bakeries, K-Town and Mesa Grill
- By Robyn Lee
- Jan 23, 2007
- Comments
"We should take the B or D to Grand Street. Because...um, I want an egg custard tart."
After spending a few hours at the Brooklyn Museum last Saturday, Jason, Joana and I emerged in various states of lethargy and tried to decide the best way to get back into Manhattan to visit Babycakes for the sake of Joana's gentle tummy. Although I can eat just about anything without too much bodily harm (until I ultimately get diabetes), I enjoy the "not as guilt inducing" sugar/wheat/gluten free treat from Babycakes every now and then. But first, I craved...egg custard tart.
We picked a great day to roam around the city. And by "great" I mean horrible windy and burninatingly cold. But at least it wasn't raining. Or that the sun didn't explode. The day would've been much worse if either of those had happened, particularly in the latter situation, which would've resulted in the destruction of Earth.
We stepped out onto the gritty block of Grand Street between Chrystie and Forsynth swarming with Chinese markets and Chinese people. I headed straight towards Egg Custard King Cafe with one thing in mind: egg custard goo in a flaky pastry shell. ...Okay, I also wanted to get warmer. Two things in mind. Yes.
- It's not the one I ate, but they all look pretty much the same. Sometimes my stomach is faster than my camera.
After making my purchase we stepped back into the cold, me 75 cents poorer but also an egg custard tart richer. OH YES, I WIN. I snarfed that sucker down on the way to Babycakes, savouring every goopy custardy moment that wasn't spent making sure I wouldn't walk into a human or get run over by a car. My body warmed up from the slight heat of the just-born tart and the happiness that buuurns from within (it's less painful than it sounds) from eating the tart. It's magic.
- Babycakes
As much as I love Chinatown bakeries for all the cheap, delicious goodies they hold, they will never match the cute, homey feeling of an American bakery like Babycakes. However, you may not feel as comfortable if you hate pink; the walls are covered in it, as are most of the employees.
- made of..spelt?
I wouldn't know the difference between my slice of wheat-free chocolate chip banana bread (and maybe refined sugar-free) and a regular one. It's good! Tastes like banana. Tastes like chocolate. Just enough sweetness. Adequate moistness. Etc. Although I didn't get a photo of it, Jason's frosted gingerbread slice was also enjoyed by all, the only funky thing being the gluier-than-average frosting. Otherwise, it tasted fine (smooth, not sickenly sweet, whatever frosting is supposed to taste like). I don't know what it's made of, but I suppose it's less deathly than normal frosting ingredients.
- cupcake top
Joana got a cupcake top, a cute way to stick to the best part of the cupcake (although I wonder what happened to the rest of the cake). You get the 1:1 cake to frosting ratio and ingest less calories. Yaaay?
- self-control, as acted out by swine
We took a bathroom break at a nearby Chinese Christian bookstore whose most interesting merchandise came in the form of semi-Engrished note cards. Without the words "SELF-CONTROL", the drawing of two pigs blankly staring out of a giant shimmering oyster would've been weird enough; the words just add another dimension of priceless confusion. Is it the pigs or the oyster who needs self-control? Is there a deep, religious symbol tucked away in there that I'm missing? I guess the only way to have made it somewhat sensical would've been to have written "TWO PIGS IN AN OYSTER" across the top. Problem solved.
- pillow bun?
Next stop was May's Bakery so that Jason could use up a gift certificate ($6 will buy you roughly a large bucket of baked Chinese goods). I felt dumb for getting the taro bun after seeing this creation called PILLOW BUN. It wasn't even a bun, more like a sliced roll of...something. Something pillowy, I would assume. But the name! It intrigued me. Maybe next time. Or maybe not, because the taro bun was only so-so. Too much bun and not enough taro innards.
- Mandoo Bar
After parting with Joana, at Jason's request we went to Mandoo Bar in Koreatown for a non-gutbusting dinner of little dumps. You can see them being freshly made in the dumpling nursery through the glass windows as you walk into the restaurant. These dumplings are fo' realz. Or for reals. Whichever you prefer.
- green dumps!!!
Jason chose vegetable mool mandoo, boiled green-skinned dumplings stuffed with chopped vegetables and glass noodles. I couldn't tell what all the vegetables were, but they covered a good color spectrum. You've got your green, your orange, your...other earth tones. I liked the skin in particular (whose color origins I'm unaware of), which was thicker and chewier than most other dumpling skins I've had, but not thick in the unpleasantly fluffy, bready sense (I like bread, just not in my dumplings).
- kimchee dumplings
I ordered kimchee mandoo, steamed dumplings filled with kimchee, tofu, pork, and "other vegetables" as specifically stated by the menu. As I like spicy things and I don't recall ever having spicy Chinese dumplings (although I guess you could dip them in spicy sauce), I thought these dumplings were awesome as something different from what I'm used to eating to. Don't let the bloody-looking visceral innards deter you. They're just chili peppers! Not the liquidy basis of life. Although I didn't like the skin as much as the vegetable dumpling skin since the kimchee ones were thinner and less chewy, I liked the kimchee filling more.
20 dumplings between the two of us made for a satisfying, inexpensive meal. 20 dumplings also mean that we had room for more.
- Pinkberry
We scooted over to Pinkberry for a dessert of frozen fermented milk. Since they had signs clearly abolishing photography I didn't bother trying to capture a Kodak moment in fear of meeting Pinkberry wrath in the form of frozen projectiles or whatever weapons they may carry. Jason and I shared a small cup of plain frozen yogurt topped with mango and pineapple chunks for about $5. I can't say I have much of a bank of frozen yogurt eating experiences to compare Pinkberry to, so I'll just say...it's good, but nothing to go insane over unless you realllllly like frozen yogurt, particularly eating it in funky, colorful plastic chairs under hanging lights encased in some kind of shell of undulating layers. I still prefer ice cream or gelato. :P
My favorite frozen yogurt-erie is Yogen Fruz. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? I don't know if it's particularly good, especially since the last time I ate it was in Toronto almost 6 years ago, but I used to eat it every now and then in Taipei (along with lots of ice cream because damn, it's hot there) and I loved seeing the transformation (also known as "smooshing") of a block of frozen yogurt and chopped frozen fruit bits into a piled coil of ...frozen yogurt with fruit bits in it. It's probably not as cool as I think it is, but it holds a special place in my heart. God knows why.
Restaurant Week!
- restaurant week
I don't have the stomach to go eating-crazy during the current Restaurant Week(s), but neotokyotimes (who made sixreservations for the festivities, oh my) invited me and two of his friends to dinner at Mesa Grill Monday night and I figured, "Well...I'm not going anywhere on my own, so why not?" It was also a good opportunity to go outside and hang out with other humans, something I missed on Sunday by staying inside all day with a faulty digestive system that wouldn't, like, digest anything, although even without the physical problems I would've felt like a pile of crap because of the mental burden of a bunch of things that made me cry a few times that I feel like will only resolve themselves with the passing of lots and lots of time and getting over the fact that people don't try to hurt me on purpose, but it just happens because everyone's selfish and...well, I'm no better.
Ugh. Um. Sorry, BACK TO FOOD!
- breaaaad
Oh sweet jesus, I love leavened wheaty things. With a side of a few butter slabs. The darker rolls in front were savoury peppery corn-specked muffin things. Uber-soft innards with a crunchy crust. Those were pretty awesome.
- salad
Since I felt like I needed something semi-healthy or masquerading as semi-healthy, I started with Sophie's Chopped Salad. I don't know who Sophie is, but lookie, here is her salad! It is chopped! It comes with her own "special dressing"! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS. Overall, I liked the filling combination of lettuce, tomatoes, chickpeas, kidney beans, tortilla chips, olives and cheese (actually, I could've done without the last two but that's because I don't like olives or cheese in salads) all lightly coated in the mysterious "special dressing". It's not something that will blow you away, but there's nothing wrong with it.
- chicken!
I have no idea what the sixteen spices were in the Sixteen Spice Chicken (with Mustard-Red Chile Gravy + Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Shallots), but it was...somewhat spicy. (Actually, I lied; here's a similar recipe. The mystery of the sixteen spices has been uncovered.) I doubt I would've noticed if it merely had fifteen spices, ye know? The generous portion of chicken was juicy and tender. I was happy with it.
- other food
Lookie, other food! "Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with a Spicy Black Bean Sauce + Roasted Jalapeno Crema" and "Yellow Corn Crusted Chile Relleno filled with Acorn Squash, Goat Cheese + Sage with a Fig-Cascabel Chile Sauce"! The names are so long that I don't have to describe them! Sweet jesus! I love exclamation marks!
- dessert
The "Smoked Vanilla + Toasted Pecan Flan" was my favorite part of the meal. It also came with two little madeleine-esque cakey things on the side that were unfortunately unpalatable to me for seemingly consisting 50% of alcohol. But flan's the star. A wobbly, pudding-esque star that is somehow firm and soft at the same time. It tasted in between panna cotta and flan...or like panna cotta if it were were flan flavored. If that makes any sense. Maybe not.
I don't usually spend $35 on a dinner (more like $45 after tax and tip), but it was fine for one night in a spacious, energetic (and by that I mean kind of noisy) restaurant. I can't imagine eating at Mesa Grill at their regular, higher prices though. Too used to my cheaper eats, I s'pose.
[Sorry, this whole entry has felt very lazy. I am mostly composed of "slacker". And I think I still have homework. Sigh.]
- cowboys
We said goodbye to the cowboy-themed upholstery sometime after 10:30 PM and I went home feeling much happier than I had felt before dinner. Over the meal I laughed a lot more than I had in...a while. Maybe crazily so? Hm. I don't know. It reminded me of when Tristan's aunt (one of the sweetest people I've ever met) told me near the end of my stay at his house that I had a good laugh and explained what made it good. I wouldn't say I have a good laugh, just that I have a tendency to laugh excessively in some situations because I can't help it, dammit, but I appreciated the comment. I'm glad she saw that side of me and felt compelled to tell me about it in such a heartfelt manner. It gives me a happy memory to reflect on—"That Time I Laughed a Lot" (c. December 2006).
Hopefully I'll have more of those. And I should, because...
Bwahaha, I have a passport!
...I'm going back to Paris for Spring break! March 10th to 17th is "ROBYN INVADES PARIS" time. And I won't be alone; Diana (previously seen in a gazillion other entries, but particularly that time I went to Norway) is coming with me! And we're staying at my old homestay! Oh my god! EXCITEMENT!
I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN LIFE EXCEPT FOR THIS VACATION!!!!@!#@!#!#@
So. :) Let the countdown begin.
addresses
Egg Custard King Cafe
271 Grand St
May's Bakery (or something else in Chinese)
90 E Broadway (Yes, there's an EAST Broadway. And a West Broadway. Don't get mixed up!)
Comments
San Francisco is doing Dine About Town this month so I'll be going to Frisson on Saturday. I love Restaurant Week/Month! Great pictures. Do you use a different lens than the one that your XT came with? Also, I think your description of Yogen Fruz made me want to buy some frozen yogurt bars, puree with fruit, put in pastry bag, and pipe out...hmm. Okay writing it out made it seem like a lot more effort. Never mind, I'll just keep an eye out for it if I'm ever in Toronto or Taiwan.
I dare you to put your head on the pillow bun and take a nap.
WAH! You just left Paris and you're going back! Lucky lucky indeed! Pinkberry is supposedly the "hottest craze" in LA, but I still find it hard to justify paying so much for frozen yogurt...when I could have banana pudding, piggy pudding, or pumpkin pudding. And maybe throw in a dan tat there!
One of the clubs at NYU, think it was asian students something...had a mandoo party freshman year! They ordered a ton of stuff from mandoo bar...but they definitely missed the kimchee ones! :)
Those green mandu are so cute, I wonder what they used for the colour of the pastry. Green tea or spinach? I made Kimchi mandu once, but I didn't quite succeed. :) However I am going to try again tomorrow, I am really hoping to make really good ones, like the one you had. Fingers crossed.
do you think the pigs and oyster card has anything to do with "casting pearls before swine"? (although i don't see what that has to do with self-control.)
Hi Robyn,
I went to the chinese bakery tonight after dinner to get a couple of egg tarts (even tho I was full from peking duck, lemon chicken and suckling pig with rice - everything good except the suckling pig which was too "piggy", the smell was a little overpowering if you know what I mean) but they had sold out their famous egg tarts :-( And whaddaya know, I come home to read your blog and I see egg tarts!! I need to make another trip down to the bakery within the next 2 days to satisfy my craving...
Sophie's Salad sounds kind of like a really low-budget porno flick. Who knows where that "special dressing" came from.
OMG! I'm so excited for you! Paris in Spring! Doesn't that just scream romance? I wish I could tag along because whoever else I go with (outside of my family), I'll feel like a glutton around them!
Anywayz, that sure is a good-looking egg tart. God knows when I had my last one *DROOLZ* And those mandoos look sooo good!!! I'm so hungwy!
Oh my gosh those little green dumplings look so delicious.
Sophie is Bobby Flay's daughter. (Bobby Flay owns Mesa Grill).
Yogen Fruz? They even have it in Bolivia! So global is the processing of fruit and yogurt into semi-chunky sludge...
For frozen yogurt, hit up one of the cafes inside of Bloomindales. Seriously. It's fantastic -- not too sweet, not too sour, not icy, and delicious.
Jeanne: I use the kit lens that came with my XT, but I really wish I knew what lens to splurge on so I'd get better photos. :\ Maybe I wouldn't have to use FLASH!
Yogen Fruz is in a lot of places all over the world, but I've never seen it in the US! Mrah. Your pastry bag idea is hilarious...reminds me of how I used to put frozen fruit in my crushing juicer (mainly mangoes and bananas). It was kind of ice cream-esque, but healthier. Back when I cared more about my health.
Marvo: Eeeuh...[shudders]...
Kathy: Hey, you get to go to Hawaii all the time!...because you live there. BUT STILL! Um. Uhhh.
You could eat so many dan tats for the price of frozen yogurt! BWAHAHAH! Could someone make egg custard tart pudding? ...Or would that be too weird.
How could they not order the kimchee dumplings?! :O
Sue: I would veer more towards spinach, but I didn't taste a distinct flavor. "Tastes like DUMPLING SKIN!" Good luck making dumplings!
shukumei: Whoa, that's the best explanation I've heard so far, even if it has nothing to do with self-control. So I'll just say...YES, THAT'S IT.
bobogal: Sold out of egg tarts, nooooo! I hope you have better luck next time.
Adalmin: DISTURBING THOUGHT, AHH.
Maria: Ahh, romance...no, it screams BAKERIES!@#!@#@ I have a one track mind. Hehe. Actually, I still remember how much more PDA I saw in paris than anywhere else in the world. I wonder if that will increase in the spring. Eek. Ah well, I got used to it...kinda.
Carl: They are! Or were. Before I digested them.
Youngna: Thanks for the info! That makes more sense now. Not that I didn't think Sophie was real..
Melissa: They've taken over the world! Except NYC.
Kathryn: OH YES, I've been meaning to try that out! I've only been to the food section of Bloomindale's once (and didn't eat anything). Thanks for reminding me.
The chinese words for "Pillow bun" is "Bread Cake" when translated directly!
Alors! Wonderful--you return to Paris! I look forward to reading your posts from there (not that I don't enjoy reading your posts from everywhere else, but since I just booked my flight to Paris, I am particularly interested in your continuing insights on that city). May you have many, many occasions to laugh excessively in situations because you can't help it (what a nice benediction--perhaps you should copyright it and put in on a card!). I am very excited for you.
I hate flan, and that one still looks good to me. Perhaps becuase I've been craving nuts lately? Very strange affliction.
I almost went to Mesa Grill for a fancy family dinner, but we ended up going to Dona instead, which I was bummed about becuase Mesa's desserts are supposed to be daaaamn good. The fam was more interested in dinner. I suppose this is where I part with most of the population.
Everyone in LA is ADDICTED to Pinkberry, it's like some kind of cult. I've never really been a fan of airy frozen stuff, I prefer dense and creamy, like real ice cream. And fruit is definitely not among my top ice cream topping choices, haha.
Paris in the spring! You lucky devil.
I love those green dumplings. They look so festive. Speaking of weird colors....I had sushi the other day and instead of seaweed they used some kind of soy wrapper that was pink. It melted in your mouth, but the color was alarming.
You're going back to Paris! Lucky you.
I'm not particularly fond of any of Flay's restaurants for some reason. I think I read too many restaurant reviews that I get turned off at a particular place if gets less than good.
Is it me, or the prices of egg custard tarts are getting more expensive? I mean, I just went to C-town today and the majority of the bakeries that I went to charge at least 60 cents and up.
I want to eat at Mesa Grill! Bobby Flay is amazing and I will pay him well for his food! :)
I bet those cupcake bottoms, lets call them stumps, were sent to a soup kitchen, were they were rejected. Then the stumps were driven around on a bus to multiple dumps which all would not allow them because, well, where are the tops? Finally, an annoying, fat mailman consumes all the stumps. Hahaha!
Hey Robyn;
Feeling sad sucks, especially when you know whatever's making you sad is going to take some time to get better. So I hope that you have lots of joyful distractions, and not just vacation, to keep you busy and make you feel a bit better. Also, I yearn for New Yorkian food.
The idea of a sugar free, gluten free, and everything else that's good free is a little scary for me. Still, I like the name, Babycakes.
Elinn: Pillow Bun means BREAD CAKE? ...Hm, okay. Yay, Chinese, so ambiguous!
Marsha: I look forward to writing about Paris again! :) Hopefully I'll be better about posting than I am now...although I should probably be so busy that I CAN'T post all the time. Hmm.
"May you have many, many occasions to laugh excessively in situations because you can't help it" does sound like a good greeting card thingy. A bit specific, but it could be part of a line of "random cards" to be given..um, randomly. Kind of like the "SELF-CONTROL" thing.
Susannah: Hate flan? FLAN DOES NOT DESERVE HATE! Apologize to the flan! sniffle.
...Okay, you don't have to like flan. It's not my favorite thing in the world, but I enjoy it! Yup yup. Custarrrrd.
Dessert is way more important than real dinner food. I wish more places had dessert tasting menus. :( Tastier and less expensive! IT WINS.
I like dense and creamy too. And flavors like chocolate and caramel and pistachio and hazelnut and all of those mixed together, maybe with a dash of...more caramel and chocolate...
The Home Cook: Soy wrapper? I've neeever seen that kind of sushi before. Are we talking light pink or flamingo hot pink? Either one is a bit weird, I guess. The second is scarier.
Tina: Back to Paris before I strap into a post-grad life of HORROR and SADNESS and NO PARIS.
I didn't know much about Flay's restaurants; perhaps that was for the best? I didn't really have expectations so I enjoyed myself. Yay! FLAN! It does suck if I go somewhere and think it's good, but not as good as I would've hoped.
75 cents is okay for a egg custard tart in my opinion (not like I could make it, haha), but they're usually below that. 50 cents is sweet. I wonder what year it'll be when inflation makes them $1 each. So sad, that would be.
Natalia: Stumps! Aw. How sad would it be to get the stumps as a dessert? REJECTEEEED. Poor stumps. Lucky fat mailman though.
Meg: I do have a number of joyful distractions, weee! It kind of makes school less dreadful when you know the alternative is steeping in your own mental poop! It turns out I'd rather read stuff...and my assignments are pretty cool anyway since they're food related.
Lori: I'd still go for the sugary, butter laden goods, but Babycakes is so adorable. Mraaah. There's another bakery also called Babycakes in Poughkeepsie that I LOVED! All buttah and sugah, ALL THE TIME. That's the main reason I'd go back to Poughkeepsie. I could say that I want to see old friends, but what I really want is a mint tart...[sigh].
You laughed the perfect amount. We eat tacos next.
I'm compiling a mental list of fooding places in JC - so if you ever take the PATH across, let me know and I can show you where the carby goodness is.
omg the self-control piggies in an oyster. Brilliance. I want that on my personal stationery please.
Yay going back to Paris!! How do the French say Yay? Euhhhh. Yayyyuh!
The dumpling section of this entry made me laugh. And that's good too.
I recommend getting the 50mm/f1.8 lens. It's only about 75 bucks and really fast (if not too zoomed in for when you are sitting at a table). It helps eliminate needing to use the flash a lot of the time.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-50mm-f-1.8-II-Lens-Review.aspx
Have you ever been to Dublin? If so, any food recs?
My best guess it it's this stuff - http://www.jfc.com/brand/a_sushiparty.html
It didn't taste like anything, but it was definitely hot pink.
I meant to say earlier that I think it's great that you're going back to Paris for spring break. You need to do it now, while you still can. I spent a year in England my junior year of college and it was the best year of my life. I always said I'd go back, but now more than 6 years later I haven't even come close. It's on my to-do list, but now that I'm married and own a house, other responsibilites get in the way.
NeoTokyoTimes: YAY TACOS!!
piccola: I think giving me a list of the carby places will MAKE me take the PATH. ;)
Janet: The French translation for "Yay!"...wow, never thought of that before. Maybe they don't have an expression for happiness. HAHAHA.
Dumplings are awesome.
The Home Cook: Oo, thanks for pointing it out! Pink is the only one that's not kosher. Hmmm. So it's just an edible wrapper for the rice that also has some nutrients...maybe. Yumyum!
Oh no, go back to England! Someday! Or for a fun family vacation?...euh. Those exist, maybe. (When I was little all the fun vacations involved going to a Disney theme park.)
Wow, tons of comments, hence the reason why I don't normally comment anymore, feeling bad for expanding your workload. Reading your comments must be akin to reading the sunday times. I just thought it was funny because I just blogged about babycakes twice and pinkberry. (I am addicted to pinkberry) Glad to see you back in the city. You still need to try baked in red hook, sooo delicious.
so today we had oranges on our film set and needless to say, I ATE A BUNCH. a dude was like, "um....por que vous aimez des oranges?" (or something to that effect) and i kept thinking, if only you knew about my rolaids fiasco! ar^#@^@gh.
btw, i LOVE egg tarts. omg. omg. i love. i'm so picky about them though because there are so many out there that are done wrong. like, too greasy or too runny or not sweet enough or too sweet, SWEET JESUS!
also....camera lenses...the one you have seems to work pretty well for its purposes. the one i carry around most of the time is the 28-135mm which i really love. but then i freaking dropped it. &#&@! so now i don't love it as much but that's not its fault. i like how light yours is though. and besides, there's no need to splurge if the one you have works fine. :-)
OMG. I AM SO EXCITED THAT YOU ARE COMING BACK! MISSED YOU TONS. TONS.
I know what you mean about the stomach being faster than the camera. It happens to me a lot too.
But that picture of the egg tart looks really good. In fact, I want to eat the tart! :D
now that piccola mentions it, i'm actually pretty interested in knowing any good places to chow down in jersey city! that's where i'm from :) any recommendations?
Cat: Aw, don't be turned off by all the comments. We're like..big happy family!...of hungry people. I saw your posts about Babycakes! Can't get enough? ;)
Adelyn: HAHA, you got your fruit! And fiber! And nutrition. Good.
I got a new lens! The 50mm f1.8 thingy! I DON'T HAVE A JOB, HAHA, WHY AM I BUYING THINGS?! It wasn't a huge splurge, but I also bought a UV filter and a polarizer and a lens case so that jacked up the price a bit...
I THINK ABOUT PARIS EVERY DAY, and the people there. :) I'm waay excited.
Daisy: I want the tart too. Many tarts. A box of them. If only egg custard tart places would expand beyond Chinatown...rawr.
Grace: I'll see if I can get those recs from piccola! Cos I don't have any!
Robyn, there's a place called Lung Moon Bakery on Mulberry, south of Canal. They have egg tarts there too if you're interested (ok, not the multitude of flavors offered, but they're authentic and 60 cents...) :)
completely agree with your review of mesa grill. i had the taco starter, the salmon and the flan. the flan was definitely the best bit. very strong flavour and was creamy. the other dessert wasn't bad too. but i came away with the same thought - good food, great dessert, but i wouldn't really pay full price for it.
Loretta: Ah, I've been there before! And I went there today to try the egg custard tart. :) SO GOOD, YES!
Louanne: Woohoo, flan is awesome!
MMhh! Those egg custards look amazing. Reminds me of my childhood in Taiwan. They even sold egg custard tarts in Burger King :) Keep up the delicious work!! We love you in Berkeley, CA!
Sophie is Bobby Flay's daughter (the owner of Mesa Grill)
Disclaimer: I dunno is someone said this already. I'm too lazy to go through the 36 (?) comments....