Pichet Ong’s New ‘Spot’

 If you werent looking for Pichet Ong’s latest venture ‘Spot‘, you might not find it. Nestled in what looks like a basement at first glance is a dessert bar whose products are a mix between Asian street food and American Comfort. Upon entering the cafe, I immediately fell in love with the faux grass on the floor. Ong tries to replicate a barn with his grass floor, raw wood furniture, and stone accents. Its really cute and kinda comfy too.

Onto the desserts, the wide array of sweets at this joint made deciding difficult: cupcakes, cookies, puddings, ice cream, bubble tea, coffee floats, and even dessert tapas. I decided to go with the cupcakes and a Thai milk coffee since I was in a semi-hurry and wanted a treat I could eat on the train.

Here’s the taste rundown:

Mocha Maldon Salt Caramel cupcake has mocha buttercream, salt caramel middle, and a moist chocolate cake base. This cupcake was a delicious salty/sweet mix with a hint of slightly bitter mocha. The frosting itself isnt really super out-of-the-ordinary BUT it did have edible glitter ontop of it: HUGE PLUS. Verdict: enjoyed this one quite a bit!

Chocolate Green Tea Fruit Jam cupcake has an apricot jam, soft green tea icing, and again a moist chocolate cake base. This frosting was much different in consistancy than the Mocha cupcake. It was softer, smoother, and much more interesting plus it had the same edible glitter ontop. The fruit jam paired wonderfully with the hints of green tea and chocolate. Verdict: He’s got himself a winner here! Possibly Ongs best cupcake.

Vanilla Caramel Vietnamese Coffee cupcake has a coffee-ish type buttercream frosting with a salty caramel liquid middle and a moist vanilla cake base. This is a great cupcake for those of you who like vanilla since the actual cake is so delicious. My only problem is that is tasted very much like the Mocha Maldon Salt cupcake. I think they are the same cupcake with different cake bases - which is fine with me, just change their names. I was expecting a real punch of Vietnamese coffee in this one and was sorely disappointed. Verdict: Very good, but probably wont be back for this one.

My only real issue was with the container holding the Thai Milk Coffee. Out of the few sips I was able to get while walking to the train station, the coffee was very good.  But by the time I got off of the train and to my final destination half the cup had leaked out and all over my bag! Ugh!! I couldnt even pinpoint where the coffee leak was coming from! I threw out the rest out of  anger. If you are getting coffee at Spot - get it to stay. Or if you dont mind getting coffee all over yourself and your clothes  then by all means get it to go.

Apple and Quince Bread Pudding

There is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of warm bread pudding right out of the oven. My father generally made bread pudding with raisins, but I found the addition of apples and quinces makes this dish heartier…and dare I say more delicious?

1 loaf of Italian bread (cut into cubes)

2 cups of heavy cream

1 peeled/diced quince

1 peeled/diced gala apple

3/4 cup of sugar

4 eggs

3 tbs of butter

¼ ts of cinnamon

½ ts of vanilla

¼ cup of whiskey (Johnny Walker Black)

 

Preheat Oven to 350

Melt butter in pan with whiskey and throw apples and quince. Cook until tender. Remove and let cool

In the meanwhile cut Italian bread into bite size pieces. Mix together cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until well blended. Grease oven safe bowl. Toss in bread a fruit mixture and let sit for 10 minutes.

Cook for 45-60 minutes until golden brown. If you like it creamy, cook for only 45 minutes.

Top Chocolate Shops

I spent many years walking around the streets of Manhattan looking for a new chocolate shop. Searching for new flavors and concoctions, hoping that amongst the mediocre chocolate factories I would find gems. Indeed I did find some divine chocolate shops and now I can share my findings with the world!

1 - Jacques Torres

There is something so delightful about the combination of chocolate and chiles. Spicy and sweet at the same time - its definitely addicting. A lot of chocolate shops/cafes make spicy hot chocolate but Jacques makes just about the best one I’ve had. Its thick and creamy without being overly sweet - its also doesnt have just cinnamon and chiles in it. The Wicked Hot Chocolate Try the Wicked Hot Chocolate features allspice, cinnamon, ground, sweet ancho chili peppers, and smoked, ground chipotle chili peppers!   Their french kiss cookies are so sinful - I can’t resist. Also, Jacques still mans his stores - I’ve seen him in them working solo. Man that guys got class….

 

2 - Vosges Haut Chocolat

If you are really into exotic flavors - you are going to love Vosges. Katrina Markoff pairs chocolate with just about everyone and gets wonderful results. Boring chocolate combinations are a thing of the past with her Exotic Truffle Boxes. The Absinthe truffle shines with chinese star anise, fennel and pastis, the Black Pearl pops with ginger, wasabi, and black sesame seeds, and the Naga delights with a mix of coconut and curry. She even has truffles mixed with Taleggio cheese, Wild Tuscan pollen, Balsamic vinegar, and first pressed extra virgin olive oil. Katrina, my tastebuds love you.

 

 

3 - Maribelles

Maribelles also boasts a lot of exotic truffles but my favorites by far are the Caipirinha, Cardamom, and the Saffron. So good! Maribelles also takes hot chocolate one step further than Jacques and Vosges with 4 different flavors: Aztec Original, Aztec Dark, Mocha, and Spicy (cinnamon, nutmeg and chipotle). They are all fantastic and you could do so many different things with them! They even have mixes for Iced Hot Chocolate - in Regular‚ Spicy and Cardamom. Mmmmmmm Cardamom….

4 - Chocolate Bar

There are a lot of things to love about the Chocolate Bar. They have a different spin on truffles called ‘ The Atomic Collection’. These are like truffles but bigger and have more fillings. Examples: the Elvis - which is homemade banana marshmallow & crunchy peanut butter enrobed in dark chocolate. Mmmmmm. They also have delicious biscotti caramel clusters - chocolate biscotti/creamy caramel enrobed in dark chocolate. So good. The only thing that gets me angry is that I can never find the place. Is it just me or are they ALWAYS moving?

 

5 - Evelyns Chocolate

This is quite possibly the oldest chocolate shop in the Financial District. I worked 3 blocks away from this place for about 2 years and would visit Evelyn and her team about once a week. You could not find nicer people. Plus, they have an awesome selection of treats. Classics like peanut clusters, coconut clusters, grand marnier truffles, caramels, orange peels, etc are positively delightful. Looking to purchase a box of chocolates for a loved one? Come here. Ya I know its in the Financial District…just come on your lunch break ok?

6 - La Maison du Chocolat

If you’re looking for super rich chocolate La Maison is for you. The ganaches are scrumptious, the pralines are yummy, and most importantly fruit pastes are divine. These are what I come here for - they taste just like the ones I got the last time I was in Paris. They arent super sweet and are made from untreated fruits. They come in 5 different flavors: red fruits, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit and mandarine.

Easy Fruit Crumbles

When you’re cooking for a large group of people dessert can sometimes take a backseat. If you didnt bake a cake or make a pie the day before - you’re generally too tired to make something after your finished with the savories (unless you’re serving cheese and honey…which is one of the best desserts ever). This fruit crumble could NOT be simpler. Try it!

Fruit:

4 cups of seasonal fruit (i.e. a mix of blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and raspberries - Frozen Fruit can also work)3 tbs. of strawberry/raspberry jam

Crumble:

2/3 cup of sugar

7 tbs of butter

3/4 cup of flour

Pinch of salt

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees

- Combine flour, sugar, and salt - mix in melted butter.

- In separate bowl combine fruit and jam

- Grease 8 small ramekins and arrange on a baking sheet. Divide fruit into ramekins and then sprinkle the flour mixture ontop. NOTE: you will need to put more crumble ontop of the ramekins than you might think. Flour mixture tends to seep into the fruit and can disappear into it completely

- Bake about 35 minutes and serve warm - with ice cream if you’d like.

(VARIATION: use diced apples for fruit and caramel sauce instead of jam. If using caramel sauce add an additional 2 tbs.)