Here’s what I ended up visiting in my 3 days and 2 nights:
- After checking into the hotel, a few colleagues were already at Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop. I had already made a note of this place from a previous comment so headed on over right away. I asked the woman at the counter for her recommendation for the “most unusual slice” but she noted that their selection is much more limited than the main restaurant. I had the Hellboy (mozza, sauce, pecorino, pepperoni, hot honey, sesame seed bottom) which was delicious, as well as the Vegan Vidalia which was a pretty disappointing caramelized onion slice (both slices were $5.25 each).
- Next morning, I only had time to drop in at Bakeri for a ham and cheese croissant ($5) and a piece of banana date bread ($4) plus a coffee. It was pretty busy, but nothing special.
- Our work event happened to order some cupcakes and cookies from Ovenly. I’m not a cupcake person usually, and tried a peanut butter cookie, which I found too sweet and chewy ($42 / dozen)
- I stopped by a few ice cream/gelato places, as well as an eponymous “depanneur” selling interesting chocolate, and dropped into Levain. The bright storefront was very enticing, and I bought and immediately ate an oatmeal raisin cookie. Even though they’ve been around since 1996, this was my first experience and visit. The cookie was huge (maybe 1/4 cup of raisins inside!), warm, very satisfying, but just a tad undercooked in the middle for me. I bought a 4-pack signature assortment to bring home ($27). That’s right: $6.75 for one cookie. They were still good 48 hours later when my family dug into them. The amount of chocolate inside is insane, and even one-quarter of a cookie is pretty filling.
- Breakfast the next morning was at Qahwah House. I tried the Jubani ($5), a made-to-order hot beverage of ground coffee, coffee husks, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon. This was boiled on an induction cooktop at the counter. Very warm and satisfying, similar to masala chai, but definitely not a tea-based beverage, nor did it really taste like coffee either. The goat cheese pie ($8) was a flaky pastry filled with olives, ground meat, and cheese, not really exciting. I’d recommend coming here for the beverages alone.
- I had some free time before my flight, so I did some more exploring. I had seen online that Patisserie Tomoko sold Mont Blanc ($8), one of my favourite desserts. Unfortunately, it was disappointing: the base was a nice pate sucree, filled with some kind of frangipane or cake. But the topping had way too little sweetened chestnut puree, and way too much whipped cream blended in. That made the soft whipped cream on top even more superfluous. The Americano I had was great though. This place might be worth another visit in the future, as they do a 3-course dessert tasting, as well as some interesting seasonal sundaes made with Japanese ingredients.
- I ended my bakery tour of Williamsburg at Bianco Latte. Maybe I was lured by the beautiful branding, or the sign that promised “Italian” pastries, but my Bombolone Raspberry donut ($6) was a dud: the fruit filling was pasty.
