Pumpkin! part 2

Another way to happily satisfy my pumpkin food obsession this season are these adorable mini pumpkin cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens at Dean & Deluca. They're small but have intense pumpkin spice flavors and the creamy frosting dusted with cinnamon is the perfect topping.

Momofuku Milk Bar

At any given time on any given day, I crave Momofuku. David Chang's food and Christina Tosi's desserts are ridiculously addictive, and the easiest way to get my fix is at Momofuku Milk Bar, the bakery and takeout shop.

It's virtually impossible for me to be anywhere nearby without picking up an order of pork buns with cucumber and hoisin sauce. The pork belly is tender, juicy and perfectly balanced with the crunchy cucumber and dense bun.

Several flavors of soft serve are always on tap, and one of this season's offerings is stuffing. It tastes like...stuffing and I wanted something turkey-ish to pair with it.

A rich chocolate cookie was next -

Followed by the appropriately named crack pie, a toasted oat crust with a dense butter filling that reminded me of deliciously undercooked cookie dough.

Pumpkin!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the pumpkin flavored food appearing on menus all over town - from pumpkin beer to the standard pumpkin pie. Here's a couple of my top picks this season:

pumpkin cupcake, babycakes

Babycakes: already one of my favorite and most frequented bakeries for their dairy-, egg-, and gluten-free (translation: less guilty for a someone with a sweet tooth like me), but still undeniably delicious sweets, they've added a pumpkin cupcake that is moist and creamy with the perfect amount of sweetness.

Liddabit Sweets: these wonderful pastry chefs have come up with a pumpkin pie candy bar! It has layers of spiced pumpkin caramel ganache, marshmallow, and actual pie crust that all combine to taste exactly like pumpkin pie. Then it's covered in dark chocolate to make one of the most perfect candy bars ever.

pumpkin mash, brinkley's

Brinkley's: this neighborhood brit pub has pumpkin mash on the menu as a side dish; it's the perfect compliment to some of their meaty offerings. With just the right amount of seasoning and a drizzle of creme fraiche, it's a fresh alternative to fries or mashed potatoes.

Brinkley's

Brinkley's opened this week in the old Bar Martignetti space, giving my neighborhood a much-needed casual dining spot. The windows have funky illustrations on the outside - a bicycle and a bear in a smoking jacket.


The interior does a good job of modernizing the pub, but the layout was a bit akward - the bar area was packed and overcrowding the front dining area, with the back area fairly empty and dotted with too few tables.


The menu looked great, and a couple friends and I sampled most of the small plates with glasses of the fantastic Wild Boar Doe from Shinn Estate, a blend of merlot/cabernet sauvignon/malbec/petit verdot/cabernet franc. The butter poached pheasant over ceasar salad was one of the best dishes - and the lightest - that we had. The trout over fennel, apple and celery slaw was less successful. Being partial to hot dogs, I ordered the Brinkley dog, a half pork/half beef dog with apples, leeks and cheddar. It was a delicious, grown-up version of a hot dog that I'll definitely be returning for. The creamy artichoke soup with parmesan and even creamier zucchini carbonara with bacon were both excellent and artery clogging. A side of cauliflower cheese was more or less a rich mac 'n' cheese with the cauliflower standing in for the macaroni. The other side we tried - Bubble & Squeak - is a mix of sausage, potatoes and cabbage and was a perfect pair with the Brinkley Dog.

For dessert, we tried the plum crumble with clotted cream. It was a sweet but not too heavy ending to a seriously heavy meal, although next time I'll be trying the fried mars bar or the pumpkin meringue pie.

Zibetto, New Amsterdam Market, Lulu and Mooky's

It was a gorgeous fall day yesterday - perfect weather for strolling around and checking out the New Amsterdam Market. On the way there I stopped at Zibetto, a beautiful espresso bar on Fulton street of all places. Completely different from any of the neighboring discount clothing stores, delis, and dvd street vendors, the modern space has a marble bar, lovely glass globe lights and a friendly staff that make a perfect cappuccino. I also tried a couple of the best Italian cookies I've had - buttery, sweet and a little bit salty.

The New Amsterdam Market was in full effect by the time I arrived, with queues at all the popular stands. There were numerous cheese, meat, wine and restaurant stands with samples or small plates - my favorites are below:

Meat Hook: bratwurst, sauerkraut and a touch of mild mustard on a bun.


Saltie: a delicious potato leek pie, with pickled onion and spicy mustard


The Bent Spoon: yummy new ice cream flavors - chocolate with rosemary, pumpkin with cacao nibs, and cranberry cider sorbet


Taza Chocolate: their chocolate is minimally processed for a rich flavor and slightly crunchy texture

Shellbark Hollow: creamy goat's ricotta with a strawberry jam topping

After leaving the market, there was one last place I was dying to check out: Lulu and Mooky's. They make ice cream to order using liquid nitrogen, with about 50 flavors that you can choose or mix and match to make your own new flavor. I choose pineapple and basil and then watched as they combined the flavored syrups and liquid nitrogen in a mixer and watched the fog consume the counter.


The result was incredibly dense and creamy ice cream that tasted oddly like a Dum Dum's cream soda pop.

Whiskey & Cheese

Artisanal has incredible wine & cheese classes, but I was excited to attend the recent Whiskey & Cheese event since my experience with whiskey has been limited to bourbon old-fashioneds from cocktail bars. After a reception with cava and an assortment of cheeses, the class started. We moved through six single malt scotch whiskeys ranging from fresh to deep and smoky, paired with cheese from Artisanal's collection. Most of the scotch was a bit challenging for a novice, but I really took to the Talisker, a 10-year old vintage that was very smoky and reminded me of the bacon-infused bourbon at PDT. As usual for Artisanal, all of the cheeses were incredible, but this Oregon Blue from Rogue Creamery really left an impression. Sweet, salty and smoked, it really stood out from the other varieties we sampled - Bleu de Laqueuille, Roquefort, Hoch Ybrig, Gruyère, and a soft goat's milk topped with a bay leaf. The night finished with a slice of a dense, creamy cheesecake with a pecan shortbread crust.

Rioja Week

I've been a huge fan of Yerba Buena since it opened, but I only recently had a chance to check out their sister restaurant in the west village, Yerba Buena Perry. Since YBP was one of the restaurants participating in Rioja Restaurant Week, it was the perfect opportunity to stop by the more spacious new location and try 2 Rioja pairings with an appetizer for $12. I tried the rose (Muga) and red (Muriel) and my friend had the white (Muga) and rose; we both shared delicious coffee-glazed pork belly arepas and a tuna ceviche with pickled watermelon & soy-jalapeno dressing.

We moved away from Rioja and tried a rich Bordello and a big, fruity Malbec with the rest of dinner - crunchy manchego croquettes with salsa verde; refined hamachi taquitos with pineapple and habenero salso; and spinach, manchego and corn empanadas. Unfortunately our dessert, the tres leches parfait, would have been great except for the cake layer. All in all, this location seems as solid as the original.