Ferrara's Pastries

CPZ and I stopped by one of our favorite Vietnamese places (reviewed here) the other night to catch up and share some delicious food. After, we wanted something sweet and walked right up the block to Little Italy, home to Ferarra's (also reviewed here).

I ordered the dessert trio ($7.25), which had the mini Napoleon and mini eclair I tried last time, plus a mini raspberry tart.

The raspberry tart was both adorable and nommable. The berries were so fresh, and the filling was just sweet enough. CPZ had a bite and agreed it was excellent.

CPZ got the mini-eclair too and a hot chocolate, which she said was excellent.

I had an almond latte (almond is one of my favorites), which was also molto delizioso. Service there is quick and friendly, and the amazing pastries there are well worth a visit, whether you're a local or a tourist!

Ferrara Bakery & Cafe
195 Grand Street
New York, 10013
(212) 226-6150

TJ's Almond Pastry

While wandering the aisles of Trader Joe's with ABF on Super Bowl Sunday (before the game, of course), this tasty-looking pasty caught my eye. Pithiviers (French in origin, oui) are apparently a puff-pastry dessert with almond cream filling. ALMOND? Yes, please. Later that week I baked it up, figuring it would go nicely with a cup of my Amaretto coffee from Fairway.

It doesn't get much easier than this: open box, place on parchment paper covered baking sheet, and let the oven do the work.

My oven runs a little hot, so it didn't take long for the pastry to puff up and brown all over. I let it sit for a few minutes, but couldn't help, well, helping myself to a little piece while it was still warm.

My first thought was that these aren't nearly as sweet as I expected, which is good AND bad. Yes, we could all probably dial down our sugar intake, but it was a little short of what I was hoping for as far as desserts go. I suppose that's why the serving suggestion shows it sprinkled with confectioner's sugar! Instead, I decided to add some thawed-out frozen blueberries (Trader Joe's again) and their juice. This was MUCH better. The pastry soaked that liquid right up and turned a lovely purple. It's also not really a 'cream' filling, but more of a paste, which is fine. I would have loved a little more almond flavor, but I found that developed more as these cooled. Not enough to my almond-craving levels, but still smooth and tasty. I think next time I'll whip up a little fresh whipped cream, too.

They're definitely worth another purchase--and at around 4 dollars, deliciously cheap eats! woo hoo!

Peppino's

A good friend can be someone who encourages you to hit the gym even when you don't want to...but she also knows when to just say 'screw it' and go out to eat! Balance, people, balance. Kelli & I were planning to hit the gym one chilly night last week when she bribed me instead: she'd buy me dinner if I went out with her instead of hitting the gym. It was cold, we were both tired, and we were even more hungry, so I readily accepted. We walked about 10 blocks to one of her favorite Bay Ridge spots: Peppino's.

Peppino's has the checkered tablecloths (that plastic, picnic-type cloth) and a brick oven and smells a lot like garlic. Yum. Kelli suggested we get both the mozzarella and tomato salad (which serves 2) and the bruschetta. I agreed on the condition we'd split the entrée. We came to a delicious agreement and quickly ordered. This place was hopping, but we had fast and friendly service all night.

The bruschetta came out quickly, and I could smell the garlicky deliciousness wafting up from the plate. It was on a loaf, as opposed to smaller slices I've normally seen,but it wasn't too thick or dense. This tasted super fresh and super crunchy--a win. We ate this quickly and happily.

The tomato-mozzarella salad came out next, and it was good, but not my favorite. I'm kind of spoiled now--I prefer this salad with the Mozzarella di Bufala, but that's also very expensive, so I haven't made that in some time. ;) I did also wish we had more basil on it, but overall, it was a simple, flavorful dish. Halfway through I realized there were strips of roasted red pepper underneath, which made me even happier.

We split a calzone (9 dollars) with meatballs. Since the calzone didn't come with red sauce, we decided to be infidels and order some red sauce on the side (I LOVE RED SAUCE!) The sauce came in a gravy boat, which we passed between each other during the meal. The sauce was a little thinner than I'd like, and the tomato flavor wasn't super-rich, but it did the job for adding something extra to the calzone. And yeah, the portion you're seeing on my plate is ONE HALF of a regular calzone. Holy waistband!

Desserts are pretty basic here--I think they are all pre-made, but who cares when they feature some of my favorites? This place carries tortoni, the almond-amaretto-coconut crack dessert that comes in a little paper cup. Yum. I love this stuff. It came with a serving of whipped cream even bigger than the little cup--this meal definitely doesn't count as healthy eats! Scrumptious? Yes.

Kel got the lemon sorbet, served inside the peel of an actual lemon. This was ONE TART TREAT...almost face-collapsingly tart! I expected super-sweet, but that was not the case. This was brisk, refreshing, and better than I thought it would be!

This was my view of Peppino's: good, simple, basic Italian. It's no-frills, it's family-friendly, and it's affordable. A good standby in the Ridge.

Vive le Bistro!

This past weekend my friend Patty stayed over (sleepover!) and we went to one of my favorite local spots: Saint Germain. It's a little French bistro on 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge. Saint Germain has a 16.95 prix fixe that comes with one entrée, coffee or tea, orange juice OR lemonade, and a dessert from their case. Trust me, you will not leave hungry. You also should try what I think is their best dish--the omelet to end all omelets.

Normally I would order said omelet, packed with spinach, goat cheese and smoked bacon, but I saw someone else's order of Eggs Benedict and changed my mind. Ahh, regrets, I have a few.

Patty got the awesome omelet and loved it. She said it was one of the best ones she's ever eaten, and I agree. It's super fluffy, they do not skimp on the goat cheese, and it's packed full of bright green spinach, chopped bacon, and other goodness. I noticed especially this time how the herbed goat cheese really sings, and decided to buy some this weekend at Trader Joe's (that post coming soon!)...but I digress.

There's a shot of my Eggs Benedict. I make a pretty awesome Hollandaise sauce, so I knew it wouldn't be great. It was actually almost cold, even though my eggs were still warm. Granted, the doors were open and the breeze was blowing through (Saturday was GORGEOUS!), but it was odd. Instead of English muffins, the eggs were perched on soft, thin slices of challah bread. Delicious, but different. I decided I liked it. The eggs were PERRRRRRRFECTLY poached. This always makes me happy. I hate getting 'poached' eggs that are really hard boiled. Feh. These were just right. The dish used to come with mixed greens and my favorite vinaigrette, but now it comes with home fries. These are just okay, and no match for Mark Bittman's pan-crisped potates (have you made these yet? WHY NOT!?!?)

I always get the sparkling lemonade at Saint Germain: it's the sparkling pink kind--not too tart, not too sweet, with just enough unobtrusive carbonation. I don't like the big, bossy bubbles. :)

The hardest part for most folks would be choosing the dessert--they have a colorful display right when you walk into the restaurant. For me, it's easy: one of the fruit tarts with almond. I chose the apricot-almond tart, but as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I should have picked the pear. The pear is even better, but for some reason I kept my mouth shut and stuck with the apricot. Don't get me wrong--it's not terrible, it's just that the pear one is even better! Next time. ;)Our server also heated this up in the microwave for me to soften up the almond. Yum.

Patty picked the carrot cake, and even I had to admit it looked pretty darn tempting. Carrot cake isn't a go-to choice for me, but I tried of bite of hers and was pleased to find no raisins!! It was moist and the cream-cheese frosting was legit!

The place was getting packed as we left around 2, stuffed to the gills and quite happy. Despite the gathering crowd, we never felt rushed or hustled out the door. I'm glad one of my favorite places is still staying awesome!

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has long been on my list of places to try in NYC, but for some reason or another, it's taken me years to get there. When I met Halcyon and her DH in the city a month or so ago, her DH told me he wasn't that crazy about it, so I moved it down the list to a lower-priority ranking. :)

As it turns out, that place is RIGHT around the corner from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant (post coming after this one) that my dear friend CPZ brought me to years ago. It's a favorite of ours, both because it is delicious and it is remarkably cheap. Win win! CPZ treated me to dinner (gorgeous AND generous! oy!) and so the very least I could do is treat her to ice cream. She mentioned CICF, and after a roundabout walk (took me a few minutes to google it on my blackberry), we found ourselves just steps away from the restaurant and sampling different flavors.

Chinatown I.C.F. has some basics, like mint chocolate chip or vanilla, but they also have more 'exotic' (as they put it) choices such as red bean, lychee nut, zen butter and almond cookie. I tried one sample of almond cookie and was instantly smitten. I am an absolute sucker for anything almond. Tortoni is one of my favorite desserts, but bad tortoni is pretty awful. That's when it's gritty or frostbitten or just plain cheaply made. This ice cream was none of those disappointing qualities. It was smooth and satisfying and just what my taste buds wanted. I ordered a small scoop with rainbow sprinkles. Carlota got the mint chocolate chip with jimmies (rainbow ones are sprinkles and chocolate ones are jimmies, as any self-respecting Yankee knows. Debate over.) We tried each other's ice creams as well and agreed we'd both picked winners. The ice cream is SUPER rich and creamy. I initially looked at the small portion and thought "4.50 for THAT? I could buy a whole pint of Haagen-Dazs for the same price!" However, it IS extremely filling and decadent, and when I scraped the very last drops out of my cup, I absolutely felt it was worth it. And later, I will probably still buy the Haagen-Dazs (have you tried their "Five" line yet?? YUMMMM!)

At 4.50 for a small scoop + jimmies/sprinkles, this doesn't exactly qualify as "Cheap Eats" in my book, but it was definitely worth the visit, and I would recommend it if you're in the neighborhood!

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 608-4170