Oh Crêpe!!

Personally I think one of the most underestimated foods is the crêpe. It's not easy to find a place out there that can make you a really good crêpe with all the 'fixins' so to speak. The best thing about a crêpe is that it can be combined with pretty much anything you want, be it savory or sweet.

Recently, I was strolling down 9th avenue in New York and I came across Chelsea Market. This huge building that spans over 2 blocks used to be the home of the National Biscuit Company, commonly known as Nabisco. Ah, THAT got your attention didn't it? Those creme filled chocolate cookies that we know as Oreos were conceived here in this building. But that is the subject of another blog post.

Lets get back to present time Chelsea Market. Apart from the very unique exterior, there are more than 30 retail stores in there that range from selling clothing, books, food and fresh produce and seafood. Tucked away on the first floor towards 15th street is a cosy little crêperie called Bar Suzette. The place does not have any flashy lights or fancy music. What they do have is 2 guys, 2 flat top griddles, few menus and good fresh ingredients and all they make is crêpes.

Their menu was split into savory and sweet. my friend and I were glancing at the selection and I considered ordering almost half of it. After a few minutes of mind numbing indecision, I chose to get the crêpe with Nutella™ and strawberries. My compadre ordered the crêpe with ham and Swiss. The chef carefully poured the crepe batter onto the hot griddle and used a fancy tool to spread it around the flat top. While the crêpe was cooking, he was slicing fresh, juicy strawberries. A few minutes later he flipped the crêpe and spread the Nutella™ and laid the fresh strawberries. He folded the crêpe into a triangle pocket and handed it over to me.

The scintillating combination of the crisp crêpe with the sweet chocolate hazel-nutty ooey gooeyness of the Nutella™ and the mildly tart strawberries was fantabulous. The ingredients tasted very fresh and made the crêpe that much better. There was nothing about the crêpe that I did not like.

I tried the ham and Swiss crêpe that my friend had and it was a perfect combination of melted Swiss cheese and very thinly sliced ham. I'm surprised she let me even have that, she seemed entranced in crêpe heaven.

These guys really do have something amazing going on at this store. Their menu features a host of fresh ingredients that range from figs, speck, Brazillian guava, hummus and more.

So next time you are in the big apple, do not forget to stop by Bar Suzette and enjoy a delicious crêpe. If you can't decide what to have then let your trustee food guru do you a favor and go ahead and have the one with Nutella™ and strawberries - only if you are not allergic to nuts.

Ciao.

For the love of donut...

Copyright 2010 Raj Rao

Hey blogosphere, the best food blog you'll run across has finally arrived. I know, I know, where have I been all your life right? Well I have been out there feasting on life and preparing to be your own personal food guru. Yes, you're welcome.

So why doughnuts for my first post? Well because this past weekend I visited the epitome of doughnut deliciousness. Now, I'm a guy who enjoys a good doughnut every now and again but listen to me when I tell you that you have not tasted a doughnut until you have bought one from Mark Israel's Doughnut Plant in Manhattan's Lower East Side. This is not your average-on-every-corner Dunkin' Donuts. Don't get me wrong, I love a good (donut) from Dunkin' Donuts but this transcends the generic. Doughnut Plant has taken doughnut making and innovation to new levels, introducing the Jelly-filled Square Donut™ in 2004. We are talking a huge square-shaped donut with an in-house jelly made from fresh seasonal fruit and a glaze made from the same fresh fruit and fresh roasted nuts. There are also Cream-filled Squares™, a delectable Creme Brulee doughnut and a Tres Leches doughnut that I missed out on because I didn't make it in time. Fail.

Now even though I completely wanted to gorge on as many of these doughnuts as I could stuff into my mouth, I had to limit myself. This was my virgin trip to New York, I had been daydreaming about this donut shop and as soon as me and my friend rounded the corner and saw that distinct logo I got excited. And the excitement was well worth it. The beauty of this place is that they make a fresh batch of each doughnut every morning and once it's gone, it's gone. We got there late afternoon so the selection was a little limited but they still had the Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam Jelly-filled Square™.

At first glance I had a feeling that the doughnut was going to be very heavy. It has a good amount of peanut butter glaze on the outside. After my first bite I was surprised at how it tasted.  The solid taste of peanuts, a perfect doughnut and fresh, sweet jelly melted in your mouth in a flavor explosion. The jelly did not overpower the doughnut. Every bite had an equal amount of dough and jelly till the last bite. The blackberry jelly did not taste like the kind you get in a can either. You can immediately taste that its homemade.


Freakin' A that was good.  No wonder these doughnuts were featured on Food Network, they are definitely worth it. It's hard to imagine this doughnut making genius began in Israel's tiny apartment basement with a coat hanger frying pan but whatever he's doing, he needs to keep on doing it. Though a relatively small space with enough room to line up for these delicious circles of pure joy, the cute, very Manhattan chic atmosphere of the place is as original as the doughnuts themselves. Granted I didn't fly all the way across the country to get a doughnut, I would say even if everything else failed on my trip to New York, that doughnut would have been well worth the trouble.

So the next time you find yourself in Manhattan craving a sweet treat, I highly recommend a quick stop at Doughnut Plant. Trust me on this one, Ace. Your food guru never lies.