Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A New York afternoon dabbling in doughnuts, fine breads and The Met

Not dead.  Just lazy.  And obsessed with playing computer games.  Hours and hours of computer games on Steam.  I somehow regressed into the lifestyle of a 12 year old boy this winter, and it's hard to stop !  I hope your progress with your New Year's resolutions are going much better.

Thank goodness for Jamie to motivate me to actually get dressed, brush my hair and check out our fine city - this time the Upper East Side!

From the owner behind Earl's Beer and Cheese comes Dough Loco, an artisan doughnut shop with funky flair and flavors to match.


The doughnuts are tall with bright thick glazes.


Fun flavors include raspberry sriracha, maple miso, blood orange, cinnamon sugar and chocolate.




This is the face of someone who looks like they are about to Dough Loco !


I tried the chocolate, irresistible-looking with its deep brown glaze and skinny minnie chocolate sprinkles to match.  The icing was so rich and sweet, but it's the kind of sugar kick any bad boy with a sweet tooth would appreciate in the morning (like me!).


Jamie got the maple miso, which was my favorite of the batch - the maple flavor reigned supreme and brought me back to my McMinnville cream days of Voodoo Doughnuts (sigh!).


The blood orange, spotted with tiny poppy seeds, is a good offset to the two sweet ones.  It's absolutely bright, tart and tangy.


While the glazes are delicious, the doughnuts do fall short in the airiness of the yeast doughnut itself.  These buggers are incredibly thick and dense, making for a pretty heavy breakfast treat.  I can't help but compare these to Dough, whose blood orange is amazing and the doughnut airy and light.


For our breakfast entree, Jamie grabbed us a loaf of Sfoglia's signature sourdough bread, heralded in the Huffington Post as one of the top things to eat before you die.  Yeah.  Bold stuff.


Sfoglia serves the bread with their meals or you can purchase full loaves in the mornings from their restaurant for $8.50.  There's some confusion with the restaurant staff understanding whether or not bread is sold in the morning, but just remain persistent and stand your ground, and eventually you get rewarded with this:


A huge square hunk of golden brown bread.


Our Verdict: you can safely die before eating this bread without any regrets.  

Still, it's a very solid bread, soft and moist on the inside with very slight sourdough tang, but could use more sea salt sprinkled on the crust, and honestly might be better enjoyed first warmed in the oven with a tasty marinara sauce.


After, we spent a few hours perusing the treasures of the Met.  It's been half a year since I've visited last, but I always forget just how amazing past civilizations really were.  


I mean look at these gold finger caps!


Meticulous hieroglyphic jewelry!


This Egyptian is swaddled by a bird who is wearing a snake !  That's SO cool !



I'm pretty sure I just headed straight home after this lovely afternoon to play more computer games.  Man, I am in trouble.

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Dough Loco and Sfoglia are pretty good, but probably not worth a special trip; if you're conveniently on Park and 98th and appreciate a good maple doughnut, pop your head in for sure.

1261 Park Ave
New York, NY
Dough Loco on Urbanspoon

1402 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10128
Sfoglia on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. that bread is just how i like my bread - ENORMOUS!! and maple miso?? i can't even imagine the awesome. :)

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