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Culture Dining Featured Theater

The Pumpkin Spice WTF Waffle is a Seasonal Favorite

They say pumpkin spice has gone too far. They say it’s overkill. It’s been abused to excess as a predictable orange fad. Hell, I’ve said it too.

Well, forget about them. Forget about past me as well. Clinton Hall’s new Pumpkin Spice WTF Waffle is the pumpkin spice offering we deserve this season.

The Pumpkin Spice WTF Waffle is part of a three-part series of deserts from The Lure Group, Clinton Hall’s parent company. The series celebrates and promotes three different Broadway shows: The Waitress, Chicago, and Oklahoma!. The Waitress, the first of the series, is the story of a small-town pie-maker dreaming of a life outside of her small marriage in a small town. She copes by making pies themed around her life, like The Key (Lime) to Happiness Pie.

I was skeptical when I showed up. I don’t need to repeat my expectations. I’m not sure what I expected it to actually LOOK like, but when I arrived at Clinton Hall I was greeted by a tower of dessert more than a foot and a half tall. It was the kind of pretty that made you feel bad for trying to eat it. A half dozen other reviewers had arrived, but they hadn’t gotten past the “pictures” phase of the meal. I don’t blame them.

Pumpkin Spice WTF Waffle

I did my due photographic diligence, but the pumpkin pie was calling to me. With the delicacy of an art restoration specialist, I worked the pie off of the top of the tower. It was exactly what I hoped it would be: a gimmick-free slice of pie supported by graham crackers and marshmallows. Off to a good start. 

Once I’d broken the spell, my table-mates were quick to dig in, bisecting the tower. In the picture, you can see the stacks of cinnamon-flavored waffle and vanilla bean ice cream. None of it was clown-car orange. The waffles worked well with the ice cream and the whole thing was gone in two minutes. It makes you appreciate the inventor of the waffle cone.

Pumpkin Spice WTF Waffle
Check out all of the layers.

If you want to enjoy a little pumpkin spice guilt-free, Clinton Hall’s delicious tower of dessert is the way to go. At $25 it is an expensive dessert for one (though I wouldn’t blame you), but it can easily serve four or more people. The offer only lasts through Tuesday, October 1st, so get it before it melts away. 

Categories
Indulgence

Sprinkles Cupcake’s New Summer Flavors

By Lauren Crenshaw

Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world’s first cupcake bakery, is kicking off the summer with the temporary launch of some sweet new flavors. They are introducing a brand new cupcake–peach pie–which has a brown sugar buttercream frosting, a buttery pie crust crumble, and a rich brown sugar crumb cake topped off with cinnamon spiced peaches for gooey greatness. They’re also re-releasing last summer’s favorite cupcake–the pineapple-upside-down cake–filled with caramelized pineapples and finished with a pineapple buttercream frosting for just the right taste.

Aside from the summer flavors, Sprinkles offers over 20 cupcakes flavors, which include vegan and gluten-free options that all have their signature “modern dot” on top of the cupcakes. Other than cupcakes, the bakery provides many different desserts, including cookies, ice cream, layered cakes, and brownies. The new summer flavors are available at all Sprinkles locations for the month of June. 

Sprinkles began as the world’s first cupcake bakery back in 2005. The bakery first opened in Beverly Hills by founders, Candace Nelson and her husband, Charles Nelson. Charles and Candace have been working together from the beginning, ever since Candace would sell cakes from their home.

When Charles and Candace were beginning the foundation of Sprinkles, there was a lot of competition involved, so they knew they had to do something that would make them more unique. Together they decided to introduce a simple and easy-to-use cupcake ATM back in 2012.

The ATM came about when Candace was pregnant with her second son and had a serious late-night cupcake craving. Since stores were closed and it was late hours of the night, she wasn’t able to get a cupcake, so Charles came up with the idea of the cupcake ATM. 

The ATM doesn’t make the cupcakes. It holds up to 400-800 individually boxed cupcakes. A robot arm moves inside the ATM, delivering the cupcakes gently out the window for the customer. This ATM allows customers to enjoy fresh baked cookies and cupcakes for 24/7 service in 15 different locations.

Candace has worked to become the author of the book, “The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secret Recipes from Candace’s Kitchen,” a judge on two Netflix baking shows, opened a pizza restaurant in Brentwood, California, and mother of two boys has worked hard to build Sprinkles. She pushed through many obstacles like finding a landlord who would even begin to believe in the potential for their store but was determined to bring the store together.

Candace has always had the heart of a baker since her great grandmother used to bake desserts in her San Francisco restaurant back in the 1930s. While Candace surrounds her life with sweet tastes and cupcakes, she strives to continue her great grandmother’s legacy of creating these simple, homemade recipes from scratch at Sprinkles.

The peach pie and the pineapple up-side-down cupcakes are some of the homemade and straightforward indulgences that Candace and her husband provide to give their customers a tasty variety for those cravings.

Categories
Dining Featured Indulgence

Your Weekly Indulgence: Rhubarb Pavlova at Reynard

Your Weekly Indulgence highlights the most luxurious dishes New York has to offer. Use the hashtag #ywidowntown and tag us @downtownmagnyc on Instagram to let us know how you’re indulging!

If you haven’t checked out Reynard, the New American restaurant in Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel, you’re missing out on delicious food in a can’t beat location. The menu ranges from house made bone broth and pastries to lunch sandwiches and salads and grilled or roasted proteins for dinner.

This summer the dessert menu includes a rhubarb pavlova with elderflower, whipped white chocolate, and pistachio. If you’ve never had the meringue based dessert named after ballerina Anna Pavlova this is the perfect one to try as you sip on dessert wine and enjoy a summer evening.

Reynard
80 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg

Breakfast:
Monday–Friday: 7:00–11:00 AM
Saturday–Sunday: 7:00–10:00 AM

Lunch:
Monday–Friday: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Brunch:
Saturday–Sunday: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Dinner:
Sunday–Thursday: 6:00–11:00 PM
Friday–Saturday: 6:00 PM – 12:00 AM

Categories
Dining Events Featured News

Celebrate the LES Community with Bonsai Kakigōri

Beloved Japanese dessert shop Bonsai Kakigōri could formerly only be found at the Canal Street Market and pop-ups like Smorgasburg. They recently opened their first solo brick-and-mortar shop on the Lower East Side with their beloved shaved ice desserts and an expanded menu featuring drinks, toasts, and snacks like katsu sandwiches. The place is already a star on Instagram, and the team is getting involved with the local community.

In the spirit of celebrating and giving back to their community, Bonsai Kakigōri will host a pay-what-you-wish community day on Saturday, May 4th to benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club of NY, a community center that offers programs in the arts, sciences, leadership, entrepreneurship, and wellness for girls in middle and high school. From 11:00am – 10:00pm, guests can enjoy Bonsai Kakigōri’s new menu items to support the local organization.

Photo by Ethan Covey

They are also kicking off their monthly chef collaborations this week. The first one partners with chef Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen and debuts on Thursday, May 2nd and will be available all month. Co-owners of Bonsai, Theo Friedman and Gaston Becherano, teamed up with Ivan Orkin and his team to create Ivan’s Quadruple Coffee Crunch Surprise Kakigōri, made with a cold brew, smoked almonds, salted coffee caramel, coffee jelly, and espresso mousse. Stop by on Bonsai Community Day or any other day to try this coffee filled special!

Bonsai Kakigōri
100 Stanton Street at Ludlow Street

Categories
Dining Featured

Don’t Just Go Green, Eat Green with These Earth Day Treats

Some of our favorite NYC sweet spots have special desserts for Earth Day! Check them out below.

byCHLOE

Our favorite vegan spot is offering two Earth Day desserts on the 22nd. Their vegan chocolate donut topped with chocolate ganache and vanilla sugar cookie will both be accented with blue and green sprinkles. 50% of the purchase price from the sale of each Earth Day donut sold will be donated to International Animal Welfare (IFAW), supporting their mission to protect animals.  

MatchaBar x Van Leeuwen

MatchaBar has partnered with Van Leeuwen to create Vegan Green Planet: a blue and green vegan ice cream designed to look like our planet! The base is made of raw cashew milk, coconut cream, raw organic coconut oil, pure cocoa butter, and organic cane sugar plus MatchaBar’s ceremonial grade Matcha and has housemate blue spirulina almond cake folded throughout. This special flavor will be available at all Van Leeuwen locations through May 7th.

Tag us in your Earth Day treat photos on Instagram at @downtownmagnyc.

Categories
Dining Featured Indulgence

Your Weekly Indulgence: Chocolate Pizza at Blue Stripes Cacao Shop

Your Weekly Indulgence highlights the most luxurious dishes New York has to offer. Use the hashtag #ywidowntown and tag us @downtownmagnyc on Instagram to let us know how you’re indulging!

Oded Brenner is our chocolate guru. Blue Stripes Cacao Shop is full of healthier treats made from the pulp of the cacao fruit as well as insane chocolate indulgences you can’t get anywhere else.

With so many dishes to choose from, what did Oded say was the most indulgent in the shop? “Maybe still the chocolate pizza. This is my original recipe, and it’s something that is so much identified with me and with my creations and with the Willy Wonka theme that I did in the past.” You can pick up a slice of this decadent combination of chocolates, hazelnut, and marshmallows whenever you stop by Blue Stripes.

Blue Stripes Cacao Shop
28 East 13th Street
Monday–Friday: 8:00 AM – 11:00 PM
Saturday–Sunday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM