The Donut Plant, NYC. (Review)

The Donut Plant, NYC
(Review)

It's that time of year again, the husband's birthday. And with that, comes the inevitable annual donut binge. I've never been a huge donut fan, however, there are a few exceptions, and The Donut Plant in NYC is one of them.

The Donut Plant ("TDP") is located on the lower east side. We cabbed it there early on Saturday morning having tasted their treats before and also having seen Donut shows talk about it on the Travel Channel. TDP is a small joint, no place to really sit, and not in a fancy neighborhood. You basically go get your $3.00 donut, and head home to savor every bite.

TDP boasts flavors like "Creme brulee" or "Pistachio" or "Black Out." They have a variety of cake, yeast and novelty donuts.

We got a potpourri to taste and share so we could adequately review the quality for you, our readers (that's right, we are lovingly blaming you all for our calorie binge!)

Above you will see the Glazed, Tres Leches, Chocolate Valhalla, Black Out & Creme Brulee flavors.

The breakdown:

Yeast Donuts:
(Glazed and Chocolate Valhalla)

*While the glazed and chocolate were great, I felt like they were a tad chewy (even though freshly made). Also, I found myself looking for a little more of the sweet glaze. Frankly, I think that nobody does a better glazed than Krispy Kreme, and that has really made it tough for the others to compete.

Cake Donuts:
(Black out, Tres Leche)

*The Black Out Donut is straight up the best donut I think I've ever had. It is a chocolate donut, with a very thin layer of cream in the middle, and topped off with tons of chocolate crumbs. Dipped in Coffee, or even nuked in the microwave for a few seconds, and you are in heaven.

*The tres leche also had a very thin layer of cream in the middle, and a nice, light glaze outside. It was spectacular, and a little lighter than the blackout.

*A plus for the cake donuts were they lasted until the next day and were still quite good, while the yeast donuts just seemed stale.

Overall, the cake donuts are the way to go here, you simply can't go wrong.

Novelty:
Creme Brulee

*The Creme Brulee really was similar to a creme brulee. It was filled with a cream very similar to the custard in creme brulee and the top was a scorched, crunchy sugar top. You felt like you were in fact eating a creme brulee dessert. This one was best on the first day, it's very rich and perfect to split.

If you are in New York City, and you love donuts (from what I can tell from our foodie friends, there is a closet nation of donut lovers out there!)
You will definitely want to give The Donut Plant a try.
http://www.doughnutplant.com/

Please share with us your all time favorite donuts and where we can grub them!

Cheers,
The Wilsons

Review of The Raines Law Room - (A NYC Speakeasy)

Sometimes the best way to get to know your town is to let your out of town guests show you around.......Ok, this requires an explanation!

Our friend, we'll call him Mr. San Diego (aka Rob), was in town for work and wanted to grab some drinks and a bite. We suggested some of our favorite neighborhood haunts, but San Diego had a better idea.

San Diego, originally from New York, is definitely one of our "foodie" friends. We have known San Diego for 7-8 years and every time we see him (and his girlfriend) the main event is consuming copious amounts of good food and wine! What's not to love - as we said in our profile, we only want to be friends with people who get their eat and drink on!

San Diego suggested maybe we meet for a drink at a NY speakeasy called Raines Law Room (Flatiron). Naturally, we were intrigued by the idea - a speakeasy -- so a little taste of the old world Prohibition years, good booz, good company with a funky name, we signed right up!

For you history buffs: The menu explained the name: "The Raines law was passed on March 23, 1896, by the New York State Legislature. It was nominally a liquor tax, but its intention was to curb the consumption of alcohol by imposing regulations."

The Review!
Raines is located in the Flatiron area of NYC. It takes you back to the days of prohibition, residing at the bottom of the stairs under and unmarked black awning. To get in you have to ring a doorbell and are greeted by a young, uber hip 20 something, who coyly peers out at you and tells you it'll be a minute, then shuts the door. When she opens the door back up, we tell her we are "meeting someone inside," and with that, we were ushered into the dark, swanky speakeasy.

San Diego was sitting at the table waiting for us. The chairs were covered in velvet, the walls dark, lights dim, and a doorbell (seen above) is on the wall next to me - this is how you get the waitress attention to order a drink. The ceiling is covered with antique looking shiny silver tiles and there are dark throw rugs all over the floor. There is a cute and "homey" patio out back, but if you want to be transported in time, stay inside & enjoy the hipster, old world vibe.

My husband and San Diego get a couple of special "gold rush" drinks, served "down" (meaning, on the rocks), and I get some frisky champagne concoction in a fabulously vintage glass (all above).

The drinks were tasty, but pretty small for what you get. After quickly polishing off my Champagne number, I volunteered to "help" my husband finish his second gold rush (not sure he appreciated that!)

I had read stories about the sexually explicit wall paper in the bathrooms, and while they definitely had a kamasutra vibe, they weren't nearly as obscene as what I expected.

What I loved the most was the converted "kitchen." When you make your way through the lounge area toward the patio / or restrooms, you walk through what at first glance looks like it could be some person's swanky kitchen. But there are no stoves, or oven, instead just a boozers version of heaven with every possibly option organized ever so stylishly.

Overall, Raines gets an A, and we would definitely go back. The only down side is that the drinks are pretty pricey considering they are not ample with the pour. Probably the best idea is to stop in for a cocktail on your way some place, or after dinner could be the perfect finishing touch on a night out. If you are on a date and you want to impress - this is a must do.

Neighborhood: Flatiron
48 West 17th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10011

Long live drinking a fabulous cocktail out of a vintage glass while sitting on velvet, we could get used to this.

The Wilsons

Ode to Calamari: The Three Best Calamari dishes from Manhattan Beach to Manhattan NYC

Ode to Calamari: The Three Best Calamari dishes from Manhattan Beach to Manhattan NYC

For starters, I am obsessed with calamari. Let's just get that out in the open. This photo would have showed you the absolutely fantastic fried calamari with a Thai chili sauce from Blue Water Grill in NYC, but unfortunately, I ate it so fast I forgot to photograph it. So what you are seeing here is the aftermath of a wild animal (me) having completely annihilated this dish.

Let's back up. I'm going to tell you the three best calamari dishes I have had in the past year at three restaurants - 1 in Manhattan Beach (where we used to live) and 2 here in NYC. All 3 are completely different in flavor profile and preparation.

But the photo above and the night in question deserves a little back story. My friend Tara was in town from LA. We had a great day seeing Wicked (we both cried, is that supposed to happen?) followed by drinks on the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel (the view of the taxis above). Then off to dinner at Blue Water Grill in NYC (Union Square). The only downer of the night was that some drunk losers at the bar at Blue Water threw a bar stool and caused some mayhem, but once the staff recovered, the night was good, the food was great.

I feel extremely confident that if you love calamari, you will fall in love with these three dishes.

The Best Calamari in Manhattan Beach and (possibly?) all of Los Angeles:

1. Petro's Restaurant in the Metlox. Petro's is an authentic Greek restaurant with amazing calamari. What makes it so good?
*The calamari is super fresh, you can just tell (not chewy at all!!!)
*The calamari is so lightly fried that doesn't even feel fried or heavy.
*They drizzle a light Greek creme sauce over the top that is just to die for. They also fry some almonds and lemon slices. The whole thing is just amazing.
www.petrosrestaurant.com

The Best Calamari in New York (Manhattan) (So Far anyway! Much more to try!)

2. Mermaid Inn (Upper West Side location). The Calamari here is sauteed - not fried. It also has completely unexpected flavor profiles and textures.
*They include some frisee salad, goat cheese crumbles, sauteed mushrooms and a really nice light sauce with a little salt and fresh ground pepper that provided a pretty good kick. This is the most unusual calamari I've had, and it was the best thing on the menu from my point of view. http://www.themermaidnyc.com/

3. Blue Water Grill (as described above in Union Square)
The Thai chili fried calamari here is absolutely divine. They include some shredded carrots for an extra little crunch. This calamari is fried but the texture does not feel heavy or overly battered. Just a super crunch packed with flavor and a really tangy sauce that ends with a kick from the chili.
*It is a little embarrassing that I ate like 3/4 of it before my friend could get at it, but in my defense we hadn't eaten for 8 hours since before seeing the matinee of Wicked :) (If I stabbed her with my fork trying to scarf this dish down, I apologize publicly!)
http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/blue_water_grill_new_york/index.php

There you have it. Your turn! I/We want to hear the BEST Calamari you have ever had so we can go try it!!!