Today’s Special:  Totto Spicy Ramen, Totto Ramen, New York

So you know that ramen is a big deal, right? Especially here in New York. Like, almost as big a deal as pizza. Wellllll maybe at this exact culinary moment in time, perhaps bigger than pizza. With ramen burgers causing crazy lines and ramen master Ivan Orkin opening up some slurp shops, everyone wants broth-stained shirts.

Even me. It’s taken a while, but I’m into it. Especially the styles with lighter broths. Or without any broth! (Future post in the works…) I don’t shy away from fat (More butter, please?), but I do shy away from tonkotsu style ramen, which is probably the most popular. Tonkotsu broth is known for its creamy richness; richness that can only come when you simmer bones for a long long time, and they render out all their fatty, collagen, gelatinous goodness. For me, it’s too much, but for the vast majority of ramen lovers, it’s heaven.

Transcendent ramen for me has been the rich chicken broth of Totto Ramen. The bird just produces a slightly leaner broth than the pig, and I’m down with that. And I like mine spicy, with the additions of a nitamago egg, some corn, and seasoned avocado. You can’t see the springy noodles in this shot, but believe me, they are there, soaking up the magical broth and waiting for me to dig around and lift so that I can slurp, slurp, slurp. Just talk to my silk blouse. She’s not very happy.

Oh, and for those of you who only know ramen from instant packages? Get off that bus and try to find the real thing!

Oh oh:  Cream and Sugar turns five today! FIVE. Thank you for reading.

Totto Ramen
366 West 52nd St or 464 West 51st St, New York

I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I ate a bowl of corn flakes. Who ever pledged their morning cereal love to boring old corn flakes? I mean, perhaps you only ate them when they were the most attractive item on a Super 8’s continental breakfast spread. Because clearly they were more exciting than the mini box of Raisin Bran. Despite trying to argue that I’ve never poured myself a bowl, I know exactly what they taste like. You never come right out and say, “corn” because it seems too obvious, but… that’s exactly what they taste like. So, when Christina Tosi of the Momofuku clan turned the world upside down with her cereal milk soft-serve ice cream, we all went weak at the knees for the nostalgia of that boring bowl of corn flakes. Every time I have it, I can’t help but smile. Again, despite not ever remembering favouring that box with the rooster, it reminds me of Saturday mornings watching the Smurfs.

Because we don’t all have easy access to a Milk Bar for the soft serve, Tosi’s corn cookies are the perfect substitute for when you want to be reminded of how good corn can taste when it’s not on the cob and liberally sweetened. And forget cornbread. Yes, it’s delicious and can burst with sunshine-y corn flavour, but these corn cookies are on a whole different level: crisp edges, chewy middles, and that crave-inducing mix of salty and sweet. Corn’s easy lean to savoury means they could be dipped in sriracha (seriously) as easily as milk. Tosi even makes grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with them!

Getting the ingredients is not easy, and they’ll be a workout to make if you don’t have a stand mixer, but believe me when I tell you that the effort will be worth it. And if it’s not, I’ll walk down the block to my local Milk Bar and pick one up for you. Just don’t let Azrael steal it away!

Corn Cookies

• You can find the recipe here.
• Living in New York, I can easily go to a Momofuku Milk Bar location and buy the required corn powder that they so nicely prepare. You might have to take the extra step of going online to order freeze-dried corn and then turning it into a powder in your food processor.
• In addition to the corn powder, you also have to use corn flour. And note that corn flour is different than cornmeal. Bob’s Red Mill makes some.
• As per the recipe, do beat the sugar, butter, and egg for 7-8 minutes as directed. Tosi states in the cookbook that this is an important step.
• Get used to refrigerating your dough for flavour and texture. You should be doing it for all your cookies. For at least 24 hours. (Although the nerds over at America’s Test Kitchen think you only need 10 minutes.) I like resting the dough because it makes the task of baking less onerous. One day, I mix and clean all the bowls. The next day, I bake.
• I’m now in the serious habit of freezing a portion of the dough from a cookie recipe to save and bake for later. So, instead of putting all my little scooped doughs in the fridge, I put many of them on a parchment paper-lined plate in the freezer. After about 30 minutes, they’re hard. Pop them in a freezer bag, and you’re good to go for small-batch baking. Friend coming over for coffee? In 10 minutes, you can serve freshly baked cookies. Living alone, I find this especially handy. Instead of always taking baking to work the next day, I can slowly make my way through a haul myself!

Does more really need to be said beyond “pretzel croissant”? I mean, really. This is ridiculous. French pastry revamped to represent new digs in New York City. Butter, flour, and salt (and some sesame seeds) deftly put together to yield one of the best things you could ever put in your mouth. Usually, I pass on croissants because I’m not a fan of the crispy-flaky outer texture. But with this beauty, I’m all about  being covered in flaky shards to get to the soft, chewy middle. I’m not quite sure why they use sesame seeds instead of rock salt, but it tastes good all the same. Oh, and don’t think because there’s no rock salt, the “pretzel” adjective is incorrect. It’s plenty salty. From the butter in the dough, maybe? Who cares, it’s not like I’m going to bother attempting this at home. Salty treats like this require moderation, as they leave you sad and slightly crazed when there’s nothing left on the plate. Water on the side is always helpful, but as a pastry, a strong coffee partner is always appropriate. Did I mention that you’ll often find them served still warm? And not “warm” like from street pretzel vendors (ahem, reheated from frozen).

This is a must-add to your list of NYC food adventures. Bringing friends would be a good idea, as I’ve heard that City Bakery’s hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, and baker’s muffins are also fantastic. When you go, don’t mind me in the corner with my coffee and half-eaten croissant, flakes on my face, chest, and lap—I’m in heaven.

City Bakery
3 West 18th St, New York

I’m a fan of Dorie Greenspan. I’ll never forget the first time I heard her speak on NPR. The energy and love she had for baking oozed from my speakers, and I was completely smitten. So, I was really excited to hear that her and her son were taking their pop-up cookie shop, Beurre & Sel, and translating it into not one, but two, bricks and mortar locations here in New York. Dorie Greenspan cookies available all the time? Sign me up!

But, uh, this happened last year, and I… just went. To a week-long specialty pop-up. That signing up part didn’t really happen I’m ashamed to say. The point is, I made it to the pop-up (read: It was a two-minute walk from the office), and I bought some cookies. FROM DORIE GREENSPAN HERSELF. I’ve had some awesome celebrity sightings this past year (Woody Allen, Ricky Gervais, Michael Caine), but having the chance to speak to one of my baking idols for a few minutes really made my week.

And then I went back to the office, removed my classic jammer from its plastic bag, and ate one of the best cookies of recent memory. I’m not a crispy cookie girl, and I was a little bit afraid that each bite would bring a downpour of crumbs. Not even close. The cookie yielded softly to my bite, filling my mouth with butter, sugar, and salt. It was magical.

The cherry on the top for you is that this is not solely a New Yorker treat. Dorie Greenspan goodness is within your reach through the power of mail order! I recently took some tubes of the sesame sea salt and sables to California, and based on the groans of pleasure from my Californians, they do just fine after a plane ride. The only dilemma is if you should order one of each kind, or two.

Beurre & Sel

From Sam Sifton’s review of Roberta’s last year, I knew that Chef Carlo Mirarchi did a tasting menu a few nights a week, and that it was supposed to be excellent. But knowing that the wait list was something like six months long, I never gave it much thought. Then came news that the tasting menu would be featured in a completely new space, Blanca, care of Sam’s profile. And then Andrew Knowlton sang its praises too. He is The Foodist for Bon Appetit  magazine, and the writer who presented BA’s top 10 new restaurants of the year. Andrew Knowlton also lives in my ‘hood. I’ll trust a guy in the same zip code, but I’ll love a guy who gives the number two spot to a Roberta’s offshoot. The itch began.

And it soon stopped. An upcoming visitor and I decided to commit to getting up early on a Saturday and sitting on the phone indefinitely to try and make a reservation. After pressing redial too many times to count (as well as 53 minutes), I got an actual person on the other line and not an answering machine. She had free spaces for our desired date. I had my choice of seating time. We secured a reservation. What happens next?

Well, no pictures. We were politely asked to refrain from taking any pictures so as not to spoil the surprise for any future guests (you can find some if you must from early day spoil sports, however). My phone remained in my purse, and I had no paper and pencil. Roughly 30 courses flowed forth over almost four hours, and they all strive to remain in my mind as extraordinary epicurean memories. New flavours, old flavours. Textures that were comforting, challenging, and unexpected. Seasoning that asserted itself. My palate has matured to a point where I can appreciate just how important a few grains of sea salt can be or how just how it is that a one-bite course can exceed a plate full of “good enough.”

It’s hard to put into words just how much I enjoyed my Blanca experience. The food, the atmosphere, the warm yet reserved service, the records playing in the background, the beverage pairing. The beverage pairing! God, each glass was amazing and unique.

Perhaps the best way for me to sum up my experience comes from a friend. He told me that maybe I moved to New York to have the best meal of my life.

This could be very true.

Blanca
261 Moore Street, Brooklyn 

Today’s Special:  Caprese sandwich, Sullivan Street Bakery (Chelsea location), New York

Forgive me. I forgot about this sandwich. I came across the photo and cursed myself for not posting about it at the height of summer, at the height of tomatoes. I don’t even know if the Sullivan Street Bakery is still making this sandwich at this time of year. I can pretty much guarantee, however, that whatever kind of sandwiches they’re making, you’re going to love them.

As a big fan of Jim Lahey and his no-knead bread method, I made sure that the SSB was on my list of places to visit. But, with the original location in Hell’s Kitchen and the second in Chelsea, I never found myself in the neighbourhood (I’m not a West side kind of girl), and a weekend trek was just too much of a trek. Then came Summer Fridays at work. By working extra each day, I could get every second Friday afternoon off.  I could hardly say no. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend that time cleaning house or doing laundry. On one hot summer Friday, I made a list of Chelsea galleries to visit and a beeline for the Chelsea SSB.

The sandwich screams “fresh!” Fresh pizza bianca, fresh heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella. All brought together with some grassy slips of olive oil. The cheese was so fresh that I had a puddle of milky whey gracing my plate from the pressure that my hands brought while eating. Oh, and there was a sprinkling of sea salt. My perfect bite(s) came when my  teeth cut through a juicy tomato, then the creamy cheese, then the crack of a salt crystal.  More, please.

Sullivan Street Bakery 236 9th Avenue, New York

Ample Hills Creamery: Peanut butter flake, cinnamon, and salted crack caramel

Blah blah blah. Rhianna likes gelato. Blah blah blah. Thick, creamy, and cold is her favourite texture. Blah blah blah. New York offers endless opportunities for such indulgences. Yes, I know you’re probably tired of the frozen creamy treat posts, but get over it. It’s summer. It’s hot everywhere. And if you’re in this city with me, you need to know that we’ll be making our way toward such treats at some point.

Here’s the rundown on three new hangouts.

Ample Hills Creamery: A mix of classic and creative flavours that are entirely homemade. Like, everything. The cookies in the cookies and cream, the fudge sauce, the cones. Service is incredibly warm and friendly, and you can easily tack a visit here on to one to the Brooklyn Museum, Botanical Gardens, or Prospect Park. The gods were looking down on me when one of my besties moved into the neighbourhood. What goes better with friends than ice cream?

Forty Carrots: Chocolate and plain swirl

Sure, I like Pinkberry. Everybody likes Pinkberry because it is now EVERYWHERE. We can all be like Jenny Humphrey and have it for lunch. But… I don’t know, I don’t know how I feel about franchised frozen yogurt anymore. I mean, we remember Yogen Fruz, right? The proximity of Bloomingdale’s to my office has become dangerous for more than just sale clothing and impulse cosmetics purchases. The seventh floor stocks bedding, but it also stocks the most luscious frozen yogurt from Forty Carrots. Much more creamy and much less icy than Pinkberry, Forty Carrots is why I avoid carrying cash. Toppings are not free, but portion sizes more than make up for it. The coffee is a crowd favourite, but I’ve become partial to this chocolate-plain swirl, with the plain having that good yogurt tang without any pucker.

Victory Garden: Goat milk yogurt and rose hibiscus sorbet swirl

Victory Garden serves goat milk soft serve. GOAT MILK SOFT SERVE. This is the winner for my new favourite place to be. Ahhhhhhhh I’m in heaven. The texture of the ice cream, yogurt, and sorbets extruded from the magic machines is perfect: it’s thick and holds its shape, no melty, watery substandard product. The owners are Turkish, and some of the flavours usually have a Mediterranean twist. Although, the best seller is salted caramel, which is excellent. I’ve also had my tongue around a herbal special, the pictured flavours, and chocolate lavender. The goat milkiness is not all that strong; it’s a little bit tangy but not something that you really notice. The originality of the flavours and the texture are what put me over the moon. It’s also in one of the most perfect stroll-with-an-ice-cream ‘hoods: the West Village.

I cannot promise that this is the end of the ice cream posts.

Ample Hills Creamery 623 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn

Forty Carrots, Bloomingdale’s
East 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, New York 

Victory Garden 31 Carmine Street, New York 

Ahhhhhh… gelato. Let me count the ways I love thee. If you’re one of our Edmonton readers, I hope you partake at my go-to spot, Da Capo. And if you’re from Vancouver, Bella Gelateria should be on your list of places to go. I won’t go on again about how much I love the stuff. Just know that I do and can be pretty picky (e.g., if you’re pistachio is anything other than that puke-y colour in the photo above, I’ll know you’re doing it wrong.) I’ve always been a fan of Il Laboratorio del Gelato on the Lower East Side, especially of their more unique flavours like honey lavender or tarragon. But, given that I now have the time to do a little more casual research and move beyond my comfort zone, I thought I would try out the well-received L’Arte del Gelato. LAG’s home base is in the West Village and thus perfectly located if you’re strolling down Bleecker Street or in need of some refreshment after watching a movie at the IFC Center. During my first visit, pictured above, I went with pistachio and rice pudding (budino di riso). Soooo creamy and rich, yet not butterfatty rich like typical hard ice cream. This past weekend, I got a cone with olive oil and banana. Olive oil gelato is seen more and more now, and I highly recommend you trying it if you can. As gelato, you can really appreciate how fruity olive oil is. Anyway. L’Arte del Gelato. My new favourite spot for my favourite frozen treat. Fresh every day (fresco ogni giorno). That’s the ticket.

L’Arte del Gelato
75 7th Avenue, New York

Today’s Special: Spanish mackerel at Num Pang, New York

The banh mi is Vietnam’s gift to the sandwich world, but Vietnam is not the only place in that wonderful part of Asia that likes to have fun with two pieces of bread (the French spread themselves around). Cambodia has sandwiches—num pang—made in a similar fashion to banh mi, and lucky for me, a Cambodian chef is making some killer ones in New York City. Missing some of the great catch that was so easy to get in Vancouver, I decided on the mackerel. Juicy and tender, it was a perfect foil to the crusty bread and crisp vegetables. The sauteed leeks added a nice extra bit of savoury. And I have to say, I prefer Num Pang’s denser French bread to the lighter and crispier rolls that most banh mi are made with. But that’s me, a well-known carb addict. Both locations, one in Union Square, the other near Grand Central, are perfect for tourist types, but even more perfect for locals who might be wondering what to eat in those less-than-ideal dining locales. Low on atmosphere, take your sandwich to go and park yourself on a bench. Close your eyes and dream of vacationing along the Mekong.

Num Pang
21 East 12 St, New York

Set duck lunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar.

My first week in New York City was a steady diet of riding the train, scouring Craigslist, and viewing apartments. In between, I ate and went to museums. Just like I was on vacation. Don’t tell my wallet. And although I’m here now, living in New York, my hunger and excitement wanted me to eat like time was limited. I gave in. My pants grew tighter. And as expected, I got a great taste for all the wonderful food adventures that lie ahead of me.

Pastrami-cured salmon and scallion cream cheese on pumpernickel at Russ & Daughters.

I made an effort to try a few places that would be more ideal to visit during a weekday: Momofuku Ssam Bar, Russ & Daughters, Saltie, the Doughnut Plant. All worth their salty and sugary calories. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed my duck lunch. I’m of the mind that David Chang & Co are kind of overexposed and too hyped up. Although a hefty $20 for the two-course set, I left very very happy. The doughnuts? Pure bliss. I am not a doughnut person, but I am now a Doughnut Plant person. I think that having both cake and yeast varieties during a visit is the only way to go. Double your pleasure, double your fun.

Before settling into my own place, I’ve been staying in Williamsburg. The rumours are all true: it’s more hipster than you could ever imagine, and the food (and drink) is some of the best in the boroughs. After returning for a few more visits, I still think that Roberta’s is the best pizza I’ve ever had. I can’t get enough. Just like in Vancouver, hipsters like their coffee. So far, I’ve tried both Blue Bottle and Toby’s Estate. Both are spaces that make you want to linger and sip all day, and both provide you with very high quality joe.

I can't take any more top knots!

The Scuttlebutt at Saltie.

Blueberry pancakes with maple butter at Clinton Street Baking Co.

And on a Sunday with no apartments to see and nothing but time, I decided to brave the wait for a tiny window seat at Clinton Street Baking Co. and finally try their much-discussed pancakes. I went with the classic blueberry and added a side of sugar-cured bacon. The wow factor is the maple butter sauce. On their own, the stack is fine, but it’s the sauce that makes them legendary. And the legend leads to lines. Big ones. But it’s New York, so I just filled the hour-long gap with a $9 manicure.

Tres leches and peanut butter and banana cream doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant.

So, this was just the beginning. And with the smallest apartment kitchen I’ve ever had in my future, the cooking chronicles of Cream might be few and far between. But I’ll still be eating (out) lots. And my camera phone is much improved.

Suggestions?