Top 10 Sweet Spots in NYC (In No Particular Order)

Notice the endless layers. I count 7 plus frosting.

I should stress that it was a tough decision and that I really love much more!

1) Momofuku Milk Bar – Number 1 of all time? Maybe!
What I love about this place is how strange everything is, and yet how it all tastes so good. I’ve been making it a point to try as much as possible here. So far, I’ve conquered most of the cakes, the most famous cookies, most of the pies (though not the crack pie as I fear that would kill me) and the softserve (stuffing, anyone?). At the right is a picture of the first cake I ever had there: the chocolate chip cake with a a tangy passion fruit curd that helped cut the intensely sweet taste. A real winner, and you never know what this bakery will come up with next.

Gahh!

2) Liddabit Sweets – Best Candy
Oh, how I wish they had a real shop. Luckily they can be found at the Brooklyn Flea on weekends, online, and at every imaginable food market you can think of (except, sadly, the greenmarkets.) I’m in love with their candy bars and caramels. Back over the summer I had the “Gay Bar,” which was essentially a Mounds bar with some lime and graham cracker for good measure. Most recently, at the Amsterdam Market, I tried their pumpkin pie bar (pictured right.) Just take a look at it for a minute. Absorb. It’s a pie crust topped with pumpkin dulce de leche, marshmallow, and covered in chocolate! C’mon! Their caramels are great too-currently indulging in Chocolate Black Truffle (umami in a chewy, saccharine capsule.)

What a lovely piece of somethin' else.

3) Payard – Best Fancy French Patisserie
I died when I found out that Payard would be closing. I’m somewhat comforted by the chocolate shop on Madison, but it just won’t be the same. Every time I walked into the bakery on Lexington and 74th I would feel like some Russian princess on holiday in France a la the 1920s. (I’m living vicariously through Anastasia.) But seriously – top notch cookies, tarts and mini desserts. It’s hard to choose one picture to feature, so I’ll go with the first dessert I ever had (on a date with my sig. other). It’s a “Sicilian” and features untold goodies I can’t remember! Payard, you’ll be missed.

Oink

4) Sugar Sweet Sunshine – Best Like-Mom-Used-to-Make-Bakery
I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve schlepped to the LES just to get a taste of SSS’s many puddings and cakes. If I had a bakery, I’d want it to have this relaxed, fun feel to it, with a bunch of mismatched furniture and stuff that doesn’t have to look precise in order to be delicious. Their pistachio bundt cake gets kudos for not tasting like almond extract, and their peanut butter icebox cake is overwhelmingly sinful. For me, the puddings are the best. Their banana and chocolate puddings are great, but I love their seasonal specials. In the Fall it’s Pumpkin cake layered with eggnog custard and whipped cream, while in the Spring it’s lemon strawberry.  Just recently they came out with butterscotch chocolate chip cookie, which really just blew everything out of the water. The only good picture I have, however, is of their Piggy Pudding, made with walnuts, chocolate, and plenty of whipped cream.

Anyone allergic should back away.

5) Bouchon- Best Chic Bakery
I usually use the Time Warner Center for its bathrooms, but in the end it’s all strategic. If I use their bathrooms on the third floor, I inevitably have to walk past Bouchon Bakery. I don’ t need another dessert, but there’s nothing wrong with looking, right? Naturally something captures my attention and I spend untold amounts on it, but in the end it’s just so delicious. I love their holiday stuff – most recently the TKO cookie was in a bat shape with orange cream, and they had pumpkin macarons. What I like most about this place, however, is the peanut butter sandwich cookie. It’s bigger than my face and simply oozes with peanut butter filling. Wear old clothes as this will definitely get messy.

Behold, the holy cookie of fortune.

6) Birdbath/Build a Green/City Bakery- Best eco-minded bakery triad.
Even though I’m not vegan, the vegan chocolate chip cookie here is delightfully crispy and somehow manages to, at the very least, produce a buttery mouthfeel (known as kokumi for you food science geeks.) Try the regular chocolate chip cookie, and you’re transported – I’ve never felt so simultaneously guilty and joyous in my life than when I ate this cookie. Same goes for their Baker’s Muffin – a giant, bread pudding-esque rock filled with apple, raisins, walnuts, and plenty of cinnamon. The outside is crispy with a soft, squishy interior. Finally, there’s the hot chocolate – the only thing I look forward to in February is this – a selection of unusually flavored, incomprehensibly thick steaming chocolate. A shot is more than enough.

S'mores, how I'll miss you!

7) Gotham Bar and Grill – Best desserts at a restaurant
I’ll be honest – I used to intern at Gotham in the pastry department. But I was so in love with all of Deborah Racicot’s desserts that I am certain I gained a considerable amount of weight in the kitchen (and with those checkered chef’s pants, who’s to know?). I’ve dined there twice as a regular customer, and was enchanted by the s’mores composed dessert (no longer on the menu) and even by the one given at restaurant week (huckleberry, corn, lime, and basil were the main flavors.) Down to the petit fours, the desserts are all based off of classics, yet possess a distinction that makes eating them a whole other kind of wow. At right is the “S’more” – a chocolate graham cracker tart with a marshmallow chibouste, chocolate sauce, homemade marshmallows, and a candied hickory nut ice cream *dies*.

I could eat the whole cake.

8) Grandaisy Bakery-Best desserts than can be considered breakfast
When I don’t bring my lunch from home, I like to go to Grandaisy between classes. I always get a slice of their pizza (favorite is the fennel and cauliflower), a sandwich, and, of course, a dessert. Their desserts certainly have a bit of America in them, but they’re very Italian in their lack of excessive sweetness. The bread pudding, the loaves, and many others are very light on the palate, including the ricotta cheesecake.  It’s easily the best thing I’ve ever eaten there. It’s the complete opposite of a New York cheesecake, and even tastes a bit like a Japanese one. It’s light, airy, evaporates in the mouth, and has a delicate flavor. Dry enough to be eaten by hand!

I know it looks like a turd but I assure you it's ace!

9) Levain Bakery-Best balance of outrageous cookies and humble breakfast treats
There is no other cookie like a Levain bakery one. There is no other cookie, to my recollection, that weighs six ounces, looks like a scone, and has an interior like barely baked cookie dough. There are only four flavors, and they’re all outstanding. My favorite is the chocolate peanut butter chip – when I ate it I felt sick afterwards but it was worth it. Other websites recommend sharing but I say keep it all for yourself! The chocolate chip walnut and the double chocolate chip are great, and the oatmeal raisin, which I just recently tried, has this butteriness to it that completely overrides the dull oat taste – it’s also as dense as a California girl (kidding.)
Their chocolate-filled sourdough is never talked about, but try it warm. The inside melts down to a kind of chocolatey magma, and oozes out of the crusty sourdough…volcano.

Just let that sink in for a minute or two.

10) Max & Mina’s -Best Wacky Ice Cream EVER
Max & Mina’s is one of those places that you hear about, but dismiss because you don’t think it’s possible. Lox and cream cheese ice cream? Pizza? KETCHUP?! But then you go there. And you realize that there are flavors aplenty – nearly none of them are normal, but most are delicious. I’ve gone from the more typical (Chocolate oreo) to the unusual (Halvah, corn, and beer) and have always been delighted. The portions are huge and the ice cream tastes exactly like the flavor it says it is, so it’s worth the price tag. Last time I went, I had a taste of the ketchup flavor.  It was disgusting – mostly because it tasted exactly like it should! It should be mentioned, however, that people have indeed ordered a whole cup of this stuff and downed it like it was milk and honey from the gods. Just remember not to schlep out to Queens between Friday and Saturday after sundown – they close for the Sabbath.