Afternoon Tea at Cha-An

(Can you believe this is our 150th post? It seems like just yesterday when Diana and I decided to chronicle our eating escapades for both ourselves and the world, because the best thing to share in life is a good meal, and boy do we love sharing!)

Saturday, Thanan and I saw a psychic in Chinatown and went to grab some afternoon tea in St. Mark's to  ponder the psychic's revelations for us.  I knew just the perfect spot: Cha-An.

The tea shop is tiny rectangular room located atop a narrow set of stairs.  We were told a thirty minute wait, but the best thing about Cha-An is that they take down your name AND number, so you can wander around the area, and they call you when your seats are ready.  Thanan and I watched dogs at nearby Tompkins Park for 30 minutes, where I decided that my future dog will be a chowchow.  They are just so goshdarn adorable.

I ordered the afternoon tea set which came with your choice of any tea, excluding three specific ones (matcha, tieguanyin and twelve trees oolong), so I picked the flower craft green tea.  Being a bit slow that afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a flowering tea (duh, seems so obvious, I know)!

The tea took just a couple minutes to completely bloom, which, the waitress instructed, would be the sign that the tea was ready to drink!

Hot and refreshing!

Thanan ordered the matcha latte which had juicy red beans at the bottom that you eat with a spoon.  Thanan confirmed the matcha was legit.  (And when Thanan says it's legit, dude, it's legit.)

Thanan also ordered the black sesame creme brulee which came with a gorgeous black sesame tuile cookie.

Beneath the smokey grey black sesame ice cream was the creme brulee: a crispy layer of bitter-sugar crust and a creamy bottom.  It's pretty fantastic, as in pretty and fantastic.

The Cha-An sweets set: scone, pound cake and cookies.

Cha-An scone.

What is wonderful about the scone is that it is freshly baked to order.  They warn you that it will take approx. ten minutes, and while those may be the longest ten minutes of your life, it is well worth it.  The huge sugar crystals amplified the crunch from the outside of the scone while giving way to the soft, tender inside.  Moist and warm, the scones tasted great with the accompanying whipped cream and blueberry jam.

Pound cake.

Plenty moist with a pretty almond topping.  The green color was noted in appearance but not in taste.

Macaron.

The macaron was crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and had a good chunk of chocolate filling.  Thanan wasn't a fan, but I liked it.  I think I like just about any macarons, with or without chocolate ganache.!

A citrusy cake slice with tender crumb and bits of orange zest.

Crunchy chocolate shortbread.  

We spent about an hour in the shop, sipping tea and taking small bites out of our delicate Japanese desserts.  I think it makes a great spot to stop for an afternoon chat accompanied by charming pastries (including mochi truffles!) and delicious teas.

As an added bonus, they have a terrific toilet in the woman's bathroom that does all sorts of things at the touch of a button including a dryer option...for when you're sitting on the seat...yes.  That kind of dryer.  So handy, I know!

Cha-An

230 E 9th St

New York, 10003

(212) 228-8030

Afternoon Pie at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

After the Brooklyn Booze Experiment, everyone else was stuffed, but I had been saving room in my stomach the entire while to try Four & Twenty Blackbirds, a cute cafe in Gowanus specializing in both savory and sweet pies.  The Bell House is just a hop and a skip away from this eatery, so I'd recommend making a pitstop here if you're in the area.

Just pies.

All day.

Beautiful concept right?
On any given day there are a handful of flavors one could pick from.  You make your choice (it's a tough one - they all sound so good, I mean...salty honey?!), and they dish it up from the pie plates behind them.

And then while you wait for your order to be complete, your eyes can gaze upon even more temptations:

But I stayed focused.  Greeshma may not have been able to (garlicky kale is her kryptonite!).

Here's what I got:

One green tea.

One egg in a nest with bacon.

The egg in a nest was like a dry, crumbly biscuit that was baked atop eggs mixed with slivers of bacon.  I wish the whole thing was more moist or more warm, or maybe it was my own fault for eating this breakfasty dish at 4pm.

One salted caramel apple pie slice:

Look at that beautiful, flaky, crisp crust.  It's a beauty.  The sea salt speckled crust added zing and the caramel goo balanced the tart apples.  It was a good pie, especially with whipped cream, but not my favorite pie ever.  I am intrigued by the other pie options though (buttermilk pie!) so I know I will be back to find me a favorite!

While I sipped my tea and nibbled on my snacks, I sat next to a dysfunctional couple (seems I always am), and the woman was concerned with the price of the pie ($4.50).  She was then silent while eating it.  The man asked how it was.  She said it was good.  He asked if it was $4.50 good.  She said no.  He responded, "It's Gowanus." 

Living in NY on my third year now, I suppose I am just impervious to the price of things in New York.  If it came down to eating a brownie at Starbucks, a slice of cake at a deli or a nice slice of homemade pie, I'd go pie in a heartbeat.  It's a charming afternoon break in a warm environment.  You can't put a price on that.

Four & Twenty Blackbirds

439 3rd Avenue
NY 11215-3119
(718) 499-2917

The Brooklyn Booze Experiment !

Last weekend brought around another Food Experiment from the masterminds of Theo Peck and Nick Suarez who are expanding their food experiments to Austin this weekend (yay, TX!) among other US Cities in their freshly launched National Tour.

The recent experiment was all about booze - dishes that feature alcohol!  22 competitors cooked up sweet and savory dishes for the likes of us eaters to feast upon.  Traci + Geoff along with their friends joined in for the fun.  After attending three of these events now, I admire how the same competitors return each time with such inventive and creative dishes.  Here's the photolog of shots!

The setup for the tables changed up for this event with tables set up lengthwise within the space.  Previous events had bottlenecks happen immediately at the door because of tables that were setup right at entry, and while the new arrangement seemed to make the room more spacious, bottlenecks still occurred.  Until they figure a better process, I would recommend arriving early and avoiding the whole jammed mess as much as possible.

Pescado verazcruzado. 

Bourbon pernil.  Might've been better if served warm.

Denise did Porktown in Margaritaville which we really liked during our first few bites at the event.  Crisp chip scoops with a lime-flavored pork.

Mossberger & Frites' Bourbon Braised Beef short ribs won first place for the audience award. 

Savory plate.

O'le McMole. 

Beanz with bacon.

Third place judge's winner: Fondue fennel with pastis tomato jam.  I actually liked this crunchy, mushy, fennelly concoction though I overhead others WTFing tomato jam.  I love calling thick marinara-ish sauce tomato jam.

Empadados made with rum and coke pork

Andrew Gottlieb

Andrew Gottlieb's pork pops.  I didn't know what this was initially, but eating it was a beautiful surprise.  Soft, braised pork belly!  Yuuumm.  Geoff hated his because it was all fat, but Traci and I agreed that that was why it was so delicious.  I wanted to get more of that, but the line was a bit obscene at his station (understandably!).

The "wine and cheese" entry that looked like dessert but was not.

Funky.

Torta Ahogada Estilo Guadalajara sammies.  Longest line at the event and well worth it.

The pork was nicely flavored, great layer of guac, pickled onions and choice of salsas.  I liked the thick, spicy red sauce, though the others preferred the green.  The buns were also toasted in their panini grill.  Awesome combo.  Third place winner of the audience award!

Dessert plate!

1st place winner of the judge's award: Roopa Marcello's Old Fashion Italian Doughnuts.  

Upon first bite of this warm, soft, bitter-sugar coated doughnut, I was excited, but I found the strong, bitter, blood orange chocolate center entirely overwhelming.  Roopa explained it was supposed to mimic drinking an actual Old Fashion drink.  I am a super lightweight though, so while this doughnut was just too strong for me personally, I knew that this was a great technical execution.  I would love to just eat a bucket of unfilled doughnuts!

Jeffrey Olsen's Cranachan & Hot Toddy!

Jeffrey had my and Greeshma's faaavorite brunch dish (scones + earl grey ice cream) so I was excited to see his new entry which involved homemade marshmallows that are injected with hot chocolate?! (SAY.WUT?!)

The marshmallow texture was perfection, and eating it while warm was especially good.

Traci's friends didn't like how the ice cream had completely melted all over the cookies, making a mess to pick up, but I didn't mind it with a little help from my spoon.  It was great!  Nice crisp little cookies slightly softened by the ice cream.  I was glad that Jeff won the Bell House Prize this go-round.  I wish he could teach Diana and me how to make marshmallows since our first attempt with Carrie was an unfortunate, sticky mess.

Pecan pie with vanilla bourbon ice cream

This was among our favorites - soooo delicious.  Beautifully candied pecans, nice thick ice cream that sauced up the pie perfectly.  Yum.  No surprise it won 2nd place among the eaters votes.

Guinness muffins with Guinness glaze.

Irish carbomb cupcakes.

We then sat in the front room and shared our opinions on the best dish of the day.  We all agreed that there should really be two categories for sweet dishes vs. savory dishes as it is hard to pick just one when they can be so very different.  We loved Jeff's marshmallow hot chocolate, but we also loved the torta sandwich.  Decisions, decisions!

Really tough decisions.

The ballot!

We all placed our votes, and agreed that we will return for the next experiment (I'm hooked!).  We slushed our way back to the city.  Well. Except for me.  I made a pitstop that I will share with you soon!

The Food Experiments

Maybe coming to a city near you!

Else:

The Bell House

149 7th Street

Brooklyn, NY 11215