ES Local: Pre-Thanksgiving Treats in NYC
In that great annual Thanksgiving debate, I fall decidedly in the camp of sides (and dessert) being way more exciting than turkey, which means around this time of year I start getting way too excited for sweet potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie. So let’s be honest, I’m just not gonna be able to hold out two weeks until the big day itself.
Fortunately, some of New York’s crazier chefs are incorporating Thanksgiving flavors into their pre-turkey day dessert offerings. Here are a few of the more exciting/insane options:
Bouchon Bakery: Thomas Keller’s Columbus Circle patisserie is taking those normally discarded pumpkin seeds and turning them into a sweet pumpkin seed brittle, one of a slew of gourd-infused items currently on offer there, from pumpkin cookies to pumpkin brioche. 10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor.
Kyotofu: This trendy Hell’s Kitchen dessert bar turns out creative pastries and cakes that just sound wrong – but somehow end up very, very right. The warm sweet potato-and-tofu cheesecake is tastier than any yam concoction likely to hit your T-day table. 705 Ninth Ave.
Momofuku Milk Bar: The after-dinner extension of David Chang’s insanely popular food empire serves the trippiest soft-serve flavors they can dream up, but they may have outdone themselves with this month’s new flavor: stuffing. It’s just like Stove Top — except it’s ice cream. Weird? Amazing? Weird? Amazing? I’m still not sure. 207 2nd Ave.
Bonus Link: In case you’re exclusively a pumpkin eater, Brooklyn Based brings us an all-pumpkin tour of Brooklyn, from pumpkin chai tea to pumpkin ale chocolate cake.
And if you’re visiting NYC this turkey season, Oyster has hotel recs near these sweet spots in Columbus Circle, Hell’s Kitchen, and the East Village.
(Photo: New York808)