A salute to Chinese bakery cake
Chinese bakery cake at Fay Da Bakery
321 6th Ave, New York, NY 10014
I could write a whole essay about the cultural importance of Chinese bakery cake to diaspora and the children of immigrants but I won’t. Instead, I’ll tell you about the time a beloved and well-respected woman quit her job in a newsroom (which is not a new tale), and how it meant everything to me, a person who was once an intern that was told that she was too cute to be taken seriously, that that woman openly talked about her love for Hello Kitty at a Very Serious News Organization, and how it meant everything to me, a person who always feared to come off “too Asian,” that at her goodbye celebration she should have an Chinese bakery cake with Hello Kitty dressed as Captain America printed on it, and how it meant everything to me that the cake, which was not too sweet (the highest of Chinese compliments!), and made of eggy sponge cake layered with chunks of fruit in it, was served to the whole room of people, and how this cake was instantly understood by a few, but was fed to everyone.
Peanut butter miso cookies in my kitchen, past midnight (on a weekday)
Recipe from New York Times Cooking via Krysten via Diego
Drop everything that you’re doing and make these peanut butter cookies spiked with sweet white miso — I did, which is how I ended up slamming cookie sheets against the stove past midnight on a Tuesday (sorry, roommates!*). I was tipped off to this recipe by Diego, whose partner Krysten is the author of this recipe, during my miso obsession.** I have been on a long-winding path to find the best peanut butter cookie recipe for several years and I think this is it. I’m a little bit of a reluctant traditionalist when it comes to new cooking techniques, so when the Slam the Pan chocolate chip cookies first went viral I rolled my eyes at the extra work and ignored it. Thankfully, I didn’t ignore Krysten’s instructions to slam the hot cookie sheets against the counter (twice!). It’s a really great magic trick and super satisfying stress reliever. The cookies, which bake up puffy and soft, collapse into perfectly crinkly, crispy-chewy disks with super-soft centers.
*Anyone who is following the saga of my life knows that our apartment has a raccoon infestation, and so the slamming of metal cookie sheets is really nothing in terms of disturbance in the grand scheme of things.
**It’s an unspoken rule in New York City that any cool heterosexual man you know has an even more cool and interesting-sounding partner.
Pan con tomate at Bar Jamón
125 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003
It always fascinates me that in a city as dense as New York, you can spend years before stepping on the same block again. I went to Casa Mono, the one Michelin star tapas restaurant adjacent to Bar Jamón, once. It was seven years ago, and I was 21. It was a different time back then: Former owner Mario Batali had yet to be publicly accused of sexual harassment (maybe because the public wouldn’t have cared), and healthcare bills were not something I worried about. But in many ways, things are the same: Here I am, seven years later, still in the pursuit of red wine and cozy spaces and deeply appreciative of the measured hedonism that punctuates a life mostly defined by identity crises. Bar Jamón is a great place to ponder the latter, over glasses of red wine and some pan con tomate. Pan con tomate is literally just some sliced crusty bread topped with raw tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and salt. I have no idea what makes it so addictively good, but it’s a superb (and not too expensive!) companion to a glass of rioja. Bonus: Unlike Casa Mono, you don’t need a reservation, and it was easy to find seats for three at the communal table on a weeknight.
Kyoto matcha cake at Takahachi Bakery
25 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007
This is another farewell cake, so my perception of how it tastes is probably clouded by the bittersweet taste of swallowed tears. That accidentally came out really melodramatic, but you know what I mean: It’s hard to taste your food at a goodbye party. The Kyoto matcha cake is definitely visually appealing. Small and square, it’s topped with candied red beans in a grid-like pattern and swirls of green tea-tinted whipped cream. Flavor-wise, the cake packed a significant matcha punch (not too sweet, we said, the highest of Asian food compliments). I’m a matcha fiend so I’d say the green tea flavor was on the grassy/dusty spectrum rather than the vibrant, green taste of higher quality drinking matcha, but that’s expected for the culinary variety used in baked goods. The mousse was light and fluffy, with a stripe of cream filling in the center. Unfortunately, the cake appeared to be premade and frozen, and the bottom layer still contained some ice crystals (minus 10 points for sloppy finish!!).
Porri e Taleggio supplì (braised leeks and taleggio cheese risotto ball) at Trapizzino
144 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
The best thing about bad dates* is that afterwards I always take myself out on a very good date. Nothing fills me with renewed enthusiasm towards myself than a lukewarm suitor. I can hardly wait to call for the check, split the bill, and then bound out the door in any direction as long as it’s the exact opposite of my company’s. Then the night, and the city, is all my own. Finding myself stranded in the Lower East Side, I had the perfect romantic spot for one in mind: Trapizzino, a cozy (but spacious!) restaurant with great spritzes and even greater Roman street food. The waitress recommended that I order a trapizzino (essentially a pizza pocket) and a supplì(risotto ball) for dinner. I found the supplì, flavored with braised leeks and melty streaks of taleggio cheese, to be the highlight of the meal.
*I should make clear that this date was not truly bad but merely boring, which might be the worst punishment of all.
Happy long weekend!
Soph