Thursday, October 14, 2010

Baked and Mile End - Brooklyn

Revisiting Some Old Favorites
It's a struggle when I come back to NYC - do I hit all the new spots or mix in some old favorites?  In the end I do a bit of both.  I've already gone to Iris just about every morning - Tyra Banks keeps sitting next to me but I don't read anything into it (no, I didn't take a photo of her, this in NY not LA.)  Another of my favorites is Baked in Red Hook.  I measure all cupcakes against theirs and none has taken their crown and probably never will.  Some of you will mock me: "the cupcake craze is over!"  I know what you mean, but really, some things never completely go out of style.  It would be like saying "geez, I sure am tired of pussy."
It never seems to matter which Baked cupcake I get, they're all excellent.  Dodo's banana with mocha cream and peanuts was top notch.  However, my absolute favorite thing is the peanut butter krispy bar, described on their website as "rich chocolate and peanut butter on a bed of caramelized crisped rice cereal."  I think of it as a dark chocolate Reese's with Rice Krispies.  They keep it chilled so I let it sit out for a half hour before attacking.  The dark chocolate layer is stacked on top of  a layer of milk chocolate, peanut butter and krispies.  Simply put - it's a chunk of perfection.  I mean, look - I get on a bus to Red Hook for this.  That says it all.

There's always something new to try at Baked, like these coffee crisp bars....
....or these pumpkin cheesecake bars.  Hmmmm, now that I'm looking at these photos again, I may have to get back on that bus today.
Another of my local favorites is Mile End.  We went there for the poutine: a mountain of fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds and topped with smoked meat.  I recall a Paris colleague commenting on poutine - something like "way dew not take deece deesh sare-uzz-lee."  Yeah, I understand - it's not classic, it was invented in the 1950's by a break away colony.  It's ugly looking too.  Then again, fuck you!  It's delicious!  How about that?  Are you against delicious on principle, Mr. Frenchie?  The curds melt into a gooey mess, mix with the gravy but still the fries hold their form.  Nap time!

Baked
359 Van Brunt St
Red Hood
Brooklyn

Mile End
97A Hoyt Street
Boerum Hill
Brooklyn

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6 comments:

  1. Never been a fan of meat on poutine, I like to keep it simple ;)

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  2. @Canadian Guy - you're right, it was overkill.

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  3. When were you there? I went this past Sunday and had a whole bunch of stuff (review coming soon). We got two cupcakes one, the salted caramel and the red velvet and for some reason the "cake" in the salted caramel was bone dry - all my 5 companions were suprised as two of them are from Red Hook and go all the time and said they have never gotten a dry cupcake. - The red velvet cake part was perfect as was the pumpkin whoopie pie. Anyway, keep up the great posts looking forward to Paris stuff.

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  4. @Niko - I think I would drop dead of shock if I ever had anything that was even slightly less than awesome at Baked.

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  5. I love going back to old hunts... and even happier to find that nothing has changed.

    Every bite still brings a smile... and you ask me why I am so boring always wanting to eat the same thing? Why bother finding something new when these yummy "oldies" are good enough for me!

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  6. @Dodo - need I remind you that a certain someone was doubting Baked as it compares to Butterlane? No contest, game over! Baked!

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