I Blog What I Eat

Best Cupcakes in NYC – New York

Matt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:52:13 +0000

If you ever want to try something painfully delicious, do what Stephan and I did and go on a cupcake crawl of NYC but only after eating a gigantic meal in K-Town. How did we end up doing something so awesome you may be asking yourself? Obviously, the Internet made us do it. Stephan found some food blog the other day that supposedly ranked the best cupcakes in NYC, and we thought we should verify. We could only make it to five bakeries(a polite way of saying we couldn’t fit anymore in our stomachs at one time) that day (we ate or split about three cupcakes per bakery), so this list is a work in progress. I only hope to one day have the top ranking on Google for Best Cupcakes in NYC. If you want to help me out, in the comments section you should write something like, “This is the greatest best cupcakes in NYC list I’ve ever read!” or something similar. Hmmm… Is it wrong to ask my readers to help me with my SEO?

Let’s get to the list of Best Cupcakes in NYC – New York!

First, how did we choose these bakeries? We based a lot of our choices off of this cupcake blog and our location at the present time. The rest we just found by using our iPhones, Google maps, and keywords like ‘cupcake’ and ‘bakery’.

Second, everyone who plans on telling me that I’m an idiot and that this list is horribly incorrect, please realize that I already know that I’m an idiot and do not need you to tell me. I mean, come on, I’m writing about eating like 15 cupcakes in one day. Constructive criticism and suggestions are good. Being a jerk isn’t.

So these are the bakeries (listed in the same order as the pictures below) that we hit up that day to find the Best Cupcakes in NYC:

Magnolia Bakery – 200 Columbus Ave (Near 69th), New York
Kyotofu – 705 Ninth Ave (between 48th and 49th), New York
Amy’s Bread – 672 Ninth Ave (Across the street from Kyotofu), New York
Billy’s Bakery – 185 9th Ave (near 21st), New York
Big Booty Bread Co – 261 W 23rd St, New York

And here it is – the list of the best cupcakes in New York (NYC) in reverse order:

#5 (the worst cupcake!) – Billy’s Bakery in Chelsea, NY

There was a long-ass line coming out of Billy’s Bakery that Saturday (it was even raining a little), so I was a bit surprised to discover how underwhelmed we were by the cupcakes here. After Stephan and I got our cupcakes from the counter and discovered there was no place to sit in the bakery, we decided to find ourselves a nice stoop on 21st Street. Sitting was nice at the time because this was the fourth bakery of the day, and we were starting to feel pretty sick. Why were these cupcakes so bad? These cupcakes seemed to be like 60% icing and 40% actual cupcake. We tried cutting one in half and Stephan ended up with mostly just icing. I think his exact words were, “oh God, this is torture.”

#4 (mehhh) – Kyotofu in Hell’s Kitchen, NY

This was actually the first destination on our cupcake tour, and I had high expectations for it based solely upon the sign stating they had the best cupcake in NYC as shown in the pictures below. Stephan and I both agreed that the cupcakes weren’t bad, it’s just that they weren’t spectacular for being $6.50 each. If you do decide to try out Kyotofu for the cupcakes, order the chocolate one over the vanilla. And don’t try to order milk there (Stephan tried) because they won’t let you.

#3 (expected) – Magnolia Bakery in the UWS, NY

Unfortunately I must have missed the Sex in the City that made this bakery famous. I know, I know, the one in the village is the original and better blah blah blah. We couldn’t make it there, so I made sure to specify the UWS one for this list. As you can see in the photos below, I ended up trying quite a few different ones from Magnolia. The cupcakes here were what I expected. Not blown away, but they were good. My fave at this place are the red velvet and the chocolate w/ chocolate icing.

#2 (happy) – Amy’s Bread in Hell’s Kitchen, NY

After being relatively disappointed by Kyotofu, I was happily surprised at the quality at Amy’s Bread in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC. Stephan and I again couldn’t find a seat at Amy’s Bread, so we decided to take our cupcakes out to a stoop and eat in front of strangers. Stephan made a nice little animated gif so that you can see the order in which we ate. All of the cupcakes at Amy’s Bread were quite delicious. I think we both agreed that the red velvet was tops though.

#1 (surprise! – best cupcake in NYC) – Big Booty Bread Co in Chelsea, NY

Stephan and I just happened to stumble into Big Booty Bread Co on our way to Billy’s Bakery. [You guys didn't even show up when we Google Mapped 'cupcake', and we were standing one block away! If anyone at Big Booty Bread Co reads this, make sure you contact me so we can fix that!] Anyway, Stephan was pretty hesitant to order from this bakery since they didn’t have any awards or reviews posted on their window, so he walked into the bakery and asked the guy straight up what made their cupcakes better than the ones at Magnolia. The guy said that what made their cupcakes stand apart were how fresh they were at all times. We decided to order up a red velvet cupcake and try a new one called dulce de leche. Their red velvet cupcakes were so fresh that they didn’t even have icing on them when we ordered. Needless to say, Stephan and I were both pleasantly surprised at the awesomeness of the cupcakes here. Even better (at least for me), is that this place is only a few blocks away from our office at Simande. Right, so everyone go to Big Booty Bread Co and say that iblogwhatieat sent you!

Lastly, I’d just like to note that I know that there are a ridiculous amount of bakeries in NYC with fantastic cupcakes, and we missed some obvious top contenders. Put all of those suggestions in the comment section please! I will update this post or write a part 2 of the Best Cupcakes in NYC List when Stephan and I go out again. We’re also seriously considering doing a best ice cream sandwich in NYC crawl soon too. Anyone want to join?!?

Box of Magnolia cupcakes from UWS in NYC

chocolate and vanilla cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in NYC

Caramel cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in NYC

Red velvet cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in NYC

Outside of Kyotofu on 9th Ave in NYC

fancy organic coffee from Kyotofu in NYC

chocolate cupcake from Kyotofu in NYC

Amy's Bread in Hell's Kitchen in NYC

Red velvet, vanilla, and chocolate cupcakes from Amy's Bread in NYC

Animated disappearing act of cupcakes from Amy's Bread in NYC

Billy's Bakery in Chelsea in NYC

Making of cupcakes at Billy's Bakery in NYC

Red velvet and vanilla cupcakes from Billy's Bakery in NYC

Big Booty Bread Co in NYC

Dulce de leche cupcake from Big Booty Bread Co. in NYC

Red velvet cupcake from Big Booty Bread Co. in NYC

Bacon, Onion, and Merguez Poutine at Resto La Banquise, Montreal

Eric — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:37:29 +0000

Its really hard to take good pictures of food in a dark restaurant with an iPhone. Its also kind of awkward to be sitting there taking shot after shot until you get a good one. Well, I’m going to pretend that I made these pictures sucky and blurry intentionally because the first person to guess what food this is wins a prize. Which will be announced at the end of this post.

The prize is a dinner (you gotta pay) or phone conversation with the CEO, Owner, President, Editor-in-chief, Director of Photography, and VP of Business Development for I Blog What I Eat Inc. ©2009 ® ™. You can ask him anything you want! All types of questions from, “How did you get started in the blog business?” and “What’s the best way to make a million dollars?” to “How do you get your hair to stick up so high?” and “Where can I get the best vegetarian gravy in the city?” will be answered! As a suggestion, if you win I would recommend going to Mitsuwa’s Giant Bluefin Tuna Cutting Performance, where they cut up a 400 lb. tuna in front of you and then you get to eat it.

As a bonus, here is a hint to the correct answer to The Annual I Blog What I Eat Food Blog Contest:

Edit: Congratulations to Mica for being a huge Frenchie.

Cheesesteak @ Carl’s Steaks in NYC (Murray Hill)

Matt — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:05:14 +0000

Being from South Jersey/Philly and all, I kinda feel obligated to search out the best cheesesteaks in my new city. I moved up to the NYC area a little over year ago and have found a few good places (Wogies in the West Village gets two thumbs up), but I still haven’t discovered a place that matches a Pat’s or Geno’s.

The cheesesteak you see below from Carl’s Steaks in Murray Hill is definitely the best that I’ve had so far. Just so you know, I always order the same thing (whiz wit please) at every place so that it’s fair when I’m comparing the cheesesteaks. Anyway, the point is that Carl’s Steaks is worth the trip, even if it is in Murray Hill. The roll is good, the steak is decent, the onions are tasty, the whiz is whiz, and the price is fair.

Next on my list are Shortys in Hells Kitchen and 99 Miles to Philly near Union Square. Anyone else know any places I should try? Are there any good food trucks that sell cheesesteaks in NYC that are worth going to? I used to eat them from this food truck next to my office in Philly every other day when I worked there, and I miss it. Healthy, no. Delicious, very.

Carl's Steak in NYC (Murray Hill)

Cheesesteak from Carl's Steaks in NYC (Murray Hill)

Carl’s Steaks
79 Chambers St
New York, NY 10007-1824
(212) 566-2828

Pork Chops Over Rice @ Cravings Truck (NYC)

Matt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:53:31 +0000

Hello my dear readers. I’m sorry that I left you for so long. I hope that you can forgive me. Eric told me today that I should take better care of my blog, so here I am to care for it the only way I know how… with street food from NYC.

I noticed today that it has been exactly two months since I’ve last eaten… at least publicly on the Interwebs. I’m not going to lie folks, it was a nice little break. Posting all of the food that you eat online is a lot of work, especially if you try to do it every day. I don’t want this blog to die though. It has lived too good of a life. I will try to do better. Promise.

Anyways, blah blah blah. Enough talking. I missed you and you missed me. We’re all back together now. The pictures below are from my first visit to the Taiwanese Cravings Truck in NYC. Yin and Eric were apparently Cravings Truck experts, in addition to being Taiwanese, so I just followed their lead. The pork chops over rice I had was spectacular. The egg on the other hand will take some getting used to.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to do a better job with the food porn for future posts. I know this one is a little weak. Forgive me, I’m a little rusty.

Taiwanese Cravings Truck in NYC

Menu of NYC Cravings Truck

pork chops over rice with an egg from the Taiwanese Cravings Truck in NYC

This truck gets around.

Check their twitter for their location each day.

Reuben @ Eisenberg’s Sandwich (NYC) – $9.00

Matt — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:59:19 +0000

I’m not sure if you’ve heard the terrific news or not, but Simande has finally made the move from Jersey City to NYC. We’re located near the intersection of 21st and 6th, so if you’re ever in the area you should stop by and say hi.

More importantly, this move into the City has inspired me to start blogging again. I suppose that I’m going to try to eat my way through New York, though this may prove difficult since there are so many great places to try. If anyone has any recommendations, please make sure to send them to me or leave a comment here.

First stop – Eisenberg’s Sandwich on 5th Ave. It’s close to our office, so it already gets props for just being in the right location. Eisenberg’s Sandwich is apparently famous for their reuben (or so I’ve been told), so Eric, Stephan, and I made it a point to go there one afternoon for lunch to try out the reuben sandwich. We arrived at Eisenberg’s right as they were closing, but Stephan talked up the guy at the counter and they ended up letting us stay for a reuben or three.

This was my first time having a reuben (yes, a reuben virgin), so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The Internet tells me a reuben sandwich is a toasted sandwich made with pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. Honestly, I’m not positive that the reuben that we ate at Eisenberg’s was made of exactly those ingredients, but I know it was pretty darn close. Those who know the truth should correct me if I’m wrong. Regardless, the reuben was pretty damn good, which is saying a lot since typically I do not like pastrami, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, or Russian dressing.

I’ve read a lot of reviews online that seem to suggest that either this place kicks ass or is terrible and infested with rats. I’m more inclined to go with the former and say that this place is a solid place to hit up if you’re craving a sandwich. I didn’t see any rats while I was there, but then again I was more entertained by my delicious reuben sandwich.

Eisenberg's Sandwich in NYC

Reuben sandwich from Eisenberg's Sandwich in NYC

Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop
174 5th Ave
(between 22nd St & 23rd St)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 675-5096

Pat Bing Su (팥빙수) @ Gateaux Bakery (Palisades Park, NJ) – $8.00

Matt — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:10:10 +0000

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to write this post, but I figured that it’s better late than never.

Anyway, I’m not sure how many of you have had pat bing su, but it’s one of my favorite things to have nowadays in the summer. A special friend of mine in Korea introduced it to me a few years ago. I haven’t found any places in New Jersey or New York that make it quite as good as the first one that I had in Seoul, but I’m always up for suggestions if any of you know a good place for me to try.

I was going to try to explain what it is, but as many of you know, I’m terrible at describing food. I’ll just let the Internet do it for me:

From Wikipedia:

This snack originally began as ice shavings and sweetened azuki beans (known as pat, 팥). It was sold by street vendors. In contemporary culture, it has become a very elaborate summer dessert, often topped with ice cream or frozen yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, fruit syrups, various fruits such as strawberries, kiwifruit, and bananas, small pieces of tteok (rice cake), chewy jelly bits, and cereal flakes.

From some random photo blog:

팥빙수 is very delicious meal. As you can see, It is made of red beans with sugar syrup, ice cream, fruits, and ice. It is very cool in hot summer, get rid of heat in my body absolutely. But it is also good in winter, too.

From a random poster on chowhound:

I’ve only tasted the one they serve in the New Seoul Hotel on Olympic. They serve their pat-bing-su with shaved ice, azkui beans, fresh fruit (kiwis, strawberries and bananas), mochi balls, ice cream, some sort of Ovaltine powder and condensed milk. It’s very good, but Im sure there are some exotic ones out there fellow chowhounders can share.

Gateaux Bakery in Palisades Park, NJ

pat bing su from Gateaux Bakery in Palisades Park, NJ

Gateaux Bakery
252 Broad Ave
Palisades Park, NJ 07650-1552
(201) 242-4255‎

Baumgart’s Cafe Englewood, NJ – Thai Papaya Salad and House Special Fried Rice

Eric — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:57:00 +0000

If you want to know where the best Chinese-American food is in your area, ask the Jewish families which one they order from on Christmas Eve. Baumgart’s is a very interesting place because they take Asian-American dishes and instead of “Americanizing” them by adding more oil, salt, or MSG they “punch up” the sauce/flavors by making it a bit more tangy, tart, sweet, herb-y (that’s not a work), etc. Some of the dishes are a bit hit-or-miss. The Papaya Salad was really unbearably tart, however the Pad Thai is really delicious because of the added tangy/sweet flavor. The General Tso’s chicken is all white meat and lightly breaded/fried which is a really nice change from the usual chunks of oil. Again, the sauce is different from the usual Wong’s Panda Lucky Green Gourmet Jade House III take-out by being more flavorful and less oily. Don’t get the sushi at Baumgart’s its horrible, but as a general rule I would be wary of any sushi that is sold alongside Chinese food. I would say that you really can’t find food that tastes quite like Baumgarts anywhere else (for better or worse), but there’s just something mildly addictive about the extra tang they put in a lot of their dishses. Also, they make their own ice cream and it is freakin’ delicious.

Thai Papaya Salad and House Fried Rice

Papaya Salad and House Fried Rice

Baumgart’s Cafe
45 E. Palisade Ave.
Englehood, NJ
(201) 569-6267

Zeppelin Hall Beer Garden, Jersey City, NJ – Andouille and Franziskaner

Eric — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:07:48 +0000

We went to the opening of Zeppelin Hall Beer Garden last Friday and it was packed with people. I think I ran into everybody I knew in JC. The owners weren’t properly prepared for the Jersey City onslaught because they were severely understaffed. It took 20 minutes to get a beer and an hour to get food which was kind of upsetting because if I wanted to wait on lines I’d just go to Club Baby Seals with a dress code in Chelsea. Someone was going around asking people how they found out about the place, I guess there’s just something about massive outdoor drinking, grilled meat products, and Jersey City that fires up the Internets. In retaliation, a friend of mine christened the huge white wall in the men’s room with a “I WAS FIRST” graffiti.

We went back on the 4th and luckily it was much better (though much less crowded). A friendly bartender at the outdoor bar kept the $15 pitchers of Franziskaner coming as fast as we could drink them. As a fan sauerkraut, wheat beer, and outdoor drinking I would definitely recommend this place. Bring some dice or cards along and play some drinking games with the light rail that runs right next to the place. Every time the light rail passes, everybody has to down their beer. Last person to finish buys the next round.

Andouille and Franziskaner

Zeppelin Hall Outside

Zeppelin Hall Bar Indoors

Zeppelin Hall Restaurant and Biergarten
88 Liberty View Drive
Jersey City, NJ 07305
(201) 721-8888

Crave Case @ White Castle in Jersey City, NJ

Matt — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:37:28 +0000

I’ll be honest with you, I do not know when the actual Crave Case race will be taking place between us and Epic Portions. We hit a few snags the last two times we tried to set it up, however, I’m going to make sure that it eventually does happen.

Regardless, whoever follows me on twitter knows that Paul and I tried to do a practice run for the competition the other week. I’m not sure what took me so long to post these pictures up though. I apologize to everyone who has yelled at me the past few weeks for not posting. JT, I’m especially sorry for letting you down.

As you can see from the pictures below, the practice run was a total failure on my part. While Paul was able to eat his 15 cheeseburgers in a respectable time frame (less than 12 minutes), I had to give up at 14 cheeseburgers after about 20 minutes. In all honesty, it became horribly disgusting after about the tenth burger, and I had to stop because I would have died. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but I definitely would have had to clean up Eric’s couch afterward.

Anyway, I’ll let you all know when we reschedule the race.

there it is, the White Castle crave case in Jersey City, NJ

the contents of the crave case from White Castle in Jersey City, NJ

30 White Castle sliders for a practice time trial

I feel so dejected and demoralized. I only finished 14 burgers.

White Castle
2995 Kennedy Blvd
Jersey City, NJ 07306-3819
(201) 792-3645

The Buffet @ the Wynn in Las Vegas, NV

Matt — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:44:49 +0000

I meant to post these pictures up the day after my last entry about Emeril’s, but I’m not sure what happened. I’ve been terrible at posting on here, so you should all really start following my twitter… you caught me, I really just want more twitter followers.

Actually, the content on this page should start to pick up soon, as Eric and Sharon have agreed to start blogging on this site too. I’m not sure when they’re going to start, but it should hopefully be any day now. Anyone want to help me out with redesigning my site banner? We just have to Photoshop a couple more faces on there, I think.

Okay, to the food…

One of Eric’s dreams was to eat at the Bellagio buffet because he read on some website that it was the best on the strip. Honestly, I don’t remember why we didn’t go eat there. I’m sorry, Eric. Regardless, I thought that the buffet at the Wynn was pretty darn good, however, that might have been just because of my affinity for crab and prime rib. Eric, Yin, and Paul seemed less impressed, though it didn’t seem to stop them from eating a ton of food. The lighting at the Wynn was a lot better than at Emeril’s, so the pictures came out at a semi-decent quality. Perhaps I should just buy the new iPhone because it has a slightly better camera, right?

Wynn Las Vegas, NV

some large crab legs at the Wynn buffet in Las Vegas, NV

prime rib at the buffet at the Wynn in Las Vegas, NV

Wynn Las Vegas
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 770-7000