Another important topic that this blog will cover is that of baked goods. While every street-corner in Paris has a wonderful bakery, they’re hard to find in the US. Luckily for me, there’s Silver Moon at 105rd St. and Broadway, which could be the best bakery in the city, and often is the place where I start my day. Another related fine source of sugary goodness is the Wafels and Dinges food truck that spends Monday near Columbia, providing a wide array of waffle possibilities.
Until recently, a sad fact about life in New York City was that you couldn’t get a religieuse. This situation has now been rectified, with La Bergamote at 20th St. and 9th Avenue an excellent source. On my last trip to Paris I was introduced to a French pastry treat I’d never had before, a Breton specialty called a Kouign Amann, which is available quite a few places there. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, such a thing is not for sale in New York. I hope that this shocking situation will be rectified soon, and will report on any progress.
The only place I know of anywhere near, that has really good bread and lots of it, is New Orleans. Natives will say, one of the things they miss most when they get relocated, is the bread. Maybe multiverse mania is a side effect of processed bread.
-drl
Is it after midnight already?
It sure must be where you are!! 🙂
So which post is the April Fool’s joke? They all sound pretty depressing to me – this one because I can’t often afford to indulge in delectable pastries.
I always love your April Fool’s jokes.
Shame on me… being french (but not Breton), I do not know what a Kouig Amann is. Could you explain ?
Okay, when I was 19 — and many eons ago — I lived with a “sugar-holic” in a “retro-converted” Community Hospital building. E.g. Condemned in any other universe. So I was 19 and devoid of any free will other than that offered to me by the external universe. I.e. I ate what my house-mate ate without any questions. After five months of eating Chips-Ahoy-Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mountain Dew and Dinty Moore Beef Stew I’ve never been able to face sugar in the same way since. I now _hate_ all of the above and struggle to cope with anything even vaguely sugary.
These days, I’m with an old friend of mine: another [savory] main dish would be my favorite dessert.
And by the way, since we _are_ talking about NYC, I’m thinking Katz’s and Peter Luger’s.
So I’ve processed your posts in reverse chronological order as per my typically stupid email response pattern. But, that aside, here’s my overall view:
Life is great, NYC is … something unique that we’re all “blessed” to have available … and, I repeat, go to Katz Deli, get [your favorite sandwich], grab a beer, sit out on the sidewalk and watch The People drift by. We may not be — and probably aren’t — Special Creatures, but our lives are wonderful.
The dessert of God is threads of spun sugar vibrating in 10 dimensional spacetime.
The kouign-amann (kouign with an N) is indeed a delicious specialty
Not very light, though -in breton language, kouign=cake and amann=butter- it is literally a “butter cake” 🙂
Thanks Breton and others, typos fixed: Kouign has its n back, and Silver Moon is at 105th St.
Are you gonna also change the blog’s name to ‘not even wafles’ or whatever? You got me in this one!! Thanks for the good laugh.
Perhaps the `Woit Report’ ~ “We’re On It Totally”? (The definition of `it’ being subject to loose interpretation …)
Oh good, a physics topic. Imagine my relief. What about that dessert between the standard model scale and the aptly-named GUT scale? Perhaps the LHC will find lots of particles (instead of the dessert) beyond the berryons, such as croutons or raisons.
Silver Moon – I think it’s the one we went to last September, right Peter ? I confirm, delicious pastry!
Your April fool is much less dramatic than mine. I suggest to first read mine and then yours, to overcome the depression with some sugary thought.
cheers,
T.
Peter, I agree that Silver Moon is a great bakery. Even the bread is great. I love their rustic baguettes, which compare well against the better baguettes in Paris. We’re very lucky to have it in our neighborhood, which otherwise has mostly rather mediocre food.
With three minutes left in April 1, maybe it’s safe to add:
http://www.halfbakery.com/
Seriously? Come on. I just started reading your book yesterday. I beseech thee, for humor wherefore thou presently posteth!
there’s two hours left over here suckas.
String theory rules!!!!1!!!!
i got your 11th dimension right here
Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may diet.
The best bakery ever is located in Montreal, 322 av Mont Royal, and it is called “Kouign Amman”. They have Kouign Amman, and their croissants and their pains-au-chocolat are even better than in France !!
When a friend of mine, on a visit to some place in Florida, asked “Is there a place where one can get a serious espresso in this town?”, he was told “No, but you can open one”.
So, Peter, you want a serious French bakery? you can open one. You’ve probably discovered a hole in the market.
There are occasionally serious French bakeries in Manhattan, but they tend not to survive. Fauchon used to do an excellent kouign-amann.
Bouley makes something they call by that name, but it would be unrecognizable to a Breton.