Mark F 1/11/18 Mark F 1/11/18

Day Trip to New York City

NYC has so much to do. And, sooo much more to eat. Here is what a day in NYC looks like for me. I was able to get around quite a bit and stuff my face the entire way! Do you agree with my foodie picks?

I haven’t visited New York City much in my life until recently. New York City can be so crowded and overwhelming. However, there are so many great places to visit, see, and eat. I went this past May and I became more intrigued to go back. Nichole and myself wanted to go during the holiday season but time did not permit until after Christmas. We hoped it would be less crowded and would still be able to enjoy the holiday décor. Even with the temperatures in the teens, we made our way to the train station and hopped on to Grand Central. We had a lot of sights in mind, but let’s be honest this trip was more for the food.

Once we got off the train, we went to Rockerfeller Center first and went to look at the Christmas tree. Most people go to the city just for that purpose. I took one obligatory picture and I was set. I was more into all the buildings and other décor around that area. Since we were close by, we walked over to Times Square to get some more sightseeing in and checked out the Hershey's store. It’s cool to see the massive candy bars but that place is way overpriced.

From there, we went to the Bryant Park Winter Village which includes 176 vendors, an ice skating rink and merry-go-round. Many popular restaurants and food trucks set up shop for the holiday season, bring lots of deliciousness to one spot! The scenery is surreal with the feel of a small village in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. This was my type of spot to say the least,

First up, Wafels & Dinges. Their specialty was Belgian waffles with various toppings and flavors to choose from. So many decisions but we went with the S’mores waffle which consisted of marshmallows, speculoos spread and Belgian chocolate fudge. This was a splendid first treat/breakfast.

Once we got breakfast in our bellies, we walked around Bryant Park a bit more and Nichole found our next must have...mini donuts! I can’t pass up on some mini donuts. Doughtnuttery was on my donut list for NYC. They have pretty intriguing flavors. Each donut was tossed in sugary goodness. While the flavors didn’t really taste like what they said, they were still pretty good. The flavors we got consisted of vanilla, lavender, & pistachio and rosemary, roasted cornmeal, & fig.

The Flatiron District was our main destination for the afternoon. After ubering around, I was ready for more donuts. Number one on my donut research was Dough. Fortunately, they did have a location in the Flatiron District. Needless to say, Dough was phenomenal. Some of the best donuts I have had. Definitely blog worthy. If you want see more, check out my previous blog post, here.

The buildings and skyscrapers in NYC are breathtaking. The Flatiron Building is a triangular 22 story steel-framed building in Manhattan. My hands were frozen, my phone kept shutting off, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. You don’t see buildings like that every day. If you get a chance, go see it!

A late lunch was in store as the donuts wore off. Eataly was our food destination of choice. This large marketplace consisted of a variety of restaurants, bakeries, retail shops to buy fresh pasta & cheese, Nutella cafe, and even a cooking school. Everything Italian. You name it, they had it. You could get yourself a fresh cannoli, a lean cut of meat, or a drink at the bar.

Prior to the trip, we noticed there was a pop up restaurant on the 14th floor of Eataly, called Baita. This was an Italian Alps themed restaurant. I was sold on that. Once we were seated, I noticed the retractable roof and the intricate heaters throughout to keep that cozy vibe. There was a view of the city skyline depending where you sat. A lot of the décor resembled what you would find in a ski lodge. I liked the idea behind it. However, the menu wasn’t the best. And, the food was really pricey. I saw the portion sizes people were eating and they were pretty small. Ordering just appetizers was our best bet. Polenta was a popular item on the menu so we tried their “Zucca” which consisted of polenta, squash, thyme & parmesan reggiano. The other intriguing items we ordered were wagyu beef skewers seasoned in olive oil and the beer battered fried piave cheese. The beef skewers were awesome. The Polenta was just okay and the fried cheese was pretty greasy so I stopped eating them not to get sick. In hindsight, we should have just had a drink at the bar. The atmosphere wasn’t worth the disappointing meal. We were still hungry!

The great part about NYC is that food is literally everywhere. The bad meal didn’t hold us down. I had to find a can’t miss bite. Who doesn’t like grilled cheese!?!?! There was a Melt Shop nearby and this hit the spot. Me and Nichole shared a pepper jack buffalo chicken grilled cheese and a wonderful milkshake. We couldn’t decide what flavor so the server just combined both for us, Nutella and Oreo. Absolute heaven.

For the cherry on top, you can’t leave New York City without a slice of pizza. Before we hopped back on the train at Grand Central, we stopped at Previti’s Pizza. The reviews were not lying. Great slice of pizza. That was a nice way to end our adventurous and gluttonous day in the city. And, our last trip of 2017. I can’t wait for more adventures and exploration in 2018.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

A blog for the outdoors foodie enthusiast

Hi, I’m Mark. I live in Connecticut. I take new trips every chance I get. A good trip has a great hike, great food, and something fun to do. My goal is to search out new trips and share them to inspire others to try something new and exciting.

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How you Doughin'?

First blog post of 2018. And, this one is about my donut adventures in NYC. There are so many options. Which donut shop did I choose?!?

(say title in heavy new york accent) Starting the blog in 2018 where I left off in 2017, #donutsforlife. After Christmas, Nichole and I decided to take a trip into New York City for the day. We had a lot of plans for the day. One of those was trying out a new donut shop. I did my usual research to find the best donuts in the city. The one shop that stood out to me that would be relatively close to where we would be was Dough. There are multiple locations and seems like Brooklyn is their home base. We spent most of our time in the Flatiron District and there was a location on West 19th street. The shop was trendy and what I expected to see in NYC. The shop was small and cozy with seating by the window and one long table for seating that could fit potentially 10 people. The donut making area in the back seemed pretty large. Good donut eating vibe.

As for the donuts, they were pretty damn good. Nichole is not as big of a donut fan as I am and she said, “whoa, these are like the best donuts we tried.” And, I agree with that. If you didn’t read my final post of 2017, why?? You should! Click here, it’s donutiliciously good. I felt this was one of the better donuts I have tried. They are yeast based and offered a brioche type dough. They were large donuts, above average than what you see most places. The consistency was good and they were kind of chewy to me. The donut itself tasted great. They had the basic stuff like cinnamon sugar, plain glazed, chocolate sprinkles etc. There were quite the flavor offerings and combinations as you would expect from this artisanal style donut shop. They had flavors such as hibiscus to blood orange to dulce de leche to horchata. I didn’t get that crazy. I only limited myself to trying four.....

The Donut Lineup:

1)Café Au Lait - roasted coffee glaze and crunchy pecan topping

2)Toasted Coconut - Coconut glaze topped with toasted coconut flakes

3)Mocha Almond Crunch - Rich glaze made with bittersweet Vintage Plantation chocolate and roasted coffee, topped with a crunchy almond streusel

4)Cinnamon Sugar – self-explanatory, had to try a simple flavor.

My favorite was the Mocha Almond Crunch and Cinnamon sugar. The toasted coconut was lacking flavor but the donut itself is so good I didn’t care. I ate all four, leftover donuts for breakfast. Not ashamed at all. I would definitely go back and try more flavors. They had a Nutella filled one I have donut regrets about. They were sort of pricey, but one donut is very filling. I don’t mind paying for it. All in all, this one of the better donut shops I have been to. Check it out if you are in NYC and looking for a sweet treat.

Bonus Coverage:

Now, you know I sneaked in a second donut tasting. We were in Bryant Park and noticed there was a Doughnuttery truck serving mini donuts. I wasn’t passing that up. They had a lot intriguing flavors. They fried the mini donuts then tossed them in a sugary goodness. However, both flavors we got tasted nothing like the flavors we ordered. They were still pretty tasty but I didn’t Rosemary, Cornmeal & Fig or Vanilla, Lavender & Pistacho.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

A blog for the outdoors foodie enthusiast

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Cronuts gone country!

More donut travels! This time I hunted down the most popular donut in Nashville. Check out the blog for my review.

Five Daughters Bakery 12 South Nashville TN

As I do in most my travels, I seek for THEE donut spot in the area. When researching on Nashville, there will was only one spot that continually popped up. That would be Five Daughters Bakery. I was definitely intrigued as their specialty was a croissant donut, or cronuts. And, some of the donuts had filling throughout the inside. They called this type of donut the “100 Layer Donut”. This particular donut is 100 layers rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with a glaze. When we were inside the shop, we overheard the workers explaining to a customer that it takes up to three days to make this creation. In addition to this, they also have paleo style donuts free of sugars/gluten/grains and vegan donuts that avoid animal products. They don’t stop at donuts. They have other pastry options and cupcakes. However, this is about them donuts.

Based on my research, this seemed like a very popular donut shop. Luckily, they have 3 locations in Nashville in the 12 South, Franklin, and East Nashville areas. I figured they would be busy and have line since it was Labor Day weekend. I didn’t think they would run of out donuts! This happened. Two times. I can’t blame them. What I did find out is they have a main location that bakes all the donuts and ships them to the other two locations that morning. Thus, they aren’t 100% fresh and what they get is what they get. They stay open until they run out of donuts. There was no way I was leaving without trying these. We were for 0 for 2 in the 12 South location. Unfortunately for Nichole, I re-arranged our last day so we try one more time at the East Nashville location before our flight. Third time was the charm. The shop was cool and trendy as expected. Located in a small plaza. All the décor fit the personality of the shop. The employees were nice as I stood dumbfounded in my decision.

They were pretty big donuts and I wanted to get a feel for what they had to offer. I had to be selective and four was the max I think I could eat minus Nichole’s occasional nibble. I wanted to try a glaze, one with a fun topping, and a filled version.

The first one I chomped onto was the Maple Glaze. The glaze wasn’t overly sweet. It was just good. The donut was moist and flaky due to the croissant batter. Next up was the cookie dough. Oh boy, this was gluttonous. The cookie dough filling was awesome. This was my favorite for sure. The last donut was the coconut crème. The coconut was toasted, and to me, it had a funny taste. It was interesting to see how the crème was inside through the layers of the donut. This wasn’t too sweet either. This was first true cronut experience and I am not sure what I think. I am a basic yeast dough kinda guy. Against my better judgement, there were paleo donuts that looked editable but probably not worth trying. However, one sounded good enough to try so we did. It was the blueberry cake. This wasn’t for us. We can only blame ourselves…for trying something healthier.

As mentioned, we did try the 12 South Location but they ran out both days. This was in a very popular area and was a cool location. I could see why they ran out. The 12 South area in general is awesome. I thought the shop there was super cool. Here are some pics.

HIKING FOR DONUTS

A blog for the outdoors foodie enthusiast

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