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Showing results for tags 'Cakes'.
Found 9 results
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Bob, we need to take the "LCLC Challenge" (Loudoun County Lemon Cake Challenge) - Red Truck vs. Arno's. There "Arno" losers here.
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http://panamerican4u.com/index.html (I think, although I swear this took me to a different looking website last week) I know they have locations in Arlington and Alexandria. Anyway, we stopped in here Saturday to pick up a Tres Leches cake for my brother's birthday. I called ahead, but I don't think my Spanish was really good enough to get the transaction done, luckily they had one in the case when we arrived. I had never been in, we were starving from doing a good bit of yard work, so we ordered a chorizo and chicken sandwich, and then a chicken, beef and a green plantain. Hubby thought the beef was too sweet, but really enjoyed the green plantain saltena, and also really enjoyed the chorizo sandwich. The sandwiches are huge. I thought the pollo sandwich was better with a little green sauce added. I liked the chicken saltena, the beef was a little sweeter than the ones at Carribean Grill, but I still enjoyed it. I get major saltena cravings, so good to know I can get them here. The tab was $60 including the cake for 12 people, so I would say it was a very good deal. My brother loved his cake. We saw some of the soups and other entrees other people were getting, and everything looked good. My Mom had never had this type of food and really had a good time, I think she would have fun going back.
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- Multiple Locations
- Salteñas
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Oh, my goodness - I don't know why I didn't see this before ... Woodmoor Pastry Shop! That's bringing up some memories - we used to walk through the corridor in the middle of that strangely shaped shopping center, and enter Suburban Trust Bank from the back.- 2 replies
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- Silver Spring
- Four Corners
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Damn. Back before we got a Maison Kayser around the corner here in DC, I used to hit the 40th St location when I visited the NY office and always ogled the wares in the window at Lady M a couple doors down the block (this is across from Bryant Park). If those things taste half as good as they look....-
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- Local Chain
- Bakery
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I recently had a chance to visit Bottega Louie, a bright, cavernous space in The Brockman Building on South Grand that is both a gourmet market and restaurant. The large open floor and high ceilings plan gives the place a certain vibrancy, with an accompanying noise level that you might expect from such a large room. I took a seat at the 10 stool bar in the front closer to the market and quite enjoyed the Cioppino, which also cost $30. It was a full bowl of succulent seafood, that contained perhaps the most plump mussels I have ever been served. Truly satisfying. -
I don't post much on cupcakes since they're not really my thing. I'll laugh at even lame jokes about the cupcake explosion here and elsewhere. I'll nod appreciatively when people who know much more than I do about baking share why they appreciate cake, bread and the like more than cupcakes. All that aside though, I do have a passing interest in cupcake places for two main reasons aside from enjoying one very infrequently. 1. As small businesses with generally low overhead, I like that they offer opportunity for impassioned new food entrepreneurs to start a business and maybe succeed with it. That's always a very good thing since hard to do. 2. In theory, a place serious about cupcakes might also be serious about coffee. So I'll sometimes stop into a cupcake shop for that reason. The best example of this in town is Baked & Wired in Georgetown, who make great cakes and have a wonderful coffee program. Coffee aside though, I confess (perhaps earning some scorn from hardcore cupcake types?) thinking the Georgetown sisters make a good version. Passing through Adams Morgan today, I noticed a small, lower-than-street-level bakery on the west side of Connecticut Avenue. It had a big sign proclaiming itself "Sweet Themez Cake and Cupcake" and a red neon "Open" sign. I had a few minutes so headed in perking up my nose for the smell of coffee. No coffee was available today. They do sell it normally (maybe not on Sundays or maybe something happened today-not sure) but the friendly young woman staffing the counter couldn't tell me what it normally was. There's very limited seating. Just one very round, hightop table by the window looking out onto Connecticut Avenue and a few seats along the south wall of the small shop. Evidently, they do all kinds of custom cakes and have popular "cake pops." I can't speak to any of those. I did get a single lemon cupcake though. It was very good. I'd go as far as saying on a lemon-to-lemon basis, it was better than Georgetown's version. The cake was moist, coherent, and with a good sweetness. The element that puts it ahead of Georgetown for me was the frosting. I think it was a denser-than-normal butter cream or maybe cream cheese frosting? Whatever it was, it was excellent with a consistency almost like a tangy custard. It was about the same (smaller) size as Georgetown's cupcakes which I find optimal. The shop is owned by a married couple with Maurice running the business and often staffing the front and his wife, Adrienne, the baker. I was told they bake early every morning as any good shop will. I learned Adrienne has been baking since childhood and was taught by her grandmother. Though my sample is very limited (just the one cupcake), I'd say Adrienne pretty clearly knows what she's doing. This is a lovely small local business. I'd normally be a bit concerned about them given the narrow product focus and limited marketing. But they're already into their second year so the location, nice products, reasonable pricing and some word-of-mouth are probably helping. If you're a cupcake person, give this shop a try. They're nice and serious about quality products as best I can tell. -
Funny, we do not have a thread on this wonderfully, delicious and fattening treat. This year's Mid-Autumn full moon festival falls on Wednesday, September 22. Although this seems later than usual, it has not stopped folks from buying lots of mooncakes in this area. Thankfully, there are also lots to choose from (Taiwan vs. Hong Kong vs. China brands and flavors). I am enjoying the 冰皮月餅 (bing pi mooncake) kind, which are ice cream mooncakes, with different fillings found in the local fridge or freezer of the Chinese supermarkets (Great Wall or Maxim's, in my case). The ones found in this area are called Maxim's bingpi mooncakes (美心冰皮月餅) and come in durian, macadamia nut-sesame, and mango flavors. They are a bit pricier than regular mooncakes ($6-7 for 2 little ones), but worth it in my opinion, especially on a hot day. The weirdest thing is that I love all the little gift bags that accompany the mooncake purchases. Here is a 2009 Cantonese commercial for the Maxim mooncake product (mango flavor advertised is not available this year), made by HK actress, Kelly Chan. It makes me miss silly Chinese commercials. 2010 slideshow about this year's batch of mooncakes in HK from the Chinese edition of WSJ. -
Since this past weekend was a super special weekend for me (I feel blessed Easter happened around the same time), I decided to treat myself, visit New York and explore bake shops and coffee shops (separate thread soon). For bakeries, here are my observations: Chelsea Empire Cake. I love the clean lines of the font of the storefront and interior design. I also like how they have so many different types of cake and baked goods to choose from. I only purchased one slice of their chocolate cake to sample. The cake traveled well from NY to DC, since I didn't eat it until the next day, and I loved the chocolatey goodness without it being overly sweet. The only slight downfall is that it was a teeny bit on the dry side, but I would still go back to buy their cakes and try their wares. Fat Witch. This is inside the famous Chelsea Market. I bought two mini brownies ($1.75 a piece) and one "Wicked" brownie (with green sprinkle sugar, after the musical - around $3). I haven't had these yet, but the locals I asked really love this place and I really liked the sample I tasted. The shop is really small, but I love whoever designed their logo. East Village Milk Bar. The East Village location is right around the corner from the noodle bar and right across the street from Ssam. One can walk right past it without you knowing it's there. The main design downfall is that it's tiny and no public washroom to use. The main flavor downfall is what others have posted in this forum: it is simply too sweet. I tried the chocolate cake truffles where the first ingredient listed is sugar. That should have clued me in, but nonetheless, I wanted to see what the fuss was about. And I was fussy, but of course, in a bad way. I also didn't like the cornflake chocolate chip cookie for two reasons: 1. It was too sweet as well, and 2. It was too gimicky. Sweet snacks should be simple, no fuss and delish. This place strays from all three in my book. Hell's Kitchen (Theatre District border) Donna Bell's Bake Shop. I stopped here after seeing Avenue Q at the New World Stages. The store is about 3/4 kitchen and 1/4 shop, but boy, what a shop! I wish I purchased more than the one piece of the pecan bar here--it has all the goodness that a good baker/eater looks for in a bar: proper shortbread (okay, it may have been a little too buttery), not too terribly sweet, but just gooey enough (a good use of honey in this case) with a healthy helping of pecans atop. I scarfed it down when I got back to DC. It also traveled well. I definitely can't wait to explore places others have posted in the "Mother Thread" as well.
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I have always found Majestic Cafe to be a nice go-to place when we are in Old Town. It's not too upscale/formal, yet not too casual, not too expensive (entrees hover between $19-$21), and fresh and seasonal cooking. We've found it to be a good place for our out-of-town parents, none of whom is a particularly adventurous eater. It's also been a great place to stop by for lunch-- we've had some good curry chicken salad sandwiches in the past. Our latest trip on Saturday confirmed that we have been away for too long. I had carefully-laid plans for an afternoon stroll in Old Town, an early dinner at Majestic Cafe, culimating in an evening tour of the monuments. Well, the first part fell through given the ungodly heat, but the dinner plan was stayed intact. I was initially turned off by the host who answers the phones. As Tom S. and others have pointed out, it's so important to have courteous people answer the phone as it's the first impression someone has of the place. When I called initially for the reservation, and gave my first name, the host said, rudely, "well, is there a last name?" I considered a retort that no, in fact, I was one of those "one name" entertainers, but refrained. Then, when our afternoon plans fell through, I dispatched my husband to see if we could get a later reservation. He was told, again, rudely, no, and "if we wanted to eat later with such a large group, we should consider going elsewhere or trying another night." I was amused when we did show up, on time, and waited a bit because our table wasn't ready... But any feelings of hostility quickly dissipated upon being seated. Our server was lovely, inobstrusive, and competent. We started with a bottle of the Philip Staley Zinfandel ($32), and shared three appetizers: CREOLE POACHED SHRIMP SALAD (with chayote squash, jicama and corn pancakes), GRILLED CALAMARI with Spanish romesco sauce and sautéed almonds, and HOUSE CURED GRAVLAX with a red and yellow beet salad and brown bread toasts. All three were big hits. The beets were outstanding, and we fought over the last pieces of yummy gravlax. The calamari was excellently cooked and tender. I did not try the shrimp, but my husband gobbled up the jicama. For entrees, my mother and husband had the SEARED TUNA with green olive tapenade and grilled summer vegetables. While my husband's came out a bit overcooked for medium-rare (as ordered), the excellent olive tapenade made up for it. My father had the SAUTÉED CORNMEAL CRUSTED HALIBUT with meuniere sauce and yellow squash casserole. He enjoyed this dish as well, and I was the fortunate recipient of the casserole...excellent! I polished this off even though I was pretty full from my entree. He and my mom also had a side of the broccoli spears, and both thought they were great. I had the SAUTÉED SOFTSHELL CRABS with East Indian coconut-peanut slaw and turmeric potato salad. The crabs were excellent. Crispy and flavorful, I savored each bite. The potatoe salad could've had a bit more turmeric for my taste, but was still very good. I have to admit that I did not like the slaw...perhaps the cabbage was too bitter for me, but it just didn't have any flavor. Just a LOT of cabbage and peanuts. My sister had the GRILLED SCALLOPS with charred tomato sauce, sautéed arugula and corn. I got to have a bite, and and the scallops were also excellent and well-cooked. She loved the sauteed corn too. She also ordered a side of green beans, which she finished off. Even though we were all pretty full, my husband and I convinced everyone to get the desserts. We shared the Boston Creme Pie (the American Layer Cake of the day), the peach and rasberry cobbler (seasonal fruit dessert), and the almond and plum pie. The cobbler was made to order, so we had a 10 minute respite. The Boston Creme Pie was great and not too dense. My husband loved the almond and plum cake. The cobber was also a hit. The place was pretty full of what appeared to be mostly locals, including families (with children), older folks, young people on dates, etc. We loved not feeling like we were in a downtown expense account type of place. All in all, the night was a success. It was very leisurely and well-paced, and were were never rushed. Total bill for the above was about $210, including tax and 20% tip. All of us agreed that for a meal of this quality, the price was very reasonable.
