New York by night: view from the roofdeck at Ink48, looking out over Hell’s Kitchen toward Times Square.
My most recent trip to New York City – which I think of as not the Big Apple but the Big Truffle because of the abundance of chocolate deliciousness – was quick but scrumptious.
I was in town for the annual Fancy Food Show this summer (click here for my blog post on the 3 main trends I tracked there!), and in between Show visits, I took the opportunity to visit some of my favorite chocolate spots and other venues, while also scouting some new ones.
Since my time on this short trip was quite limited, I focused mainly on Manhattan’s much-transformed Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, one of my favorites in NYC, because its central location west of the Theatre District and Times Square, and along the Hudson River, makes it easy to get downtown or uptown; it’s filled with wonderful bakeries and restaurants; and the Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center is within walking distance.This once-gritty neighborhood was the setting of the original Law & Order TV shows (that sound effect!). Today the neighborhood is part “gayborhood,” part chocolate and pastry paradise, and all delight.
Scroll for the deliciousness!
It’s not a visit to NYC without a classic black-and-white cookie. My favorites are at Amy’s Bread; her Hell’s Kitchen bakery is her original location of three.I accidentally photobombed Sullivan Street Bakery chef/owner/star Jim Lahey while he was being taped for a French-Canadian tv show. His bomboloni / Italian doughnuts are just so good; I have a chocolate one for breakfast every day I’m in the neighborhood. After he finished taping, we had a good chat about cocoa nibs.You might say I “hailed a cookie” at Donna Bell’s Bake Shop, a Southern-inspired bakery co-owned by NCIS actress Pauley Perrette and named after her late mother. Actually I snapped this photo around the corner from the bakery, against a taxi-themed window, while a little cluster of (other) tourists gathered to watch!
From Hell’s Kitchen, I started heading uptown:
Had a blast at the Gap x Big Gay Ice Cream collaboration at the clothing brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship store. It was a hot day, so I ate that delicious ice cream sandwich fast. What happened to my new collab tshirt, shown here as the background, after I returned to Chicago? Click to find out!While planning my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I enjoyed a bite or two of delicious new in-development Dutch brand Johnny Doodle Chocolate – this was the fudge brownie flavor – which a company executive was kind enough to bring from The Netherlands to the NYC Fancy Food Show for me to try, since we were both in town.The Upper East Side, near the Met Museum. I walked the 2.5 miles to the UES from Hell’s Kitchen, and took an Uber back.
Chocolate Uplift 
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