Sunday, December 13, 2009

Spot on cupcakes and dessert

I flew 3600 miles for one of Pichet’s cupcakes. And was richly rewarded with cheesecake, chocolate ganache and semifreddo.

I was crushed when Batch and p*ong closed. Crushed. My favorite cupcake in the world, the carrot salted caramel cupcake, gone. Ovaltine, lychee and huckleberry surprises on the dessert menu, no more.

But say hallelujah. Pichet opened a new dessert bar in the East Village, Spot, and I was so happy to catch him there when I was home in New York.

I dragged Bennie along with me; my perfect partner in crime. As soon as we sunk our teeth into the cupcakes, he said, “Forget the flavors—the cupcake itself is so much better than a Magnolia cupcake.”
Of course he’s right. We sampled the mocha maldon salt caramel and the vanilla caramel Vietnamese coffee cupcakes (along with the coconut macaroon nutella almond bar, just for kicks. Anything with Nutella is a must-try).


The cake was so moist, the flavors were potent and the frosting was super generous. Pichet’s cupcakes never disappoint.

But he wouldn’t let it rest there; he sent out other goodies to try.

The soft cheesecake, elegantly spilling out of a highball, with huckleberry compote, crushed walnuts and lemon foam.


The white miso semifreddo, a surprising, sweet-savory plate of moist cake, flavorful olive oil, raspberry sorbet and almonds.

And lastly, the uber rich chocolate ganache cake, served with green tea ice cream, crackly caramel crunches and Pichet’s patented malted chocolate (also on the cupcake) bits.

Maybe I’ll have to fly back again for the imminent opening of Village Tart.

1 comment:

donuts4dinner said...

That cheesecake presentation is sort of maddening (but in a delightful way). When there's cheesecake in front of me, I want to be able to go at it from all angles. This is a great way to get people to slow down and enjoy all of the flavors, but it would make me crazy!