Chocolate Rugelach At Breads Bakery

I have high standards when to comes to rugelach. Most people have probably never heard of rugelach, a rolled pastry of Eastern European Jewish tradition. The dough is usually made with sour cream or cream cheese, and the filling is traditionally rasins-walnuts-cinnamon, though fruit fillings and chocolate fillings are also popular. My cousins’ grandmother, Toby, makes amazing rugelach. So when Donny told me that he’d had some great rugelach at Bread’s Bakery, near Union Square, I decided to try them for myself. They are pricey, so I only got four (not that any one rational person needs more than four rugelach). Are they as good as Toby’s? No way. Are they amazing? Yes they are. The pastry dough is buttery, the chocolate rich and not too sweet. If you got these at a bakery in Paris you’d go home and rave to people about the quality of Parisienne patisserie. Having a source of such great pastries right here in NYC is fantastic — but I already have a better, cheaper source. But if you don’t have your own Grandma Toby, and/or you’ve never had rugelach before, Breads Bakery is the right place to start.

Breads Bakery — 18 E 16th St, Manhattan

The Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie From Levain

Now that I work on the Upper West Side, I have to seek out all new places to eat. The one place I knew beforehand that I wanted to try was Levain bakery, for the much-celebrated chocolate chip walnut cookie. I had a little bit of sticker shock when I got there, just after 8am. $4 for a chocolate chip cookie? I was handed a still-warm cookie that weighed roughly half a pound, and got a napkin ready. The cookie was the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever eaten, and it’s got something for everyone. Like crispy cookies? The outside of the cookie is crunchy and delicious. Like gooey cookies? The interior is gooey and melty. Seriously, I bought another cookie from another bakery about five days later. It was good, but the whole time I was wishing I was eating Levain’s cookie. It has ruined me for all other chocolate chip cookies.

Levain, UWS — 167 West 74th St., NYC

Sfinge From La Guli Pastry Shop In Astoria

On a recent trip to Astoria I passed by several bakeries advertising something called sfinge, so I just had to pick one up to take home. I decided on La Guli bakery, both because it was on my walk back to the train and because it looked suitably old school. It turns out a sfinge is basically an open-faced cannoli. Instead of being stuffed into a tube the ricotta mixture, dotted with chocolate chips and candied fruit, is loaded on top of a crispy shell; since it’s not enclosed the cream can be piled pretty high. It’s good, but the abundance actually detracts somewhat from the experience. With a traditional cannoli you’re left wanting more. Here, you’re left feeling that you’ve over-indulged.

La Guli Bakery — 29-15 Ditmars Blvd, Queens

Fuji Bakery

Fuji Bakery on 35th St between 7th and 8th ave isn’t just a bakery. They also have a cheap cheap 2 item combo lunch for $4.75 and a whole menu of stuff like pork chop over rice, beef brisket noodles, and even dim sum!

Unlike the hot table items at Fay Da Bakery on 34th St there are less choices at Fuji but at least the slices of chicken at Fuji’s chicken and broccoli weren’t in a weird shade of red. Yeah I don’t know why the both times I went to Fay Da and got their chicken and broccoli, the chicken was red! That made me stop going.

There are few items at Fuji that are guaranteed to be there like chicken and broccoli, pork chops and sauteed baby bok choy. BUT most items tend to rotate so there are near infinite number of combos you can make. And so I did just that, sort of.