Once I got off the train we made our way over to Chelsea to Billy's Bakery for a cupcake. Billy's was one of two major cupcake chains in NYC that I had left to try. I picked out a classic red velvet and honestly I was rather disappointed. The cake was fairly dry and the frosting didn't have much of a flavor. Lee had carrot cake and had very similar things to say about hers. Fortunately we had one more stop later in the day to redeem this weekend's cupcake experience!
Lunch took us to an Umami Burger, a gourmet burger chain that is quickly expanding and reminds me of a Bobby Flay's Burger Palace. What's unique about Umami is that there's an option to let the restaurant serve you whatever burger they want. Lee likes this option and did that, whereas I chose the special, a duck burger. We both had fries (mine were sweet potato) and the waitress brought to the table four dipping sauces: homemade ketchup, jalapeno ranch, garlic aioli, and Diablo, a spicy red sauce. My favorite was the jalapeno. The burgers were pretty good. I had only had duck once or twice and was excited to try it again. I liked the flavor of the duck and the peach marmalade and garlic aioli on top paired well with it.
Later in the day we took a trip to El Laboratorio del Gelato near the Bowery. This place makes all of their gelato in house and specializes in really unique flavors. I had Green Tea and Honey Lavender, which seem fairly exotic but this place even has flavors like Cheddar Cheese and Olive Oil! The latter two weren't offered that day but part of me would be super curious to try them! I liked the two that I had with the Honey Lavender being my favorite.
One our way to our next stop we passed a street fair in honor of Saint Gennaro and I couldn't resist purchasing some food magnets from this vendor! Look how colorful their display was!
Our travels now brought us to SoHo and Laduree, a famous stop for macaroons! I have long wanted to go here and was very excited. I chose the option to pick six and went with Vanilla, Raspberry, Pistachio, Lime Basil, Blackberry Currant, and Salted Caramel. My favorites were probably the Salted Caramel, Vanilla, and Lime Basil. Please excuse their appearance in the following picture, they got a little crunched in our travels.
I can't tell you how excited I was for dinner. I had seen an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives that featured The Smoke Joint, a BBQ joint located in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn. This place was easy to find and I kid you not, probably the best BBQ I have had to date. I chose the brisket sandwich that came with coleslaw and pickles, and I also ordered their corn on the cob. The brisket had awesome flavor and the dipping sauce that came with it was incredible. Coleslaw has been growing on me and I really liked theirs and I devoured the corn. It was coated in a barbeque aioli, joint rub, and green onions and had nice char marks from the grill. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of was my cocktail, which I didn't realize was quite as spicy as it was. It was spicy enough that it was hard to drink and made my eyes water and my nose run. Not exactly what you want in a drink. Lee ordered the catfish sandwich and said it was the best she had ever had as well. She also ordered the cornbread which she said was good, and had a spiked strawberry lemonade that was delicious and made for easy drinking. I should've ordered that!
The last stop for the day was Baked by Melissa, a mini-cupcake chain. They're only slightly bigger than a quarter, so I chose the 6 pack option. I had Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime, Smores, Tie Dye, Red Velvet, and Cookie Dough. These were really moist and packed with flavor. They totally made up for the disappointment of Billy's!
Sunday brought us to the very tip of Long Island, Montauk. Neither of us had ever been to the Hamptons and were excited to visit. It was a beautiful place, especially at the point with the lighthouse! Because of the location of course we needed to find some seafood. We stopped at Bliss Kitchen and both had the cod fish tacos, which were yummy. Our only complaint was that the pico de gallo on the top was very liquidy and dripped everywhere and soaked the tortilla a bit.
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