After an outstanding first day in NYC, we had more big plans (eating AND non-eating, if you can believe it) for Day 2. We were going to go for a fancy, multi-course brunch but after all of our great meals the day before, we weren't quite ready for another biggie. I said to Lauren, "Isn't there someplace we can go and have a great cup of coffee and a croissant? Somewhere like Bouchon Bakery [Thomas Keller's famous bakery]?" Lauren, with one eyebrow raised, said "Uh, there is a Bouchon. It's like 5 blocks from here." HUZZAH!! We had our brunch place.
On our way over to the Time Warner Center, we met Eliot, a St. Bernard who lived nearby.
When we arrived at the Time Warner Center we went up to the 4th floor to Bouchon Bakery. In addition to our coffee, we ordered a croissant, a corn muffin, a linzer cookie, and a box of donut holes called "bouchkins"! How cute.
The croissant was light, flaky, and buttery - just what we were craving. The corn muffin was good too - slightly sweet, slightly savory, good texture.
The croissant was light, flaky, and buttery - just what we were craving. The corn muffin was good too - slightly sweet, slightly savory, good texture.
The bouchkins were SO good - half had powdered sugar on the outside, half had cinnamon-sugar. Of course, we love our coffee and donuts!
And the coffee was good and strong. Mmmm.
And the coffee was good and strong. Mmmm.
After breakfast, we headed over towards the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Tim Burton exhibit. On our way, we stopped at Anthropologie and purchased a few goodies! Who can resist that place??
The Tim Burton exhibit was awesome. He had all kinds of pieces from sculpture to paintings on canvas to animated videos, plus there were a lot of pieces from his various movies, including Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, and Sweenie Todd. It was REALLY crowded since the exhibit was closing the next week, but it was a great exhibit and we were really glad we could go.
After our museum visit, we needed to go back to the hotel to grab our bags, so while in the neighborhood we grabbed a NY slice at Famiglia Pizza. We got a slice of plain, a slice of veggie, and a slice of white pizza - all were good and really hit the spot after fighting through the crowds at the museum.
Excited for veggie pizza?
We then schlepped downtown to go meet Lauren's boyfriend, John, and his peeps at a bar near NYU. But we had one more stop to make before we did that: Rice to Riches. For three girls who really aren't big rice pudding fans, we were THRILLED to be headed to R2R for a sweet treat. Xani originally heard of this place on the relatively new show on Food Network, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Upon further research, we discovered that this place had approximately 20 flavors of rice pudding, plus about 15 toppings to go on top. Decisions, decisions!
When we arrived at R2R, we first noticed the decor - the place was covered in fantastic sayings and instructions, like "Sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy," or "Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway." or "No Skinny Bitches!" Our kinda place.
Excited for veggie pizza?
We then schlepped downtown to go meet Lauren's boyfriend, John, and his peeps at a bar near NYU. But we had one more stop to make before we did that: Rice to Riches. For three girls who really aren't big rice pudding fans, we were THRILLED to be headed to R2R for a sweet treat. Xani originally heard of this place on the relatively new show on Food Network, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Upon further research, we discovered that this place had approximately 20 flavors of rice pudding, plus about 15 toppings to go on top. Decisions, decisions!
When we arrived at R2R, we first noticed the decor - the place was covered in fantastic sayings and instructions, like "Sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy," or "Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway." or "No Skinny Bitches!" Our kinda place.
We ordered two flavors of rice pudding with two toppings. First we ordered the French Toast flavor of rice pudding with a crumbly, buttery granola topping (this was the suggested flavor-topping combo on the TV show). Second, we made up our own combo and ordered the Mascarpone with Cherries flavor, plus the most genius topping ever: toasted poundcake CROUTONS! What?! Why didn't we think of that??
Mascarpone with Cherries and poundcake croutons
French Toast with Oatmeal Coconut Granola Topping
Both were excellent - sweet, complex flavors, good texture from the rice and the toppings, and everything was served chilled.
Lauren and Xani about to dig in!
So good EP was a'dancin'
Not surprisingly, we preferred our flavor combo to the one we saw on TV...not that we're biased or anything. It was a great treat but it definitely put us in a rice pudding coma for a few hours.
We hung out with Lauren's boyfriend and his friends for a little while, but then headed to Brooklyn to sit quietly and come out of the rice pudding haze. I'll save our amazing Greek dinner in Brooklyn for the next NYC post. Coming soon, I promise!
Happy rice pudding eating,
EP & X
wow, that sounds like a really amazing trip! My timing is probably confused but you weren't encumbered by the bombing attempt were you?
ReplyDeleteHow ironic, I was in NYC the next weekend and we also went to Rice to Riches... Even more ironic is we were planning on seeing the Tim Burton exhibit but since it was the last weekend it was sold out! I'm envious you got to see it. I'll have my post up in the next few days or so ;)
ReplyDeletetoasted poundcake croutons?!?!?! LOVE it! which gives me an idea: poundcake bread pudding? hmmmm...
ReplyDelete