Magnolia Bakery: Hyped Up, but Worth a Lick

"Cupcakes are the opiate of the people."
~What Karl Marx would say if he were alive (and in New York City) today.

Magnolia Bakery
200 Columbus Avenue (at 69th Street)
New York, NY 10023
(212) 724-8101

If you're wallowing in Wall Street woes and desperately aiming to escape the stench of your rotting retirement funds, then you might shimmy over to Magnolia Bakery on Columbus Ave., where sweet air swirls with serotonin and half-orgasmic sounds of patrons (many of them probably premenstrual, depressed, or filling some serious relationship voids with baked goods) licking crumbs off their lips. 

Camera-clad tourists peer through the front window, practically drooling (see Exhibit A below, lady in the bottom left-hand corner) as a guy with a red bandanna artfully slathers red velvet cupcakes with thick, white frosting. I'm not sure whether they're gaping at him or the cupcakes. 

Magnolia just might be a hedonistic haven for the goodhearted, hardworking girlie who has barely satisfied her snack craving with the wood-and-soot-flavored braid of dough otherwise known as the New York Pretzel...

Indeed, the place is adorable in all its kitschy-sweet bliss. Take, for example, the "I [cupcake] NY" t-shirts that sway on their overhead hangers as if to mutter, "You know you want me on your body."

The shiny pressed-tin ceiling reminded me of a chocolate bar wrapper, and the mosaic of blue-and-white floor tiles, some arranged in the shape of daisies, harked back to a vintage-style ice cream parlor from my childhood. And what's not to love about the walls lined with 1940s and 50s style plaques dazzled with phrases such as "10 Cakes Husbands Like Best"(not that we really give a flying cupcake what husbands like, but still...)?

Of course, the fresh cupcakes practically begged me to take a bite. But since there's nowhere to sit, my former college roomie and I snuck into a nearby Starbucks and shared one while chatting about careers and relationships. I swear it was like a scene in a chick flick.

Aww...look at those purdy pastels. Sorry about the crappy-resolution Blackberry photos.

While the chocolate-frosted vanilla cupcake was certainly fluffy and moist inside, it wasn't significantly better than the Duncan Hines ones my mom used to make for my school bake sales.  Although very satisfying, the frosting on Magnolia's mass-produced cuties had a slightly synthetic taste. If squintingly sweet is what you want, that's what you'll get.

For $2.50 a pop, and $3.00 for what I call "commodity cupcakes" (i.e. their sinful-sounding maple cream cheese-frosted ones), you could just as easily splurge on a Cinnabon big enough to share with three of your friends. Or you could instead indulge at one of the two Buttercup Bake Shops, which I have yet to try.

Still, there's got to be a good reason for the anaconda lines that swoop around Magnolia. 

Other bestsellers include mini apple crisps, peanut butter Heath bar blondies, individual pumpkin cheesecakes and mint chocolate pudding pie. There's also the creamy, mellow-yellow banana pudding laced with vanilla wafers and real banana slices, the maple-cream cheese Whoopi Cookies, or the Hummingbird Cake with pineapples, bananas, and pecans. But $48 for a 3-layer, 9''cake? Let's get serious here, baby. 

Maybe their slogan should be "Forget your troubles, come on get fat n' happy as your wallet thins out."

Still, my friend Jess gushes about their red velvet cupcakes and swears they're the best in the world. Too bad the only ones left when we went there were for someone else's special order. 

If you've had an amazing experience at Magnolia Bakery, please let me know. I'll go back to try whatever sweet you suggest the next time PMS rolls around.


Magnolia Bakery, the third of its kind, opened on Oct. 8, 2008 near Rockefeller Center.


Other locations:

• 1240 Sixth Avenue (at 49th Street), New York, NY 10036
  
• 401 Bleecker Street (at West 11th Street), New York, NY 10014

Overall Grade: B+ 

Here's the Nay and the Yay:

Nay:

• Nowhere to sit
  
• Bland, somewhat watery cappuccino (about $3.50 for a small)
  
• Overly-sweet frosting (but that's definitely your call--it just might suit your taste buds)
  
• Exorbitant cake prices
  

Yay:

• Inundated with endorphins
• Heavenly scent
  
• Cute decor
  
• Super-friendly barista 
  
• Warm and cheerful staff
  
• Variety of desserts

Is yum the word? You go there and report back to me.

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A Midtown Night's Dream

          (Image courtesy of mikeeatsfood.blogspot.com)

Serafina Broadway
Midtown West
Dream Hotel
210 W 55th St at Broadway
New York, NY 10019
(212) 315-1700

www.serafinarestaurant.com 

In all its swanky splendor, it's no coincidence that Serafina Broadway is located on the first floor of a hotel with the name Dream. This famous restaurant was definitely on my mind as I drifted into REM sleep the other night.

The half-haute, half-homey hotspot, one of Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato's four chains, features primary colors and gorgeous, unique designs by renowned New York architect David Rockwell. Red-and-orange tongues of stained glass fire radiate the walls, along with swirly blown glass chandeliers, bright yellow pillars and, of course, the mirror mural of Marilyn Monroe who greets you behind her sunglasses with a coy wave as you walk toward the back of the restaurant. Unfortunately, I failed to check out the ladies' restroom (what was I thinking?!), where Federico Fellini films are supposedly projected onto the floor.  

I didn't miss out, however, on the cuisine. When you haven't eaten all day in order to prepare yourself, who really cares about anything else?

I'll give you the whole dish-by-dish description of what my friends Divya, Caroline, Jamie, Molly, and I shared...

After sipping some champagne, we ordered the following:

Goat Cheese e Spinach Salad: baby spinach with warm goat cheese medallions, pine nuts, honey, and balsamic vinaigrette. I could have eaten this and only for the next three days. I wish I could have copped this creamy, sweet and zesty vinaigrette recipe from the chef! 

Margherita Pizza: This was easily one of the best thin-crust pizzas I've had in a while: nice and hot with air bubbles near the crust and a slightly charred bottom characteristic of most brick oven pizzas. Just the way I like it. Perfect balance of marinara, mozzarella and olive oil. Oh yes, and they make the mozzarella with fresh milk every single day. That's a pretty big deal any which way you slice it.

Focaccia Di Sophia al Tartufo d'Alba: Who is this Sophia character, by the way? She's as much of a mystery as Serafina's special recipe for these delightful, show-stopping bites.  Tartufo d'Alba, or White Alba Truffles, are highly expensive, crazy-shaped wild mushrooms  (about $249 per ounce!) that grow in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. The Greeks and Romans believed them to have aphrodisiac qualities. 

Maybe that's why the first nibble of these thin, truffle-filled focaccia squares was equivalent to a first kiss. After a simultaneous crackle-crunch and slightly doughy bite, a warm, soft, fluffy surprise (with the pronounced flavor of roasted garlic) oozed down the sides of the flatbread focaccia, making a mess of my fingers. I tried to be polite, but it just wasn't happening. I felt like a toddler.   

I have to show you this:

Spaghetti with clams: My grandfather's favorite Christmas Eve dish has become one of my top picks, too (well, at least Serafina's rendition of it has): rustic-chopped tomato sauce with fresh parsley bedizened with in-shell clams that reminded me of little open mouths. I certainly had no problem opening mine to taste!  Pasta was perfectly al dente.

Our server, who was a wee bit absent-minded, forgot to put in our order for the Cornish hen, so we ordered the Chicken Paillard instead. Once I had a bite of this thin, tender char-grilled chicken breast, served with fluffy, rustic mashed potatoes, sauteed escarole and endive leaves along with green beans and carrots, she was forgiven. At least, to some extent.

Tuna and salmon tartare: A beautifully crafted tower of raw tuna and salmon drizzled with peanut oil. This was my first time having tartare; it had a clean flavor and really delicate texture. Pleasant. 

Spinach ravioli: Mini squares of al dente pasta, piped with ricotta cheese and spinach in a butter-sage sauce. Little pockets of delight.

Dessert: We sampled each other's desserts, such as the airy and sweet apple pie with vanilla gelato, berry tart, crepes with Nutella, cappuccino, and the inevitable chocolate souffle (drooling with chocolate sauce, moist and warm and vulnerable inside--fantastic).

I forgot to tell you that on the way to Serafina, I limped through Midtown in the rain, my stomach growling, my 3-inch stilettos getting stuck in every metal grate on the street (as usual), and the wind mangling the top of my cheap blue-and-white-striped umbrella into a funky cone-shaped object. On the way home, I was so tired from noshing that I slumped on the old belching leather seat on the train and almost missed my stop! 

But the food, overall inviting mood and smashing decor were worth the trip. Both ways!  

Was yum the word at Serafina Broadway? Absolutely.  

I apologize that I don't have more pictures...technical difficulties once again :(

The Scoop:

Date Place? Yup.

Group Place? Yup.

Need Reservations? It depends. Maybe on a Saturday night.

Good for Kids? I don't see why not.

Dress Code: Dressy-Casual

Price: $7-20 for appetizers, $10-25 for pizza, $11-$27 for entrees.

Wait staff: As I said, our waitress wasn't great, but it wouldn't be fair to judge everyone by a single staff member.  We were received very hospitably.

Overall quality of food: Heartbreakingly good. Especially the Focaccia di Sophia.

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