The Girl Who Ate Everything

mm, cupcakes

I didn't eat those cupcakes, but they sure look tasty. (And then I ranted about buying a new camera).

My brother, Bert, and I took the train to Hoboken and the Path to the WTC station to meet up with Jesse for A DAY OF FOODING, planned by me, of course. I actually took the three of us on a little fooding tour the last time Jesse was here. Maybe it's my purpose in life. ...crap. Seriously, that's a little disturbing. I need to find a hobby with less health risks, caloric intake, and poses less of a threat to one's blood sugar level.

I wasn't planning to eat lunch due to the handful of bakeries I intended to hit (come on, it's the Robyn way) and the assumption that Jesse had eaten breakfast, but it turned out that Jesse didn't have enough time to eat breakfast and they both thought I was insane. Yeah, yeah, I know you have to eat but...anyway, I'm glad we decided to eat lunch because I remembered wanting to try Kitchenette months ago. Could I remember where it was? Somewhere on West Broadway?

Kitchenette

Woo, victory! Internally, I was doing a happy dance (my digestive system, most likely, gastric juices doing a bit of partying). NYC may be the only place in the world in which I don't need a map.

inside Kitchenette

The restaurant is much smaller than I thought it would be. There's a counter and around 10 tables all fighting for the space around the semi-open kitchen and drool-inducing dessert display. Sometimes cramped is just "uncomfortable" cramped, but in this case it felt cozy. I liked the cheery yellow cherry-spotted wallpaper and ...um. The gigantic albino pear. Not sure what that's about. (A weird sculpture? An alien pod encapsulating baby albino pears?) We got there before noon and it wasn't crowded at all, but the place was packed by the time we left.

mac & cheese

I was trying to decide between pancakes, a hamburger, and mac & cheese. Sweet fluffy plops of wheat, possibly what clouds in heaven are like (edible and covered in maple syrup, that is)? Ground cow in a bun? Pasta slathered in cheese, perhaps the two foods that I eat the least (this may be cheating, but I differentiate between Asian noodles and Italian pasta)? CHEESE AND WHEAT IT ISSS! MMM! As you can see, it's penne and not macaroni but it's still good. I haven't had lots of mac & cheese in my life to compare this to but I was happy with it and thought it was good enough to try again (except next time I go, I want to try PANCAKES). It seemed "just right" in all the departments: hot, but not scalding, not too gooey, not overly cheesey, and it was an adequate portion that completely satisfied me without leaving my stomach feeling brick-like nor necessitating the use of a forklift to transport me out of the restaurant. The pasta wasn't caked together besides those bits from the top of the pan, which I actually really like.

I'm cheap, so $9.50 seemed like a lot for mac & cheese and a side salad. But. Actually, it's not. In the end, we all paid $13 for our entrees plus tip (we also shared a side of garden fries). The consensus? "Mmmm. Good. Let's come again." I'll be a relatively short walk away from my dorm (less than a mile) so I'm positive I'll go, if not for pancakes then for:

cakes and things

...their ridiculously delicious looking desserts. Oh. Yeah. They had a lot. They also had a sign on the back wall that said something about PIE. I want that sign. Hell, I don't even eat much pie, but IT'S SUCH A GOOD WORD! PIE! Just say it. Pie pie pie pie pie pie pie pie pie...pie pie. Pie. Pie pie...okay, it's time to stop.

Then it was on to Bouley Market (and if may be judgemental, their website kind of sucks, although I've found that most websites for restaurants, no matter good or bad, tend to fit in the category of suck). I heard about their bread. So. They have bread?

loads of bread

Yeah, you could say that. When I first set my eyes on the display from outside, I rushed to the window, probably pointing excitedly while Bert and Jesse pretended to not know me.

mm, pastries

The pastries are beautifully laid out, although they'd look insanely delicious even if they were displayed in potato sacks. Foodstuffs that weren't in refrigerated cases were displayed on simple plates, giving the place a home-like feel (if the home were inhabited by bakers who always felt the need to keep plates full of pasties...does such a home exist, and can I live there?). I think my only problem with the market were the doors. I can't remember what bothered me about the doors, but...well, it's not food related. The food is high-end but reasonably priced in my opinion. Most people could certainly spare about $6 for a loaf of bread or a miniature cake. In my case, I spent about $8 on a loaf of fig bread, a madeleine, and a little caramel cake-thinger whose name I don't remember but wasn't like anything I had ever eaten before. Oohhh tasty...I gotta find out the name of it.

Good lord, this took forever to type. Much more fooding happened that day (Sullivan Street Bakery, Jacque Torres Chocolate Haven, Cones, and Polka Dot Cake Studio) but I'll have to talk about them later.