Thanks everyone! These are exactly the type of responses I was wishing for.
@Ttrockwood, I am already working on an excuse to drive by that garlic knots place. One of the hardest things to find a good version of. Also, we’ll be staying in Flushing! A few years ago we stayed in the same spot and just kept walking around exploring and hardly did anything else. This time we have to make sure we save Flushing for last. I’m afraid the same thing will happen again.
If - no, WHEN- you go to see the once in a lifetime show of Michaelangelo at the Met the garlic knots place is on your way to/from if you get off at 72nd st 6train. I have no idea if the pizza at the same shop is any good.
How perfect you are staying in flushing! I am admittedly a total amateur when it comes to the area but i do know that the Golden Mall is like one crazy amazing gathering of food stalls- just make sure to have cash for them. And go hungry :)
I read on your blog that Bien Cuit is owned by relatives, so I understand if you are hesitant to answer any questions.
Do you know if the Grand Central Market location gets fresh shipments of bread and pastries every day? We’ve been to the Cobble Hill location many times and were always impressed how even the pastries were always made the same day.
My only issue with Bien Cuit was that the butter in their pastries would absorb the sourdough aroma and flavor from the breads. Did you find this to be the case at the Grand Central location?
We took the advice here seriously and will be in New York right after Christmas and out of there on the 30th.
Grand Central looks like a worthwhile stop. We can visit two bakeries and I guess tour Grand Central while we’re at it.
@Ttrockwood, thanks for the link to that blog. Already spent way too much time on it. And I really appreciate the specific recommendations. On Yelp, people will just go for the popular items and you always wonder about the other things. For example, at Dominique Ansel, the cronut is my least favorite item. I go there for the other pastries. I’ll take a kouign amann over a cronut any day. Plus, like Bien Cuit, they are incredibly consistent.
Of course, glad you found it helpful- he’s truly an expert on the area so I’m sure you will find some delicious spots!
If you’re pro-bagel in Soho the bagels at Sadelle’s are really great, a smaller actual ring shape with a defined hole in the middle and proper chewy crust. There’s a counter in the front to order to go ( staying to eat there is highly recommended but they certainly have soho prices)
I may be in a minority but I did not like the offerings at Bien Cuit in Grand Central. The crusts are very hard, almost burnt and my almond croissant was incredibly sweet, with the same burnt crust.
Another thought- Urbanspace Vanderbuilt is basically next door to grand central. For lunch i would definitely do something from the nordic offerings in the great northern food hall, but in urbanspace there’s a location of Ovenly. They’re best known for the chocolate chunk cookies which are rather chubby and very soft inside- i think what makes them notable is that they’re actually vegan yet widely held as one of the best in the city. The olive oil cake by the slice and peanut butter cookie are also worthwhile.
There’s also Dough doughnuts which everyone but me seems to love (they’re just not the same style doughnut as what i grew up having) and they often have interesting flavors like hibiscus and such.
https://www.urbanspacenyc.com/urbanspace-vanderbilt/
And this sounds insane but Paris Baguette has a few locations in flushing, they sell that super fluffy light spongy "cheesecake " that is really popular, and this time of year they usually feature several chestnut buns and pastries, i haven’t been recently but there was a tasty bun last year with a thick chestnut filling that was quite good.
If you are doing lunch in Grand Central and want to treat yourself, go to Agern, which is located at the back of the food hall. It’s a bargain compared to dinner ($65 for three courses as opposed to $145 or $185 for the dinner tasting menus) and the food is really spectacular. I meant to do a write up of our meal there but forgot; I’ll post some photos here in a second so you can at least see some of what we enjoyed!!
Steak Tartare
Corn and mushroom appetizer - I am not a fan of corn and I LOVED this.
Pork belly with cauliflower puree:
Gorgeous chocolate dessert. All of the desserts were wonderful, in fact.
Thanks for reminding me about that thread. I agree that their crust is very dark and hard to chew. Although I didn’t like it at first, their bread grew on me. Reading the other thread, it seems like they may be having quality control issues.
I wasn’t impressed with their cookbook, but I am very excited to see how their products look and taste in the actual bakery.
Always on the lookout for doughnuts. I only like one doughnut place in Baltimore. At home, it’s very time consuming to make different flavors of doughnuts.
Insane, indeed. I’m way too snobby for Paris Baguette. Many years ago, I kept getting things from Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours, but was never impressed. We were in China this year and I was hoping to eat sponge cakes every day, but bakeries were not popular in the region we stayed in. So I’m looking forward to a steady of diet of sponge cake next week!
@bmorecupcake, Sorry for the delay in responding. Despite Bien Cuit being owned by my cousins, I have no inside information regarding Grand Central Market deliveries. I’ve bought bread and pastries from the GCM location only once, and I found the quality to be as good as what I’ve eaten at and taken home (to NJ) from Smith Street many times. Maybe my senses are not as sharp as yours, but I haven’t noticed the sourdough aroma being absorbed by the pastries.
I very much appreciate that you’ve read my blog. And “Thank you!” on behalf of my cousins for being a Bien Cuit customer.
It’s just a counter of Ovenly , their actual bakery is in greenpoint brooklyn so there’s a smaller selection- i don’t recall seeing cakes at for example but maybe they have them now.
If you’re going to be anywhere near union square/flatiron district especially in the morning make Daily Provisions your first stop, they have a cruller doughnut , kouign amann, and breakfast gougeres i think you would love
Unfortunately i have only been for lunch (and had a tasty delicata squash sandwich) so those items had already sold out for the day.
Totally understood on paris baguette! Haha, and there really is something wonderful about those chinese sponge cakes! I always love the sticky rice pastry stuff too like the plain triangles and balls filled with peanut or sesame.
You’re going to be the end of me. I am guilty of chasing food, especially stuff I can’t make well at home. I will “waste” a half day to chase a perfect bagel or kouign amann or garlic knots. My immediate family are almost as nuts as I am, but you can see looks of desperation on our friends’ faces.
What is the place with the garlic knots called? I’m going to have to make a trek there the next time I’m in the city!
I had no idea this place was there. Always enter and exit through the market so I never see Vanderbilt. I will have to check it out!
Yeah it a weird location, but good for a lunch stop or the coffee at Toby’s is great. I seem to go when i’m near grand central and yet don’t want to deal with or need to go into grand central itself (in good weather i would park my citibike in a mearby station)
It’s not really attached to Grand Central. You can walk “uptown” through the office building housing GCT, but you have to exit and cross 45th Street to get to Urban Space Vanderbilt. It confused the hell out of me the first time I went looking for it and no one in GCT knew what I was talking about.
There’s a shock! Is Urban Space on Vanderbilt? Could I exit there and walk up?
Sure, you could walk along Vanderbilt to 45th. The Urbanspace building is on the northeast corner.
I HAVE to get to Dough!!! Looks great!
I know Joe Distefano of chopsticksandmarrow.com. I was his RA in college and we were best friends for almost 25 years. We lost touch the past couple of years, but he knows his stuff about food and restaurants in NYC, especially Queens. His food tours are great, and he has been on several food shows taking folks to places in Queens. Bourdain, Zimmern, etc. He spends all day, every day, visiting restaurants and markets, and writing about the ones he likes most. We used to get together and check out new places to eat and drink several days a week for more than a decade. We also wrote for the same publication for several years. Then he focused on Queens food and the professional BBQ scene, and I on beverages after I became partners in a winery, opened a brewery, restauarant, culinary school, then a distillery.
