Back for a Bunventure
A little trip down the west side for the first Tasty Tuesday
It’s the first Tasty Tuesday edition of Bun Stuff 😉 This past weekend provided an opportunity to knock out some of the last remaining places on my cinnamon roll checklist that are still open and serving. Which speaking of, does anyone in NYC have a Costco membership?
At any rate, I had heard from a friend Kate about a bakery near her place in Harlem, and there were places on the UWS and Chelsea that I also wanted to visit. Sunday morning came along, I snagged a Revel, and despite the maga motorcade I ran into had a lovely little morning scootering and biking around the city.
Mel
Ok I actually went to Mel on Saturday, but I’m still giving it an update. Mel, on the LES, focuses primarily on locally sourced ingredients. They bake bread wholesale during the week, and offer a limited selection of breads and pastries for retail on the weekend. Their cinnamon roll comes with a lovely coating of cream cheese frosting with a few wild flower petals to add some color and pop. The roll I had was quite good, with a very flakey croissant-like dough that was unfortunately cooked a bit too long. There wasn’t a ton of cinnamon filling unfortunately, but there was a large serving of creamy frosting on top (possibly too much). The wildflowers looked great but didn’t add to the taste.
Mel’s cookies, however, were phenomenal. I got a snickerdoodle and a chocolate chip cookie, both were very delicious and pretty much exactly what you’d want. Mel also had a kouign annan that they were unfortunately sold out of when I visited, so I’ll be heading back for more (and to see about snagging a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven).
Silver Moon Bakery
The first stop was Silver Moon Bakery in Harlem (Morningside Heights?), which was rumored to have cinnamon rolls. They have two cinnamon brioche rolls, the regular and one with raisins and walnuts. I went for the regular. The brioche dough is quite good, and a bit buttery, although the roll I had was cooked a bit on the firmer side. There was a speckle of cinnamon in the roll, but just providing a hint of flavoring and not the gooey filling one would hope for. The frosting is your standard frosting, but it does have a nice creamy texture.
They also have what’s called a “California breakfast bun”, and in my opinion a better choice than the cinnamon brioche. This bun is made with croissant dough rather than brioche, has much more cinnamon filling, and is dusted with sizable amount of regular sugar rather than frosting. The bun I had was a bit overcooked, but the dough was flakey enough to leave me visibly covered afterwards. The middle was a good mess of dough and filling, but I wish the filling had a stronger flavor. The dusting of sugar gives the sweetness a nice sharp bite, which I appreciated as a counterpoint to the buttery dough.
And because I couldn’t help myself, I also snagged their version of a canelbullar (aka cardamom bun). Theirs also had pearl sugar, but was made with a whole cardamom goo situation that was a first for all the canelbullars I’ve had. It was really good. You don’t often get the full blast of cardamom, usually just a hint, but Silver Moon did not hold back. The dough was soft and flakey, and the pockets of cardamom were quite delicious. If you’re in the neighborhood and looking for something a bit more unique, definitely go for this.
Zabar’s
The New York institution most prominently known for appearances in You’ve Got Mail and a dozen other movies, Zabar’s has a little cafe next door that serves a selection of pastries as well as a hearty cinnamon roll for just under $3. I was handed a hand-sized roll covered with a plentiful dose of cream cheese frosting. The dough is your kinda standard cinnamon roll dough - a bit sweet, a bit airy, nothing too fancy. There's a lot of filling visible, but it's a relatively mild flavor. The filling is a bit gooey, with some soaking up on the bottom. And the frosting, well, there is a lot of it. There's also a bit of artificiality to the whole thing - somewhat of a hint of that vending machine preservative flavor from some of the other rolls. Make sure to ask for it heated up (or do it yourself if you buy them online). They’re definitely a decent choice, particularly for the value, when you have those particularly unhealthy cravings.
Cookshop
On the other side of the value spectrum we have Cookshop, a very hip brunch spot in Chelsea right near the High Line. They happen to offer a cinnamon bun on their brunch starter menu, and as you could expect from the first sentence it's priced high at $8 for a roll slightly larger than what you might find at a regular bakery. The dough is thick and chewy, and unfortunately the one I had was also a bit too oily. There was visibly a lot of cinnamon filling, but you couldn't really taste much of it. The frosting told a similar story - I could see it, but I could barely taste it. It did come warm, but was otherwise just surprisingly boring and too oily. Stick with the other brunch starters here and walk down the block to Fabrique for your bun fixings.
Coming Up…
That’s it for this week! What’s keeping you filled and happy this month? Has anyone gone full fall with some pumpkin pastries or apple delights?
Coming up next week we’ll have October’s cronut flavor plus the first cinnamon roll I officially rated, that was almost the best cinnamon roll, and unfortunately is no longer served.