Stops at old favorites
December 18, 2011 § 2 Comments
Whew! It’s been a while. I’m finally on winter break (until forever it seems) and spending most of my days on the couch in front of the television with my laptop. Yesterday I did finally manage to leave the house to reunite with high school friends in New York City and we managed to get a lot of things done.
Jiawen and Cathy with Mario, the apartment bear
First, an obligatory trip to Shake Shack, Madison Square Park with Jiawen and Cathy because I needed to get my burger fix. Between Cathy and me, we ordered our individual single Shack burgers and then split some fries (which seemed to have crispier exteriors and creamier interiors than I remembered) and a Shack-ago dog. Cathy said she still preferred a classic hot dog with ketchup and mustard, but I actually quite like all the vegetables and celery salt, even though structurally, the hot dog becomes a very hard thing to eat with all those toppings.
Oh, how I've missed you
Madison Square Park
FOOD
A beautiful Shack burger
The fat squirrels of Madison Square Park
On our way back to Jiawen’s apartment, we also stopped by nearby Eataly, which was completely packed with tourists and people doing their holiday shopping. Is the place ever not super busy? Every time I go and want to take my time and look at all the jams and spreads, cured meats, and cheeses, I lose my patience because people are constantly shuffling along and end up giving up within 10-15 minutes. I can’t even imagine waiting for a table at one of the restaurants.
Mushroom varieties at Eataly
Citrus!
We also dropped by Doughnut Plant, right by Jiawen’s apartment, to pick up a couple donuts: tres leches cake and pear yeast (a holiday flavor). The tres leches was indulgent as ever and still one of my favorite flavors (aside from carrot cake and peanut butter and jelly yeast, which were both gone by the time we got there), and even though the pear was quite good, the glaze was a bit too sweet for my taste.
Doughnut Plant
Pear
Tres Leches
Finally, we found our way back to Jiawen’s couch and had some time to relax before an evening of Korean food, drinking, and intense karoake. Cathy and I did, however, manage to slip out for a bit in the middle of watching The Adjustment Bureau to visit Whiskers in Wonderland at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 18th Street and 6th Avenue, where there were tons of cats (and not many dogs) looking for a new home. As expected, there was a lot of cooing and “awing” going on, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take home any cute critters this year.
Whiskers in Wonderland
Siblings
Huge, huge thanks to Jiawen who arranged everything and happy holidays to everyone!
Doughnut Plant
June 18, 2011 § 1 Comment
Ugh, I’ve been so bad about posting lately due to work and general craziness. Definitely going to try and be better about that as I slip into a summer routine.
So, in continuation of our most recent NYC trip, after our time at the Met with McQueen, Laura and I went to Chelsea to take a look at some of the art galleries – the beautiful, the ugly, and the wtf? – and also FINALLY stopped at the Doughnut Plant by the Hotel Chelsea since we discovered they had opened a relatively new location in the area. In the past, difficulty in getting to the Lower East Side had always prevented us from visiting.
Options at Doughnut Plant
I loved the look of the place. First, the smell that hits you when you enter the shop is absolutely insane. All that sugar and dough makes for an incredibly heady combination. There were also cute doughnut plushies on the walls and donut patterns on the seats, and everyone appeared to be happily enjoying their orders with some iced coffee.
Wall decor
We chose a yeast based donut, the peanut butter and blackberry jelly, and a cake donut, the rich tres leches. Laura and I were split on favorites; I preferred the cakiness and creaminess of the tres leches whereas Laura went gaga for the PB&J, a terrific balance between crunchy, peanut-y saltiness and tart fruit from the filling, but we both agreed that these were the best ring-shaped desserts we’d ever had.
PB&J
Innards
Tres Leches
Innards
We debated ordering another one, perhaps the blackout donut, but we had lunch plans at Company (post to come later) and decided to wait until another time.
So the next time you find yourself in Chelsea craving something sweet, definitely consider heading to the Hotel Chelsea to indulge in some serious donut fare.
The Doughnut Plant
220 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
212.675.9100
www.doughnutplant.com
Notes on Food 