Bougie Buns on the UES
plus a counterpoint on Krispy Kreme
It’s the week of Thanksgiving! A week that is, I think, traditionally in the US at least, not that full of buns. Lots of pies, maybe some rolls, but buns aren’t canon. But you, dear readers, have the power to change that. It’s 2020, anything can happen. I’d love to share all your beautiful buns, so please take some pics and send my way to include in the next edition 😍
This week we’re dressing to impress and taking a stroll to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, home to gossipy girls and metropolitan museums, for a review of some of the neighborhood’s most popular pastries.
Incidentally enough, however, you can find may of these places on the UWS. There’s a few of these neighborhood mirrors NYers are familiar with - UES/UWS, East Village/West Village, East Village/Williamsburg - basically anywhere you can find a Crif Dog, Big Gay, Cafe Mogador, or a Levain. This oddity of NY might be worth another post at some point, but for now let’s roll into it.
Two Little Red Hens
A bakery known predominantly for their quite delicious cakes and cupcakes, Two Little Red Hens on 86th St and 2nd Ave (not to be confused with Little Red Hen bakery in Coupeville, WA from the Nov 3 edition) also serves a cinnamon roll. I visited in January, about a hundred years ago to try it out.
At first glance, there isn't anything particularly outstanding. The dough appears a bit off-color, with a yellow hue, but beyond that it appears to be your normal cinnamon roll. Take a bite, however, and notice an interesting tang. Nothing strong or weird, but something a bit off. That's the sweet potato present in the dough. This is the most unique thing about Two Little Red Hen’s roll. Beyond that, the filling has a strong cinnamon flavor that is present in every bite but isn't gooey and is baked into the dough more. The icing on top is your standard fare, with enough on to sweeten but not overpower the rest of the roll. There are raisins, but not enough to note. They serve is straight out of the case, so be sure to take home and warm up for extra oomph.
Orwasher’s Bakery
Just down the street on 78th and 2nd is Orwasher’s Bakery, a classic Jewish bakery heavy on the bagels and loaves founded in 1916. Beyond the ryes and ciabattas, however, lies a lovely selection of pastries.
Orwasher's calls their cinnamon bun a "morning bun", and you can get it regular or raspberry (I'm not exactly sure if the raspberry is additive to the cinnamon or a substitute). The dough is crispy and flakey and full of butter like a croissant, with a hint of orange. The cinnamon is mostly an accent, with filling that was runny and gooey at one point but has now crystallized and is sticky, overflowing out of the roll. This thing is really good, and very dense. Straddling the line between a bun and a roll (2200 word dissertation on the difference saved for another edition), this baby slaps. It’s definitely one of the best in the city and worth a visit if you’re in the neighborhood.
Levain Bakery
What visit to the UES would be complete without visiting the now national chain known as Levain Bakery? Levain is most well known for their “cookies” - I put them in quotes because their cookies are like a cross between a scone, a cookie, and a biscuit. Incredibly dense, very large, and unlike any cookie you’ve had anywhere else. They come in four flavors: chocolate chip walnut, double chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, chocolate chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin, and TBH you can’t go wrong with any of them. Below at left are remnants of the double chocolate chip and the chocolate chip peanut butter. The choco/PB combo is my favorite, purely because that flavor combination was the actual apple in Eden that Satan tempted Eve with and led to the fall of mankind. It was worth it.
But Levain also has sticky buns! They come in raisin and walnut, as you can see above. I went for an official tasting of the walnut in January (at right), and recently had the raisin variant as well. The dough is fairly standard, but it does have a good texture and fluffiness. The cinnamon filling is high in quantity but is high in flavor, and the walnuts provide a good balance. There’s a bit of soaked-in gooeyness at the bottom which is quite delightful. No matter which variant you go for, you’ll get a lot of toppings. I’m fairly certain that just the middle portion of the raisin bun had more raisins than a shitty-Halloween-candy-handout box of Sun Maid California Raisins™, let alone from the rest of the roll.
If you’re in Levain and in need of a bun, these will definitely satisfy, but the cookies are the far standout (and they ship nationwide!)
Krispy Kreme: Counterpoint
Thanks to Lisa for her counterpoint to my tirade against Krispy Kreme last week. She writes:
Krispy kreme doughnuts are great! I can get w you on the name but I love the lightness of the dough and I like the sweetness because the glaze layer is not too thick. Gabe, Abbe and I visited the first KK on our visit to NC and hot out of the machine it can't be beat!
Who’s to argue with that? Not me. I’m still keeping my stance, but we here at Bun Stuff value a healthy(?) debate around pastries.
Have a Happy Bunsgiving
Stay at home and wear a mask! This is one week where bun stuff is not better with friends in the real world - keep it virtual.
But seriously, show me your buns from this week! I wanna see those golden brown crusts filled with butter and bursting with flavor. Buns, pastries, pies, cookies, a la modes, savory rolls, I want to see it all! Drop a line to me @clinejj or the same at gmail.
Stay safe bun buds!