Doughnut Plant, 16 April, 8:30 AM

Candy-riffic.

A couple of weeks ago, I turned to my friends at the fabulous YOU + ME* Lifestylists to answer a pressing question: how to thank my friends for joining me for Momofuku fried chicken on my birthday? After all, shouldn't grown-ups get party favors, too?

The answer, of course, is yes! And so Miya and I headed to Economy Candy, a legendary shop on Rivington Street. It's a pretty small place, and its one high-ceilinged room is crammed from top to bottom with candies of all kinds. You can find all sorts of retro gems, like Abba Zabba, Chunky bars, MalloCups and candy buttons, but they also stock high-quality preserved fruits, halvah, and an assortment of high-quality chocolates by the pound.

They also have something I thought wasn't even made anymore: candy cigarettes. I decided not to spring for them (opting instead for an assortment of wax lips and hipster mustaches), but they're there for the taking, right on the Lower East Side. Go forth and puff that sugary smoke, my friends.

Economy Candy
108 Rivington Street (Between Essex and Ludlow)
800.352.4544

Just like my Nonna would have made, had I had an Italian-American Nonna.

No birthday, in my opinion, would be complete without some really, really good food, and some seriously awesome company with which to enjoy it. A good thing, then, that my friend Miya came out in the blustery rain to meet me for lunch on Friday at one of my very favorite places, Frankie's Spuntino.

Frankie's offers sandwiches and a brunch menu, but I knew that I, at least, was destined for pasta. I love their pasta. And their salads are pretty damn good, too. In fact, I remembered that Miles' Caesar salad had been something approaching perfection, and decided to start with that. My memory, it turns out, was spot-on. Caesar salad can be really, really boring, but Frankie's version is anything but. It's salty and earthy from the anchovies, a bit funky from the parmesan cheese, and super-creamy from the egg. Topped with a bit of spicy, freshly-ground black pepper, it's a crunchy pile of Italian-American goodness - which is really what Frankie's is all about.

For my main, I had the cavatelli with hot sausage, browned butter and sage. I. Love. This. Dish. It's a remarkably satisfying combination of flavors, with the nuttiness of the butter playing perfectly against the spicy, salty sausage and the piney sage. In fact, I love it so much that I make my own version - with orrechiette - on a fairly regular basis. But nothing can top the original.

Miya ordered the gnocchi with marinara sauce and fresh ricotta. I am not usually a fan of gnocchi; I've too often been disappointed by leaden or soggy lumps of potato flour when I should be delighted by soft pillows of the same. Frankie's gnocchi, however, are definitively delightful. They come dressed in what is known in Italian-American circles as "gravy," a slightly tangy marinara sauce made from the best tomatoes and little else, other than know-how. The ricotta elevates the proceedings from delightful to sublime. It's cool and milky against the acidic tomatoes, and compliments the gnocchi's own creaminess.

No Italian meal would be complete without a shot of espresso, and Frankie's delivered pretty well in this area, too. Their espresso is dark, strong and full of so-coffee-y-it's-almost-sweet flavor. Nothing settles the tummy after a giant plate of buttered pasta like espresso.

Miya took her leftover gnocchi home in an adorably stamped paper bag. I'm kinda wishing I'd brought the tiny bit of cavatelli left on my plate home with me. Maybe next time...

Frankie's 17 Spuntino
17 Clinton Street (between Houston and Stanton)
212.253.2303

Hipsteriffic.

Last Saturday was a ridiculously beautiful summer day. Low humidity, glorious sunshine, and relatively few obligations led me to pay a visit to the Hester Street Fair after a visit to the lovely Holly at Fringe Salon. The Fair occupies a piece of land originally used as a pushcart market site by Lower East Siders in the early 20th century. It's a shady little have at the corner of Essex and Hester, marked by an iron arcade straddling the entrance.

These days, the Fair is home to a number of different sellers, primarily of food, jewelry and vintage goods. There's also - mercifully - a misting tent where you can stand to get cool, and a super-neat used bike seller. The day I visited, the spice vendor was doing a brisk business.

I loved the vintage jewelry seller. Those brooches are just too sparkly and fun for words, but I couldn't choose just one, and so I decided to leave them all behind to be adopted by someone with a better capacity for decision making.

The jewelry booth also had a gorgeous collection of vintage keys on display. I loved how he arranged them on the mirror - it made for an intriguing vignette, I thought.

Memorandum had a variety of cool, Hollister Hovey-ish vintage items on offer, like this portrait...

...and this taxidermied stag.

And did I mention the bikes? It doesn't get more hipster than taxidermy and bikes.

Coffee upon coffee.

Iced coffee with coffee ice cubes is pretty freaking amazing, right? I mean, I make iced coffee at home all the time, but I never take the effort to actually make the coffee ice cubes. But after the fabulous, strong-to-the-last-sip coffee I had yesterday at 88 Orchard, I'm really wondering why not. WHY NOT?

In fact, please excuse me while I go get the French press all ready for an ice cube-bound pot of brew.

A doughnut grows on Clinton Street.

On the very last night of my staycation, I had a ridiculously delicious meal at Frankie's Spuntino with Miles and Hall. After dinner, we stopped into DessertTruck's new stationary location, DessertTruck Works. It's pretty much smack across Clinton Street from Frankie's, which made it eminently convenient for a sweets fix.

I decided that the time was ripe for a brioche doughnut filled with Nutella. And boy oh boy, was I right. The doughnuts were yeasty and buttery (though I noticed no distinct similarities to brioche), and the filling was rich as could be. The sugar coating the doughnuts made them appropriately messy to eat (you have to work to enjoy something this tasty), and the boys and I put these away in second flat.

Can't wait to go back, though I don't know how I'll ever resist the call of the doughnuts. Hmmm...

DessertTruck Works
6 Clinton Street
Between Houston and Stanton

Browned butter makes everything better.

A few weeks ago, when Louisa was in town, I had a superlative meal at Frankie's Spuntino down on Clinton Street. You may remember my desperate attempt to recreate their roasted beet and avocado salad; this post is about my imitation version of their (justly) famous cavatelli with browned butter and hot sausage.

This pasta is, in a word, too-licious. While sage and browned butter are a well-known and time-honored pair, the addition of a pinch of garlic and some porky, spicy sausage really make the dish sing. The sauce, nothing more than butter and pasta cooking water, is silky and spare, and the sausage's snap plays beautifully with the chewiness of the al dente pasta.

Some versions I found online called for a bit more sage; I find it's better with about half a cup between two people. It's enough to lend a good dose of piney flavor without making every bit overwhelmingly herbal. And, as is my wont, I added a bit more garlic than most versions because, well, I like garlic. You might want to adjust your seasonings depending on the sausage you use (if it's heavy on the fennel, for example, you might want less sage), but this is a remarkably forgiving meal.

Finally, the question of what sort of pasta to use. I searched high and low for cavatelli this weekend, but to no avail. Instead, I went for orecchiette. I've used penne in earlier variations, but I think the orecchiette is more suited to the dish - but, if you can find cavatelli, please use it! It's even more delightfully chewy than orecchiette.

Oh, and, for my veggie friends - leave out the sausage, and sub in a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. All of the heat, none of the meat! (Look, Mom, I made a rhyme!)

Frankie's [Orecchiette] with Browned Butter and Hot Sausage

1/2 lb. orecchiette or cavatelli
1 tbs. canola oil
2 links hot pork sausage
4 tbs. butter
1/2 cup sage leaves, whole
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Parmesan cheese, for serving
Salt and pepper

Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water until just al dente. Set aside, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet set over moderately high heat, brown the sausage links until dark brown on all sides. The sausages should be just barely cooked through.

Wipe out the skillet and turn the heat to medium. Add the butter and melt it and then continue to cook until the milk solids begin to turn brown and smell nutty. Add the sage and garlic and cook for a minute to release the flavors. Slice the sausages crosswise into rounds and add back to the pan. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, along with a bit of the cooking water. Cook over medium heat until the the pasta has absorbed a good bit of the sauce and everything is well-combined.

Transfer the pasta and sauce to two bowls or plates, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and parmesan, and serve immediately.

Serves 2.

Worth the wait.

Every few weeks, I head down to the Lower East Side to have my hair done by the fabulous Holly Ivey at Fringe Salon. The neighborhood is a culinary wonderland, and whenever I go I try to squeeze in a bit of food adventure. Fringe is right next to Babycakes, the vegan bakery, and I can rarely resist an agave brownie bite. In the summer, I head around the block to Il Laboratorio del Gelato. And, this weekend, I decided it was high time for a stop at Doughnut Plant.

Doughnut Plant, in case you haven't heard, is home to what are widely regarded as the best doughnuts in New York. Mark Israel opened Doughnut Plant in 1994, making doughnuts out of a basement and selling them, wholesale, to venues around the city. In 2000, he opened a storefront on Grand Street, where the doughnuts can still be had, fresh as a daisy and piping hot, every day.

I'd had Doughnut Plant's doughnuts before; they're available all over the city, most notably at Dean & Deluca. They were always good, but I never thought they were something to write home about. I now know that's because - like all doughnuts - Doughnut Plant's doughnuts are exponentially better when they're super-fresh. For this reason, a visit to the actual store, complete with ridiculously long line, is completely worth the trip.

This time around, I ordered an Israel trademark, a yeasted, square doughnut filled with house-made jam (All the jam fillings are made in-house.). This one was also coated in a peanut butter glaze, and dotted all over with little bits of peanut. It was fantastic. Still just slightly warm from the oven, it was squishy and filled with deeply-flavored jam. Since it had only been sitting for a few minutes, the glaze was creamy rather than flaky, and melted in my mouth.

Doughnut Plant also boasts pretty respectable coffee, which you serve yourself - pints of milk are also available, for those who wish to fully recapture the taste of their youth. No matter what your beverage of choice, though, there's no denying that you'll turn giggly and goofy at one taste of the doughnuts.

Doughnut Plant
397 Grand Street
Between Essex and Ludlow
212.505.3700

Hey, Babycakes!

As is well-documented on this blog, I love meat. Chicken, pork, lamb, beef, fish - you name it, I eat it with relish. Same goes for butter, eggs, wheat and sugar. But all of that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good vegan, wheat- and sugar-free treat when I see one.

Saturday afternoon, I headed down to the Lower East Side to have my hair done (by the fabulous Holly at Fringe Salon). My salon is on Broome Street, right next to Babycakes, one of the best-known vegan bakeries in the city, and an agave brownie bite seemed just the thing to make my afternoon of pampering complete.

The brownie bites are about an inch and a half across, filled with a chocolate pudding. They're more cakey than fudgey in texture; I think of them as a virtuous version of Hostess cupcakes - free of wheat and sugar, but still satisfyingly chocolatey and gooey and delicious.

Yum.