Bouchon Bakery

One of my favourite spots in New York City is at Columbus Circle overlooking Central Park. What makes it better is that Bouchon Bakery is on the third floor of the Time Warner Center. It's pretty much a staple when we visit New York or another city with a location. However, this was the first time we had lunch at the cafe here. Why did we not do this earlier?!?

The delicious soup of the day. I finally understand how soup can be good for the soul.

The Hanger Steak with applewood smoked bacon, piquillo peppers, and yellow corn succotash with horseradish-crème fraîche. Howard's pretty intent on recreating that succotash now. While I loved the addition of the crème fraîche, it made me think I was also having a baked potato on the side. Great pairing!

The main reason for eating at the cafe: dessert! That day, while I was eyeing the chocolate souffle, I eventually went with the Dulce de Leche. A caramel génoise, cashew crunch, caramel crémeux, with a milk sorbet.

That caramel... oh my gosh! And the milk sorbet, great palate cleaners to cut through all the sweetness. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Howard always says he won't steal any of my dessert, but he stole many bites! I don't see how you could not want to try this.

You would think that would be enough for me. Nope. We headed over to the bakery for takeout. Pictured above is the TKO - Thomas Keller Oreo!

Macarons! I originally only wanted to order the coconut lime and vanilla bean. But I was convinced to also get the summer berry. I was later surprised to find out that he kindly threw in a pistachio for me, too! As if you need to win me over even more Bouchon! And you know what? I liked the summer berry one the best.

I am so excited for the cookbook, Bouchon Bakery, which comes out this year! And we're going to meet Thomas Keller! He's coming to Toronto in October to promote the book and we've already bought tickets to the event. =)

Spin Dessert Cafe

Howard and I, along with our friends Mike and Megan, went to our first soccer game on the weekend. It was one of those rare beautiful days in Toronto. Watching the game at the BMO field was amazing, thank you warm sunny weather! Eating brisket sandwiches and giant hot dogs in the stands was fun. I think we even saw a tailgate party in the parking lot - these fans have lots of energy.

Unfortunately, Toronto didn't do so well. Seattle managed to score two minutes before the game ended. Aww well. To end the day on a high note, we checked out a dessert place. Right? Come on, you can't expect us to riot over a game. =P

Spin Dessert Cafe

1060 The Queensway

Toronto, ON M8Z 1P7

(416) 255-7746

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The interior at Spin was all pink and brown and the hostess was quite nice. We asked for one of the empty booths, but got seated in the middle. While it was less intimate (you're in the center of attention), it was nice and spacious. Learning that it was our first time at Spin, she took us through the menu by reading aloud all the different sections. They offer crepes and waffles, sundaes, cakes, beverages, savoury crepes, and breakfast. The last page of the menu said that alcohol would be coming soon. We also learned that they make all their ice creams in-house and that they have cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory.

Most of the dessert names in the menu are named after popular songs and we noticed that the waitresses also had song titles on the back of their T-shirts (also pink and brown).

Howard told Megan to sing her order - challenge accepted and Megan ordered "I Like it Like That" beautifully. Her crepe was a chocolate peanut butter ice-cream topped with Reese's Minis and bananas, with hot fudge sauce on the side.

Spin also has monthly specials, so Mike ordered from the June features, the "Lean on Me" crepes. This was a smore's ice cream topped with graham cracker and marshmallow's, with hot fudge on the side.

Howard and I shared "Irreplaceable," which was crepe with vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries with strawberry sauce on the side. He also got a "Lean on Me" drink from the monthly features, strawberry lemonade (which was delicious).

We soon figured out that the song names didn't really correlate with the desserts, and what surprised me the most was they didn't play any music! With such a musical menu, it would appear to make sense to have all those songs on loop. =)

Overall, it was a nice dessert place to hang out at. The fruits were noticeably fresh and there's lots to choose from, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth. The savoury section looked good too.