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So... going to NYC, I already had a huge list of places to eat. But everyone we talk to had their own recommendations. So my friends insisted we check out this ice cream place. We went Thursday afternoon.
Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 608-4170
www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com
Price: $
Obviously from the name... it's located in Chinatown. It's a little ice cream shop with a logo that looks reeeeally similar to Bowser from Super Mario Bros. haha. I hadn't even heard of it. Seriously... one of the best ice creams of our lives.
My friends HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended the Almond Cookie ice cream. They had a bunch of other really unique flavors too. Like pandan! Most people don't even know what that is! Myself included up until about 2 years ago. And durian... ew. haha. I like that they had an "Exotics" section with flavors like chocolate and vanilla and mint chip listed under there. haha.
My fiance got the Almond Cookie & Pandan (2 scoops) $6.99~ Where else can you get these flavors?! And the combo of these 2 was magical. Sooooo freaking amazing. The Almond Cookie was definitely out of this world. And it had large chunks of crushed up cookies in there.
I got Black Sesame (1 scoop) $4.35~ Cuz let's face it.. I've got a bit of an obsession with black sesame. It is LEGIT! So much sesame flavor. Delish!! Just don't eat it on a date cuz you get black sesame all up in your teeth. hahaha.
We went back again Saturday night because he wanted to take his sister there. Loved it! Of course.
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This was one of the first places on my list. I came across some of their dessert pics on Instagram and was like "OMG. I MUST HAVE THIS!"
Spot Dessert Bar
13 St Marks Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-5670
www.spotdessertbar.com
Price: $$
There are like 2 locations I think. We went to the one in Korea-town. It was in a food court inside an office building or something. A little random... but made me feel like I was back in Asia.
We went up to the counter and they had all these amazing pics up on the menu. They recommended that we get the pick 3 tapas for $23~. Essentially you Buy 2, get 3rd at half price. And on the menu it said that 3 desserts feeds about 2-3 people. Now... where I'm from, "tapas" means small plates, and the portions are usually smaller and meant for sharing. So we didn't think anything of it. Each dessert was freaking FULL SIZE! Unless you have 2-3 hungry teenagers or something, I think 3 of these will easily feed 4-5 people. Whoa.... Challenge ACCEPTED! (Keep in mind, this is only about an hour after we finished up lunch at Madison Square Eats! O.O )
Chocolate Green Tea Lava Cake (warm dark chocolate cake filled with green tea ganache served with green tea ice cream) $9.15~
Had to try this cuz we love lava cakes AND matcha. It was pretty and the inside was ooey gooey. But I expected more matcha flavors in the inside ganache. We didn't taste any at all. It was delicious. But the Chocolate Souffle Cake at Roy's is still the best!
Kabocha Cake (warm Japanese pumpkin served with condensed milk ice cream) $9.15~
We all loved this one. Like a warm pumpkin brownie, rich, moist, and full of flavor. I think it was everyone's favorite.
The Harvest (layers of berries, soft cheesecake, meringue kisses, served with raspberry sorbet and black rose milk tea) $9.15~
We got this one cuz it's such a fun dessert! You take the milk tea and pour it all over the "dirt". And it's in layers, so we kept discovering new flavors as we ate this. The best part was the cheesecake crust on the bottom. So try to scoop up all the layers in one bite. The raspberry sorbet was a bit too tart for me so I left that alone.
We ordered wayyyyy too much. There's no way this is for 2-3 people. We still ate it all... what can I say. We don't waste food! :P OMG. I won't lie, I was hating myself a little after cuz I was hurting. And the overabundance of sugar made my face break out! :( Worth is? I'd still say yes. :P
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I had given up hope that we'd make it out to Levain on this trip cuz it was just so out of the way. But luckily, our plans changed Friday and we went to Upper West Side. So then we HAD to take a detour for Levain.
Levain Bakery
167 West 74th St.
New York, NY, 10023
(212) 874-6080
www.levainbakery.com
Price: $
They make my favorite cookies IN THE WORLD! Yes, in the world. I'm not lying, you have to go try it for yourself. Each one weighs like a pound and have the most perfect texture. :) They usually have a line, but it's TOTALLY worth it!
We got a bunch to take back to Dallas with us.
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie
$4~ each
You pop one of these babies in the microwave for a few seconds after a few days and they are still amazing.
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
Sunday was my last day in NYC. My flight was at 2pm so I didn't have time to do much before I had to head to the airport. But there was one more stop I needed to make. I was debating on sleeping in or waking up early and making the trip out... But my friend I was staying with told me I HAD to go!!!
So I woke up early Sunday, got all ready and packed and took my luggage with me to my final stop. Levain Bakery in the Upper West Side. I was staying in Queens, which was pretty close to the airport, so the bakery would be going into the city in the opposite direction.
Levain Bakery - Upper West Side
167 West 74th St
New York, NY, 10023
(212) 874-6080
http://www.levainbakery.com/
Price: $
The commute actually wasn't so bad. Plus I got to meet up with a friend of mine one more time before I left. I got to the bakery and realized it was tiny. I guess living in Dallas makes me think of a bakery like a cafe where you can sit and chill and stuff. This place was smallll. It had a few stools inside but for the most part I saw people sitting on the steps and curbs outside.
We got lucky when we arrived because the rush of people had dispersed. So we actually got to sit inside! The place smelled amazing and it made me drool just seeing their baked goods on display.
My friend had never been there. She got a Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie (semi sweet chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts) $4~ (and a cup of milk!)
This was their signature cookie. They don't make one without walnuts... I wonder why? But each of their cookies are like 6 ounces. Freaking massive!! And SO INCREDIBLE! One of the best cookies I've ever had in my life. The cookie must've been almost 2 inches thick. The inside was warm and soft with melty chocolate chips. But the outside was the perfect crust. That slight crunch without being too hard or burnt. I really wonder how they get that thickness without either burning the outside or underbaking the inside...
I was getting a bunch of stuff to take back to Dallas with me.
Plus I got the Oatmeal Raisin Scone $3~ to eat there.
My friend that I stayed with said I must try their scones. It was yummy. I love scones. This wasn't like your typical dense scones. It had the nice crunchy outside but fluffy on the inside... almost like a biscuit? It wasn't too sweet and paired great with my hot tea. I totally loved it.
I also got one of each cookie:
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie (semi sweet chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts) $4~
Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie (dark chocolate cocoa and semi sweet chips) $4~ Super chocolatey. Sooo rich and decadent. I ate 1/5th of it on the plane and it was plenty! Can you imagine eating a whole cookie in one sitting? Heaven! And then sugar coma! haha
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie $4~ Love love loved this as well. So many plump raisins inside!
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies $4~ Amazing! So much pb chips throughout.
Like I said, each cookie is like 6 oz. and massive!! But all of them had the perfect crisp exterior and soft centers. I'd really like to know how they achieve that. And the cookies last for quite a while. Even days after, I'd warm up a piece in the microwave and it would taste like it just came freshly out of the oven. Loves it! I've decided that these are the BEST cookies I've ever had in my life. No joke!! And totally worth every penny.
Cinnamon Brioche $3.50~ The brioche was soft and delicious. I wished they put more cinnamon spread inside tho. The ratio of cinnamon to bread was a little bit lacking.
Blueberry Muffin (with fresh blueberries) $3~ This was chock full of plump blueberries. Yummmmmmm!
I'm so glad my friend INSISTED for me to go to Levain Bakery. It was definitely worth waking up early and commuting across town for!! haha. But I'm also glad that it's not anywhere close to me on a daily basis because I'd just be like 400 lbs! XP
Great way to end my awesome trip to NYC. The best weather I've every experienced there, all the awesome people I got to hang out with, plus all the fantastic food!!!
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
This is quickly becoming one of our favorite places in Rockwall. Last weekend I went there twice. :)
The Life House
506 N Goliad St.
Rockwall, TX 75087
(469) 264-7962
http://www.thelifehousetx.com/
Price: $
I stopped by on Friday afternoon just to pick up some pastries. They had new items that I didn't see last time I was there so I wanted to try everything...
The Matrix (danish dough topped with mocha and caramel drizzle, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar) $4~
The way they described this to me was their version of a donut. They don't fry the dough though. The dough texture was fine but there wasn't enough drizzle to dough ratio. It looked better than it was... If they had filled the pastry with some sort of cream or custard, it would've been a game changer! :P
Strawberry Hibiscus Scone $2.50~
Last time I was there, they were out of scones, so I got to get some this time. I love scones. I like the denseness of it (which is also the reason why some people don't like it... including my bf). But it's so good with tea! I really liked this one. It wasn't overly sweet and it wasn't as dense as most scones I've had before. It's actually a little fluffy! The hibiscus gave it a hint of floral flavor which I quite liked. It wasn't enough to make it taste like soap, just enough to make the flavors more interesting. I'd totally get this again.
Caramel Cinnamon Scone $2.50~ I got this for my bf's friends that were visiting from Austin...so I didn't get to try it. I hope they liked it! :)
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie $2~ There were only 2 of these left, and they were my favorite out of the batch of stuff I got the last time. So I took both of them. Still so awesome!
Fig and Honey Empanada $2~ I didn't like this so much. I tasted goat cheese (so I'm assuming they put goat cheese in all their empanadas??) The goat cheese flavor was much stronger in this one than the Ambrosia one I got last time. Yea... wasn't for me.
So that Sunday, we went back to get some late lunch. I've been wanting to try their sandwiches for a while.
I got the Garden Melt (spinach, onions, mushrooms, garlic chevre, in a pretzel roll) $5~
The pretzel roll is what sold me. They bake all their bread in house too so it's a homemade roll. It was yummy! Slightly salty from a bit too much cheese, but there were lots of veggies and I didn't really miss the lack of meat. The pretzel roll was great too. I'd get this again, but I would request less cheese.
I also got a Roasted Almond Tea Latte. I smelled their roasted almond tea blend and it smelled really good. It was nutty and fragrant. The latte was very lightly sweetened. Even though it had milk, it wasn't heavy at all. My bf liked it even more than I did! (He ended up drinking half of it... ) :P hehehe.
He got the Zebra Latte. We didn't see the zebra stripes, but I guess they shook it up before we got it. It was pretty strong coffee!
For lunch he got the Hole in One (egg, cheese, and choice of addition) $5~ He chose chicken sausage as his free add-on and then also added mushrooms +$0.50~ And got it on wheat bread.
I really wanted to try this. It would've been my choice if I didn't get the Garden Melt. It looked so cool. The egg was so perfectly nestled in the toast and cooked well. The yolk ran out as you cut into it. The extra piece they punched out was slathered with honey. It was delicious! I kinda just want a whole piece of toast like that! It was a really good sandwich. I think next time I'll get that.
One of his friends got the Chocolate Almond Croissant $3~
And also the Claudio (chicken, grapes, walnuts) $5~ This looked pretty fresh.
The other friend got The Captain (almond bread, cheese, choice of addition) $6~ He added chicken sausage and spinach, and mushroom +$0.50 each. He also added an egg to make it a hole in one.
This wasn't what I expected at all. I thought it was going to look more like the hole in one, but it's actually more of an open faced sandwich. The almond bread was interesting. A little grainy, kind of like a drier version of polenta. Smothered with cheese, you can barely see the egg in the middle. :P It was pretty tasty. A little too salty as well since there was so much cheese.
We also got some pastries to go. They had a basket of discounted items that were $2~ each. Those were items baked the day before.
Chocolate Chip Muffins (usually $3~) We later heated this up. It was good, wasn't too sweet. I liked the dark chocolate chips in there. Was good with tea!
Vegan Brownies (usually $4~) The texture was more like a muffin or cake. It wasn't as dense or fudgey like normal brownies but I didn't mind it. It was a nice light version.
It was a yummy weekend. Everything's fresh and homemade. And I like how in a matter of 2 days, I got to try a bunch of different things. I wonder what goodies they'll have the next time I stop by? Oh yea... My bf went back just 2 days later on his own. :P hahaha.
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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