Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop

Ben and Jerry's is my absolute favorite brand of Ice Cream because they have such interesting and creative flavors, and they are all delicious.  While you can easily find the ice cream in every super market, it is so much better coming from one of their scoop shops.

I had minor surgery done yesterday morning, and knew that a trip to Ben and Jerry's was going to be my treat.  It seems counter-intuitive that you always end up eating worse when you are sick/have surgery, since you can't exercise and all you really do is lay down and sleep all day, but I went along with it and gave in to the ice cream temptation.

There aren't many scoop shop locations around, but luckily for me there is one in Mt. Kisco, which is only a 10 minute drive from my house out there.  I spent all day in anticipation of the ice cream, and ultimately decided that while I was going for it, I may as well go big.  So, I decided to get the Hot Fudge Sundae.

Unbeknownst to me, the sundae is a monster!  When I asked the worker there what was in the sundae, she said you pick two flavors of ice cream, either hot fudge or caramel, and two toppings.  For some reason I assumed that it would be served in the same cup that the small ice cream would be served in, since that also comes with two flavors, but boy was I wrong.  I looked away for a few seconds as she started to prepare the sundae, and it was too late to turn back.  All of a sudden, I saw in front of me what looked like a pint of ice cream.  It was smaller than a pint, but honestly not by much.

Since I am a chocolate lover, I obviously chose everything to be chocolate.  My two flavors of ice cream were Chocolate Therapy (dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding--my favorite flavor here) and New York Super Fudge Chunk (chocolate ice cream with white and dark fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts, and fudge covered almonds).  On the bottom and coating the entire inside of the cup was the delicious hot fudge, and I chose reeses pieces and sno caps as my two toppings.  

This sundae was heaven for a chocolate lover.  The ice cream flavors were amazing, and the hot fudge sauce put it over the top.  I loved the toppings too, but I could've easily done without them, and ended up taking most of them off.  This is definitely something that I recommend only getting on a special occasion, since it probably contains a days worth of calories in the whole thing.  And, while it may look  a little daunting at first, I was surprisingly able to charge my way through and somehow ate it all.  Of course, afterwards I couldn't contract my stomach for hours and woke up the next morning still feeling full, but it was so worth it.

Macaron Cafe

Growing up, when I heard the word "macaroon" I thought of the delicious chocolate dipped coconut cookies that were served at a passover seder.  It wasn't until my sister started her first internship in the city across the street from Macaron Cafe that I was introduced to the other macaroon, or more appropriately, the French Macaron.  When I first saw pictures of what it was, it honestly didnt look that good to me.  It looked like a chewy/sugary meringue, not something cakey and fudgy which is what I usually like in a dessert.  After a few times of rejecting them and refusing to try one, I finally caved in and tried a dark chocolate Macaron.  My doubts about Macarons were set aside and I instantly became a fan.  My sister would then occassionally bring me one, and I got to try a wide array of flavors ranging from dark chocolate and peanut butter to nutella and chocolate coconut.  While I thought they were delicious, I still never really ate them too often unless my sister brought me one.

So, as I have mentioned in previous posts, my sister and I both started weight watchers in January and her visits to Macaron Cafe became nonexistent.  As one of her milestone weight goals, she decided that we would go to Macaron Cafe and share her favorite sandwich and then each get some macarons.  After months of waiting, today was finally the day we got to celebrate ate Macaron Cafe.

I have never had lunch there, but she was always a fan of their sandwiches.  Her favorite one that we ended up sharing was the Normandy.  The sandwich comes with brie, apple, raisins, lettuce, and french mustard on a baguette, but we changed it a little and got grilled chicken and no brie.

Overall, the sandwich is just as good as it sounds.  There is equal ratios of each ingredient so that none of them are overpowering.  The apples add a nice tang and crunch to the sandwich, and the raisins add a touch of sweetness.  My favorite part was the french mustard, which reminds me a bit of honey mustard  but more sharp.  The bread was also good, but I must warn you that it is very crunchy/chewy so you have to dig your teeth in and put a lot of effort into taking a bite.  I always like when the bread is a little tough, though, because then it takes longer to eat and it feels more filling.  

After the sandwich, I of course had to have a macaron.  I was a little disappointed that today they weren't carrying either of my favorite flavors, dark chocolate or nutella.  I quickly got over it, and settled on mocha which is another great flavor.  Since it was my sister's reward, she ended up getting an assortment of 6 that consisted of passion fruit (2), lemon, caramel, pistachio, and espresso (clearly we have very different tastes in macarons!).  

The mocha flavor was delicious!  The outer shell of the macaron was nice and hard, and right when you bite into it you immediately taste the soft cakey layers and the fudgy filling.  The coffee flavor came through nicely, but the chocolate flavor was definitely dominant, which is how I prefer it.  My favorite part is the filling because it is nice and rich.

I don't eat macarons very often because, while they are delicious, there are many deserts that I prefer, like cupcakes or ice cream.  That being said, the macarons from Macaron Cafe are really delicious, and I highly recommend them.  Even if you are a skeptic at first like I was, just give it a try and I'm sure you will change your mind.  

The Palm

One of my family's favorite restaurants to go to is The Palm.  I first started going there when my family would visit my grandparents in East Hampton, and it instantly became one of my favorites (and this was even before I ate steak).  I always loved the side dishes, and most notably, the huge chunk of chocolate cake for dessert.  I remember the first time I saw it when they brought the dessert platter to the table, and it looked like it was 1/4 of an entire cake.  Since I was the only one in my family that wanted a chocolate dessert, I asked if they had anything smaller.  They did not, and I ended up ordering this monstrous, but so delicious, piece of cake.  Since I was pretty young and it is extremely rich, I was only able to make a small dent in it, and ended up taking the rest home.  And, if my memory serves me correctly, I think the leftover cake was my dessert for the next 5 nights, thats how big it was.

So, even though they are known as a great steakhouse, I know them as the place with the amazing chocolate cake.  Every time my family goes to the Hamptons, we go to the Palm.  My Dad also loves coming here, so we tend to go to the Palm Too in NYC a few times a year as well.

I am also an avid user of Gilt City, so a few months back when I spotted a Gilt deal for the Palm, I instantly jumped on it and bought the deal.  It was $60 for $100 worth of food, and it expires in July.  Since it is mid June and we hadn't used it yet, we figured it was the perfect time to go since it is also Father's Day Weekend.

Even though the cake is  my favorite part of the meal, I do have a lot of other favorites.  I used to order the Chicken Piccata, which is a bit strange to love from a steak house but it is always so delicious there.   But, since I have been eating steak every now and again, I usually now order Filet Mignon whenever I go to The Palm.  The steak is very tender and delicious, and it always comes out cooked perfectly.  To start off, I always get the caesar salad (they now offer a slightly smaller size in addition to the normal size, so I opt for the smaller version), and it is always good.  My dad and sister love the crabmeat cocktail, but I can't attest to how good it is because I don't eat seafood.

The other star of the meal in our eyes is the side dishes.  My family has reached the consensus that we would be perfectly happy coming to The Palm and just ordering side dishes and cake.  But, we recognize that is probably not the best route so we do order regular food.  We always usually get a vegetable, whether its steamed asparagus or brussels sprouts, and we get a potato dish.  Our ultimate favorite is the half and half, but you really cant go wrong with either the hash browns or the half and half.  We haven't ordered the hash browns our past few visits because even though they are so amazing, we just love the half and half.  It comes with their homemade chips and fried onion strings.  My favorite part is the onions, and if my stomach could bear it, I swear I could eat a whole order of them.  Between 5 of us at the table, we got an order of steamed asparagus, roasted Brussels sprouts, and the half and half, and we had some left over of each because the side orders are huge.

To finish, we obviously got the chocolate cake.  They do have some other good options on the menu, like carrot cake, a bag of warm donuts, and cheesecake, but we could never get anything besides the chocolate cake.  They now offer a smaller version (which is still very large) but we opted for the large size since there were 5 of us.  The cake is 7 layers of chocolate cake and chocolate fudge, and the top of the cake has a really thick layer of creamy and fudgy chocolate.  It also comes with their homemade whipped cream and one strawberry (which my sister and I usually eat as a joke so we can say we ate something healthy).  I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had.  It is a simple, no frills dessert which makes it that much more delicious because they are not trying to do anything fancy with it.  It is just a great chunk of chocolate cake.  Five of us had a slice of the large slice (and my dad had two) and there was still about 3 servings left.

The Palm has locations all around the country, so if there is one near you I highly recommend going.  In addition to their food being great, they have really cool caricatures of people all over the walls which makes there decor very unique.  In my mind, it is the epitome of a classic steakhouse, and everything there is delicious and worth the money.  I probably love  going there also because it is a classic family restaurant for me, whether it be with my grandparents in the Hamptons or my Dad in the city, and we have a lot of good memories there.   The Palm is one of my all time favorite restaurants, and if you ever have the opportunity, you should definitely go.  And, even if you feel really full from the appetizers, main course, and side dishes, you MUST get the chocolate cake!

Ralph's Ices

Growing up on Long Island, one of the staple dessert places that everyone knew about was Ralph's Italian Ices.  There were a bunch of them all over Long Island, and there was one 5 minutes from my house that we would frequent all the time (sometimes we would go multiple times a week).   So, when I moved to the city, one of the saddest parts about leaving Long Island behind was not having access to Ralph's!  Yes, there are a lot of ice cream places in the city, but Ralph's specializes in their creme ices which ice cream cannot replace.

So I was thrilled last year when I heard that a Ralph's had opened up in the city.  What was even more amazing was the fact that their sole location in the city was one block away from where I was living!  Of course, I saw this as a sign that I needed Ralph's in my life and now that they have re-opened for the spring/summer season, I usually go once every week or so.

They have an extremely long list of water ice and creme ice flavors, but I can not imagine ever getting the water ices because their creme ices are so delicious.  The creme ice flavors include Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Birthday Cake, Rainbow Cookie, Java Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, and many many more.  They also have regular ice cream, soft serve, and delicious shakes.

(Just as a side note for the picture---I took it after having a few bites so usually you get a lot more in the small.  It was just so good that I forgot to take the picture at first!)

Even though they have a wide range of flavors and I usually do a taste test of a new flavor every time I go, I always end up getting the same 2 flavors: Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel (or Peanut Butter Candy Bar Fudge if I am on Long Island since they don't have that flavor in the city).  The peanut butter ices are so delicious and really taste like creamy peanut butter.  The texture of their ices is also great, especially when it is a hot day because they tend to be more melty and fudgy.

My sister usually gets either regular cookie dough, birthday cake, or java chip and she has rave reviews for all of them.  Everything they have is really good, and they have such a large selection of flavors and varieties that everyone can find something they are looking for.  While I would not call the ices healthy, they are definitely healthier than regular ice cream and it is more delicious, in my opinion.  If you are in the city near 24th and lex, or anywhere on Long Island, you should definitely pay them a visit!  I would also advise you to try the peanut butter flavors, but you really can't go wrong no matter what you choose.

UPDATE:

To celebrate my sister reaching one of her weight loss goals, we went to Ralph's for dessert.  To make it special, she vowed that she was going to get the Cake Shake.  Since she was getting a shake, I obviously had to join in and get one as well!  We have pretty different tastes, so I opted to get the Peanut Butter Blast.  The Cake Shake is a blend of vanilla ices, cake creme frappee, sprinkles, 1% milk, and topped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, and the Peanut Butter Blast is a blend of peanut butter ices, ghiradelli frappee, 1% milk, and topped with whipped cream and reeses pieces.

Oh. My. God.  The Peanut Butter Blast is the most amazing shake ever.  If you love peanut butter like I do, it is a must!!!  Obviously it is not something you can get too often, but it is definitely something to treat yourself to every now and again.  It is so creamy and peanut buttery and the reeses pieces on top make it even better.  I did struggle to finish it because it is so large and filling, but it is just so good that I couldn't waste any of it!  My sister basically had the same response to her cake shake, so if you are a vanilla lover definitely go for that one!

Rouge Tomate

Tonight, I went to dinner at what my sister has now dubbed her new favorite restaurant in NYC, which really says a lot.  It is always difficult to try to eat healthy when in a restaurant because the portions are at least double the size of a serving, and you never really know exactly what goes into the dishes.  So, when I was doing research on healthy restaurants in the city, I stumbled upon Rouge Tomate.  It is one of the only restaurants in the city that is SPE certified, which means that you can actually go online and see the nutritional breakdown of all of their dishes and the ingredients that goes into them, which is great.  Based on the availabilty of nutritional info and the intriguing menu, we decided to try it out.

The actual restaurant is pretty big and has a very nice ambiance inside.  It would've been a bit nicer if it wasn't torrentially raining outside, but I can't really hold that against them since they can't control the weather.  They have a pretty big drink list, which includes some homemade sodas, juices, cocktails, and an extremely long wine list.  My sister got the Pink Sangria, which was Rose, Plum Gin, Orange, Pineapple, and a Hibiscus Flavored Pineapple, and she said it was a nice, light drink.  Then, after we ordered, they brought an amuse bouche to the table, which was beet carpaccio with a horseradish foam and topped with some pumpernickel breadcrumbs.

This was so delicious, and had a perfect balance to it.  The horseradish was not too strong, and the breadcrumbs added a really nice texture to the beets.  I was super happy because normally when chefs actually make an amuse bouche, it has some sort of fish in it so I never get to eat it, but in this case it had my favorite ingredient, beets! 

Then, someone came to our table with a nice basket of bread and you could choose a slice of sourdough bread (I think thats what it was) or a peasant roll which was basically a wheat roll with a lot of seeds on it.  To have with the bread, they brought yellow lentil hummus and some ricotta cheese.  I had the peasant roll, which was really good with all of the seeds.  I tried the hummus, which was pretty good but I am not a big hummus person so I chose to ate the roll plain.  

For the appetizers, I ordered the beet salad which came with pineapple, pumpernickel breadcrumbs, and burrata cheese.  

When it first came to the table, the first thing that I noticed was the presentation.  It just looks so colorful and pretty that I didn't want to eat it!  Of course, I quickly got over that and dug in.  Every component of the dish worked so well together and the pineapple and breadcrumbs created a nice contrast with the beets.  I have had a lot of beet salads, and this one is by far one of my favorites.  My sister had the Wild Mushroom seasonal toast, which she said was really delicious.  It was two small pieces of sourdough toast topped with tofu aioli, sauerkraut, wild mushrooms and broccoli.  I tried one bite and it was delicious, and I usually don't like cooked mushrooms!

Having already had great bread, a nice amuse bouche, and amazing appetizers, we had really high expectations for the main course.  I ordered the Spring Pea Tofu with Buckwheat, Onion, Peanuts, Peas, Coconut and Rhubarb, and my sister got the Arctic Char. 

Again, the first thing I noticed when the plate came to the table was how pretty and colorful it looked!  You can tell that they really think every component of the dish through and they spend a lot of time on presentation.  The tofu was really delicious, and I usually don't order tofu.  It has a nice pea flavor to it, which set it apart for an ordinary piece of tofu.  All of the components of the dish worked really well together, and it is definitely something that I would recommend and order again.  I was only able to make it through one piece though because I was already pretty full and wanted to save room for dessert!

The dessert menu had some really great options, but my sister and I choose to stick with the small plates because we were pretty full.  Apparently the chocolate sphere is the most popular dessert, which I usually would get since I am a chocoholic, but I was too full and knew that if I ordered it, I would end up eating the whole thing and then would regret it later.  So, I choose the soy chocolate ganache with banana, olive oil powder, and cocoa nibs, and my sister got the small strawberry shortcake.  

The soy chocolate ganache was the perfect dessert!  The ganache was extremely rich and chocolatey, and you would never know that it was soy!  The bananas underneath the chocolate were really sweet and had great texture, which worked well with the ganache.  The size of the dessert made it the perfect way to end the meal without feeling overly stuffed.  And, while I did not try the strawberry shortcake, that got rave reviews as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend this restaurant!  Every single thing that my sister and I got was delicious, and you could tell that they really pay attention to detail.  While it is on the expensive side, it is a nice place to go to for special occasions or when you are looking for a little splurge.  You will leave here knowing that you had a very satisfying, delicious, and healthy meal, which is hard to come by in NYC. 

Donna Bell's Bake Shop

One of my favorite bakeries in NYC is Donna Bell's Bake Shop.  It is pretty new to the bakery scene in NYC, but it is up there with the best.  I actually interned there in the Fall of 2011 to help with PR and Marketing, which is how I was first introduced to their amazing baked goods.

They are a quintessential neighborhood bakery that you would expect to find in a small town, but they happen to be right near one of the busiest areas in the city, Times Square!  They specialize in southern style baked goods, drinks, and food items.  Some of their most popular items include their Lemon Bars, Drop Biscuits, Sweet Tea, Chicken and Dumplings, and their Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Since I worked there twice a week, I got a chance to try most of their items and can vouch for all of them!  My favorites were their cake slices (you get a huge slice and it is some of the best cake that I have ever had), brownies, lemon bars, biscuits (I seriously have never had biscuits as good as theirs), chicken & dumplings soup, mac and cheese, corn bread, cinnamon scones (tastes like a cross between a scone and a cinnamon roll), and their muffins.  Oh, and even their coffee is amazing!  I know the list is pretty long, but it is because everything is just that good.  I have never had anything there that I didn't like.

But, unfortunately for me, the location of the bakery is pretty much out of the way of anywhere that I go in the city, so I hadn't been back in over a year.  This morning, however, I decided to go back and pay them a visit.  I was immediately greeted with a beautiful display case of about 5 different muffin varieties, 3 different scones, warm biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, and hot coffee.  It was so difficult to choose one thing because there were so many baked goods that I wanted, but I had to limit myself to one item as to not completely sabotage my efforts to eat healthier.  So, I ultimately decided on my favorite muffin there- the Coconut Almond Muffin.  Not only is it my favorite of their muffins, but it is the best muffin that I have ever had, and that says a lot because I have had A LOT of muffins.

When I took my first bite, it was just as delicious as I remembered.  The top has an amazing crunch to it, and the inside is very fluffy and soft.  The almond flavor really comes through in every bite, and there is tons of coconut and almond slices in the actual muffin which makes it even more delicious.  Most muffins that I have had don't have the crunchiness on the top that you look for, but all of the muffins at Donna Bells have it.  I have tried their chocolate chip, banana pecan, peach, and blueberry bran varieties and they are all just as good.  I also got a cranberry muffin for my sister and she had the same reaction as me--she said the best part was the top because it is crunchy on the outside but so soft on the inside.  You can really tell that they are baked fresh and they care about what they are making (just as a side note, my sister was planning on saving it, but she finished it on the subway ride before she even made it to work, which is a testament to how good it was!)

Basically, if you are in the city you MUST go to Donna Bells!  It is on the corner of 49th Street and 8th Avenue, which is just walking distance from Central Park and Times Square!  It has a nice homey, neighborhood feel to it, and you will be able to find something for everyone.  A lot of the more famous bakeries in NYC have lost their edge and are just tourist attractions, but Donna Bells is the real deal.  

They have their menu posted online and it updates with their daily specials, so you should definitely check it out (www.donnabellsbakeshop.com).  They also have such an amazing story...it is owned by three best friends, one of whom is Pauley Perrette from NCIS.  The bakery is named after Pauley's mother, Donna Bell, and most of the original recipes were hers.

Oh, and if you are planning to visit (which you should be), I recommend going on the early side because the best things tend to sell out quickly!

Mercer Kitchen

After a nice (but hot) day walking around the city, my sister and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at one of Jean Georges' Restaurants, Mercer Kitchen.  I have been to one of his restaurants in Paris and my sister had been to two others, so we knew that we would be getting a great meal.  One of our rituals when going to a restaurant is to always look at the menu before hand.  It is slightly crazy, but we like knowing or at least having an idea of what we would want to get so that we can structure the other meals of our day around it.  Anyway, after we got there and heard recommendations, I decided to start with the Spring Pea Soup and get the Mozzarella Tomato and Basil Pizza as my main course.  My sister started with the Salmon Appetizer and had the Tuna Spring Roll Appetizer as her main course.

The soup was delicious!  It was really smooth and had a strong pea taste (which I love) and there was barely any cream in it which made it very light.  It also had a nice crunch from the little croutons and vegetables that were in the broth.  You can even see from the picture that it is made from mainly peas and not a lot of added milk or cream because it has such a bright green color.  I would highly recommend this if you are a fan of pea soup.  The pizza was also great.  There was the perfect amount of both sauce and cheese and the crust was doughy without being too thick.  This definitely hit the spot and made up for my pizza disaster the other night with the frozen pizza.  My sister loved both of her dishes, but I cannot vouch for them since I do not eat fish.

Of course, it is not a complete meal without having dessert!  The first item on the dessert menu was the Warm Valhrona Chocolate Cake, and I did not have to look any further.

It was my favorite kind of chocolate cake...when I put my spoon into it, the liquid chocolate center came pouring out.  It was so warm, chocolatey, and delicious.  Even though I probably could've gobbled the whole thing down myself, I opted to share it with my sister to try to control myself.  She is not as much of a chocolate freak as me, but she agreed that it was an awesome dessert.  

Overall, our dishes were delicious and even the bread tasted great!  They also have a lot of other great options that we didn't get a chance to try, like burgers, fresh fish, chicken, pasta, etc., so everyone can find something that they are looking for.  It was also completely full by the time we left, which is always a good sign.  Highly recommend it!