NYC Tastes

Things just haven't been the same in my neighborhood since Shake Shack closed for renovations earlier this year.  The park has seemed so empty and desolate.  Well all of that changes now with a Momofuku Milk Bar pop up! The cute little pink kiosk has everything I could possibly want...compost cookies, Crack pie, cake truffles (currently in one of my favorite flavors Chocolate Malt Cake)... ...along with two brand new additions a Hot Apple Cider and Cereal Milk Hot Chocolate. I'm a total sucker for advertising so the Hot Chocolate drew me in immediately of course:)   The aroma is straight white chocolate, no denying that, but the taste is just like finishing a big bowl of Fruit Loops and microwaving the leftover milk.  It's strange- I know for a fact they use only toasted cornflakes and brown sugar to create this drink but somehow that fruity flavor stood out to me.  Perhaps all of those years of eating bowl after bowl of Fruit ...

I'm always amazed by Christina Tosi's desserts at Momofuku Milk Bar.  Take for instance the classic birthday cake.  For many of us this cake evokes the vision of a small round cake with birthday candles, sprinkles and funfetti frosting.  Tosi takes this classic memory and amps it up Momofuku style. Big balls of rainbow cake crumbles stud the creamy vanilla frosting on top... ...then layer upon layer of fluffy rainbow cake and rich vanilla icing sit below.  I love how she leaves the sides untouched so each layer can be drooled over from every angle.  If cakes not your thing Tosi also does pie like the decadent Candy Bar Pie with pretzel and fudge, the sticky Caramel Apple or the ridiculous Crack Pie dusted with powdered sugar (just like a classic Chess pie from the South). If you can't decide just order the Franken Pie which includes all three.  No matter what your dessert dreams may be chances are Tosi has it. Momofuku Milk Bar Multiple Locat...

I love the cake truffles from Momofuku Milk Bar.  The Birthday Cake is a standard but the other two flavors constantly change like the classic Banana Cake truffle I was absolutely obsessed with, the Beer & Pretzel truffle that was way to short lived (seriously) and now the Chocolate Chip Cake truffle. Rich vanilla cake stuffed with chocolate chips, passion fruit puree and topped with yellow cake crumbs. I don't usually love fruit with chocolate but in this case it really works.  I was already eating a second one before I realized I had gone back into the bag!  This flavor's only around for a few more weeks.  November 1st the ingredients change again so get it while you can. Momofuku Milk Bar 251 East 13th Street @ 2nd Avenue New York, NY 10003

Sometimes I need a little something strong and sweet to make it through the day and luckily The Breslin can help with both. A nice frothy Stumptown coffee macchiato and a single carrot cake truffle shipped over from Momofuku and I feel like a new woman.  Bring on the rest of the day!   Stumptown Coffee

I cannot believe that it took me until August to try out the Strawberry Lemonade summer flavor of Momofuku’s Cake Truffles. I saw these guys way back at the Madison Square Market and somehow they fell off my radar. The crumbly outside reminded me of the crunchies I used to enjoy on my 50 cent Strawberry Sundae bars growing up. The pudding like center just oozed with tart, lemony goodness. This was such a light, refreshing summer treat! I’m only sad to say they won’t be around much longer. They already had their Autumn Flavors out the other day. Not that Dulce de Leche and Pistachio don’t sound amazing as well but I’m hoping to get one last Strawberry Lemonade in before they’re gone.

It's the most wonderful time of year again! No not Christmas- March Madness!! The next few weeks are all about basketball and beer people. I swung by Momofuku the other day and picked up some game day rations. Pretzel cake truffle with malted pretzel crumbs. Sound pretty crazy right? Crazy awesome that is!! They almost taste like a savory Graham Cracker with a hint of molasses and a long salty finish. This kind of treat begs for something more refreshing than a glass of milk. This calls for a nice cold beer. So after getting the truffles I walked over to my new favorite beer store, Good Beer and picked up a few delicious new brews to enjoy. They had just gotten some Breckenridge beers in the day before and I was psyched to try out this brewery I had heard so much about. Once home I cracked open the Amber which poured a very minimal head with slight lacing on the glass. The taste was light with some toasty notes and a bit of cherry on the end. A very drinkable beer a...

I’m sure you all know by now that I am obsessed with the Birthday Cake truffles at Momofuku Milk Bar. So obsessed that it’s taken me months of going there to finally break away and try out the Banana Cake Truffle. Exactly the same in size and shape to the other cake truffles, this one is coated on the outside with some crumbly gianduja fudge. The crumbs kind of reminded me of the cake crispies on the outside of an ice cream cake (Fudgy the Whale hee hee!). The inside was a dense, nutty cake packed full with banana. At first I thought the cake was a little too dense and I missed the amount of hazelnut crunch that the original cake used to have. However when I finished the first, I found myself going back for a second. This time there was a better balance of hazelnut crunch. Still not as much as the cake has but much more than my first truffle. I was absolutely loving these! It took a lot of restraint but somehow I made it home with one left for Mr. T. Possibly my ne...

I haven’t been to Momofuku in quite a while. In fact, since they stopped selling their amazing cakes by the slice I think I’ve kind of been boycotting them. Then last week something changed. I had been reading Serious Eats when I saw a post about Cake truffles now being available at Momofuku Milk bar. Cake truffles! I was so excited to check them out it was unreal. Unfortunately it was late Monday night so I had to wait until Tuesday and all through a long work day until I could get my fix. It was excruciating. Finally I was zipping off the train and walking inside the bar. They had about 3 different flavors but with 3 truffles in one bag I thought trying out just two flavors for now was more than enough. I know I have no will power when it come s to sweets so whatever I buy is going to be eaten within seconds. I got one bag of chocolate and one bag of birthday cake.   The chocolate cake truffle looked like a regular chocolate truffle you could buy anywhere. Cocoa powder dustin...

After the gut busting dinner that was the Momofuku Bo Ssam you would think I wouldn’t even look at another food item for at least a couple hours. However I have an uncanny ability to shove more food down my throat than most young women, and when it comes to dessert I go all out. So after the pigout, I hauled my full bloated stomach over next door to the Milk bar. I was planning on ordering my usual Chocolate Malt Cake but then I spotted something even better. The banana cake! Oh my goodness! Layers upon layers of wonderfully moist banana cake, rich gianduja fudge, sweet banana cream and a wonderfully crunchy hazelnut center make this cake one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time. The cake itself probably has about 10 sticks of butter inside but its creamy banana goodness is worth all of the fatty calories. There was something so satisfying about the hazelnut crunch that I literally could not put my fork down. I’m so glad I got this cake. Am I happy I picked this over th...

Mr. T was craving something sweet the other night so I ran out to one of my favorite dessert places to see what I could get at Momofuku Milk Bar. I was so excited to see a ton of new offerings! I think it was autumn the last time I stopped in. They still had my usual chocolate chip cake and compost cookies, but now there also had a carrot cake, banana cake and a slew of new pies. I had my eye on the banana cake but then I remembered that these dessert choices should be more about Mr. T’s likes and not mine. So I ended up getting the Cinnamon Bun Pie and the Chocolate Malt Cake. The Cinnamon Bun pie was kind of a disappointment. First of all, I was expecting a great cinnamon smell from the microwave when I heated it up. Unfortunately the heat did little to intensify the pie smell and just made it a little more soft and melty. The middle of pie had all of the cheesecake and brown butter filling while the outside was just a big mass of bread. The filling was so sweet I coul...

Mr. T and I decided to try and eat something light and healthy on Sunday morning because we knew we would be chowing down later on some heavy football food for the Superbowl. We had some fruit, cleaned up the house a little and headed out to get some last minute provisions. It was such a nice day outside we decided to walk down to Whole Foods Bowery instead of just hitting up our neighborhood Union Square. Well the more we walked the more hungry we got, until both of us just decided we needed to grab something. All thoughts of our plan to stick to something light and healthy went out the window when we realized we were only one block away from Momofuku Milk Bar! It was still pretty early in the day around 2:00, but there were still about 6 people in line ahead of us. While we waited, Mr. T decided to get his usual Momofuku order- some pork buns- while I said I would satiate my cravings with a cookie. Well by the time we got up to the counter to order I had been staring at all of the d...