Co.: Get the deal here.

Cupcake Cruise!

Via CCTC.

What: Cupcake Cruise to Bermuda

When: August 19-26, 2012

Where: Aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Summit to Bermuda

Cost: TBA

Obviously this is way in advance but cruises take planning, besides which, if the site is up and posts are being made, then I'm obligated to repost! Currently you can email the folks in charge here to be added to a mailing list so you're kept up to date as details come out.

Green Tea and Green Tea and Cherry Blossom Kit Kats

Item: Japanese Kit Kats. Matcha (green tea- Wiki claims is made with green chocolate- whatever that means) and Sakura Macha (Cherry Blossom Green Tea).

Rating out of 5:









I signed into my Gmail account for the first time in months to find a whopping 2,338 emails, which is actually less than I was expecting but daunting nonetheless. I signed on to Blogger do to a handful of new reviews, maybe post a couple of deals or news items.

These Kit Kats were actually eaten over the Winter, my friends brother took a trip to Japan and brought these babies home. You have to understand, years ago a friend posted a link about green tea Kit Kats on some social networking site or other, and I was overcome with the sadness of knowing something I desperately wanted to try would probably be forever out of my grasp (playing this up for all it's worth). So when I walked into my friends kitchen and saw three dozen of them sitting on her table like they fucking belonged there, I'm pretty sure I recall letting out a slight squeal. Her brother in his infinite graciousness gave me one of each flavor, and so here we are.

As with many things, the buildup was a touch over-hyped. The green tea tastes...not like green tea much at all. It could be green tea that's "off" tasting, a little unpleasant. The chocolate seems a bit too thick for some reason. This might be white chocolate with green tea flavoring. After finding Wiki's entry describing it as "green" chocolate, these suspicions are strengthened.
















I actually like the matcha and cherry blossom better, its sweeter and tastes more like candy, I was surprised me because I wasn't expecting to prefer it. I love green tea, but when I think of cherry blossoms I think of flower petals, and wasn't sure what to expect of the taste. I don't think I'd describe this Kit Kat as floral, but there is a lightness of flavor to it and it lacks whatever unpleasantness the plain green tea one had. I finished these but didn't crave more.


So together, they get a rating of two. If I do see them again there will not be any squealing.

Cupcakes and Cocktails with Butter Lane and Bulldog Gin

What: Cupcakes and Cocktails with Butter Lane and Bulldog Gin

When: Saturday, March 12th. 8-10PM

Where: Butter Lane
123 East Seventh Street

Cost: $75

There are only 12 spots available, so if your interested signs up HERE ASAP.

From the page: Come learn how to create delicious, boozy icings with Melinda, our pastry chef/cupcake teacher and our new favorite drinking buddy, Daniel, from Bulldog gin. He'll be shaking up some old-school favorites with a twist (like the Gimlet and the Madras) and we'll show you how to create some very unique icing flavors the Butter Lane/Bulldog way. There are only 12 spots available and they're going to fill up fast. For $75 you get two cocktails, some cocktail samples, six cupcakes plus recipes.

Exotic Ice Cream Tasting

Via Pulsd.

What: Complimentary Exotic Ice Cream Tasting with La Newyorkina

When: Sunday, March 6th. 7-10PM

Where: Brooklyn Winery
213 North 8th Street

Cost: Entry is free, 21+

From the page: Don’t miss our next Thinking Local event on Sunday, March 6 from 7 to 10pm, where we will play host to La Newyorkina, finalist in The Next Big Small Brand contest this year. Meet Fany Gerson, author of the cookbook My Sweet Mexico and co-founder of this local purveyor of Mexican ice and sweets. Chat with Fany as you sample her scrumptious Mexican ice, ice cream, and sorbet in one-of-a-kind flavors like mango chile and avocado.

FREE Chocolate and Beer Pairing Party

What: FREE Chocolate & Beer Pairing Party

When: Mon, Feb 28, 6-8PM

Where: Pure Dark
1775 Union St

Cost: FREE

Celebrate the end of an era at Pure Dark's chocolate and pairing party tonight. This chocolate pop-up shop in the Marina will be leaving after its three-month stint, so make the most of it before it's gone. Completely free, don't miss the dark chocolate and crafted beer.

55% off at Little Pie Company

55% off at Little Pie Company.

$9 gets you $20 worth of pies, sweet treats and more at Little Pie Company.

Deal Terms
* You can buy as many vouchers as you’d like.
* Limit 1 voucher per person per table (i.e. a table of 4 can use 1-4 vouchers) or limit 1 voucher per person per day (if picking up).
* Valid for dine-in and take-out only (you can pre-order for in-store pickup); voucher cannot be used for delivery or shipping.
* Full value of voucher must be used in one visit; no change or credit returned.
* Cannot be combined with other offers.
* Voucher not valid until day after purchase.
* Promotional value expires 05/25/2011.

$15 for a Six-Brownie Sampler Pack from Vermont Brownie Company

Spend $15 for a Six-Brownie Sampler Pack from Vermont Brownie Company!

Expires Aug 29, 2011. Limit 1 per person, may buy 2 additional as gifts. Limit 1 per visit. Valid for delivery. Delivery Fee included.

Vermont Brownie owners Katherine Krebs and Shawna Lidsky baked dozens and dozens of brownies before developing the ideal recipe—one that packed enough chewy, chunky, chocolaty punch to rip the Throwdown title from under celebrity chef Bobby Flay's fudge-laden feet. Sampler packs are assortments of the best-selling of Katherine and Shawna’s preservative-free, made-from-scratch, and artistically assembled brownies. Each box contains one of each of the following six flavors: signature, dark chocolate chevre, espresso dulce de leche, peanut butter, maple toffee crunch, and walnut chunk. Express orders may require substitute flavors. All flavors are made with local farm-fresh ingredients, making for a sophisticated taste of Vermont not captured since the Americans retook Fort Ticonderoga by eating it.

Spring Cupcake Crawl

What: Walking Tours Manhattan Spring Cupcake Crawl

When: Sunday on March 13, 11AM

Where: Billy's Bakery 184 9th Avenue (bet. West 21-22 Street)

Cost: $5 donation to help feed the hungry

From the event page:
Join us for a Cupcake Crawl on Sunday on March 13, for the best cupcakes in Chelsea and Greenwich Village. Purchases are optional.

We’ll start with Billy's, an experienced crowd pleaser. Then we’ll head to Amy's at Chelsea Market, a top baker who never disappoints. Next stop is Cupcake Stop, started with a truck now a store. And lastly Magnolia Bakery, the grandmommy of them all.

Meet our tour guide with the red ball cap saying Walking Tours Manhattan on Sunday March 13, at 11:00am at Billy's, 184 9th Avenue, bet. West 21-22 Street.

Walking distance is 1 1/4 mile, tour lasts 1 ½ hours.

Review: Bomboloni

Place: Bomboloni
187 Columbus Ave
(between 68th St & 69th St)
(212) 877-3080

Items ordered:
Pistachio donut, apple donut, creme brulee donut

Cost: $1.50 each

Rating out of five:





Disbelief followed by disappointment.

Lets start with the pistachio bombolini. (Again, I apologize for the photos of camera phone photos, this will hopefully be the last time I ever have to do this).






















Not much pistachio flavor to speak of at all. Had I been blind folded I don't think I would have been able to discern any flavor other than "custard", which is a shame. The dough wasn't anything to write home about either.





















It was when I bit into the apple donut that I felt I understood Bombolini. They use apple sauce for the filling. Seriously, I'm not shitting you. Like straight from the jar apple sauce. I was appalled. Such a cute place with real Italians working behind the counter shouldn't be serving this to customers, they should have a sense of shame.















Applesauce?! What are you doing in a donut? Get out, you don't even fit!

Then, there was the creme brulee...
















Plain, ordinary custard inside with a hardened top. This particular donuts dough tasted almost exactly like Dunkin Donuts'. Except not as good. Seriously. I was shocked. The dough alone made me gag, but the custard? Guys, your missing an amazing opportunity. Don't just use the same uniform custard for every donut (other than the apple one, for fucks sake), actually make something different for each one. Something that tastes like what you claim to be mirroring.

As it is now, you couldn't pay me to come here again.

Review: La Maison du Macaron

Place: La Maison du Macaron
132 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 243-2757

Items ordered:
Vanilla macaron ($2.50), pistachio madeleine ($1.25), and a pistachio truffle (95 cents).

Rating out of five:





(Yes, that's a picture of a picture taken on my phone- trust me when I say it was my only workable option)

I know, I know. As so often happens, I just don't agree with the masses. La Maison is a place many consider to be ~the~ macaron spot. From what I saw on my visit I really can't see why.

But I'm not damning them to the list of avoidables just yet. The reason being that their menu clearly states that the macarons should be served at room temperature and the ones I received were ice cold. I know first hand that environment can alter a pastry quite a bit, so I'm willing to give this place another shot in the future.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, this was my first macaron. Take from that what you will.

I'm a person who looooves her sugar. If something has a good flavor, there is no limit to the level of sweetness I can handle. I found these "too sweet" because their sweetness wasn't balanced out by a strong or interesting vanilla flavor. It turned me off from trying others, especially at $2.50 a pop. Who do these macarons think they are- cupcakes? I was expecting something sophisticated but also just plain good. This left me disappointed.

I was also disappointed that they didn't have any pistachio macarons, so I ordered the two pistachio things they did have- the truffle and the madeleine. Neither tasted much like pistachio at all. The truffle I didn't even finish, it tasted like white chocolate (not a fan). The madeleine was weak and dry, I finished it on principle, hoping it would maybe win me over. It did not.

Review: Sweet Potato Pecan Pie at Dinosaur

Item: Dinosaur's Sweet Potato Pecan Pie
700 W 125th St
New York, NY 10027
(212) 694-1777

Rating out of five:












First things first: I know this is a shitty picture. I was tired, and it was for some reason proving hard to photograph and I just knew it wasn't going to be worth struggling to get a better shot of.

Secondly, this is NOT a sweet potato pecan pie. This is a sweet potato pie with pecans on top. Nothing wrong with that, but it would be nice if they advertised it properly.

The sweet potato pie isn't enjoyable on its own (light on spice and bourbon, heavy on suga, but with the pecans its alright. Not much else to say about this. To be honest, I felt like it was somewhere in-between one and a half cakes (crappy) and two cakes (mediocre), but since I finished it I decided to go easy and give it the full two.