If you walked down Bleecker street in the West Village 4, 5 years ago, you wouldn't recognize any of the shops and restaurants that are there now. I've watched Bleecker gain pizzerias like Keste, yogurt places like Yogurt Land (which has closed and reopened at least 3 times, and now will be ousted completely by the latest appearance of 16 Handles a few doors down), and Murray's Cheese Bar. It's a great location, especially for a foodie. I had read in some of my food blogs that Sugar and Plumm, a restaurant on the Upper West Side, had amazing desserts, including something called an earthquake in a fishbowl, which includes multiple different cakes including cheesecake, Brooklyn blackout, key lime pie, heaven/hell cake, butterscotch pudding, 3 flavors of ice cream, with whipped cream on top. I didn't now there was talk of a separate bakery opening in the village until I happened to stumble across it the other night while wandering around the West Village after dinner.
Now I had just eaten at Ayza, the wine/chocolate bar/restaurant, and ended the meal with chocolate fondue. We weren't hungry, and were walking down Bleecker towards Barnes and Noble, when we came across none other than Sugar and Plumm's OPENING DAY. Now, this is not the first time I've accidentally stumbled across opening day at a dessert shop. The first 16 Handles on 2nd and 10th, I happened to be eating dinner at Veselka right up the block, and watched the amazingness that is now my favorite dessert place ever be unveiled. For a chocolate-lover/blogger who keeps up with her research, discovering a place I hadn't heard about on it's opening day was beyond exciting. What was better was, when we entered, we found a display of dessert samples - the shop wanted everyone to know just how great their chocolate was, and we got to try EVERYthing!
The baked goods include brownies, blondies, and cookies (both regular and gluten-free), almond croissants and a colorful array of macarons. There were rows upon rows of artisinal chocolate, beautifully decorated with shades of gold and floral designs. The woman at the counter was quite a salesperson; I planned to buy just 2 pieces of chocolate to review but she kept convincing to buy another, and another, until the box was full.
There were statues made of chocolate and fun designs like purses, eggs with chickens coming out for Easter, and a chocolate champagne bottle and bucket. A full list of the cool chocolate creations can be found here:
Sugar and Plumm chocolates
The chocolate really vary in price; the small individual pieces are $1.50 each. The cookies are average priced at $3-4. For the chocolate masterpieces, there is quite a range. I ordered the chocolate champagne bottle as a gift, at a hefty pricetag of $60. There's a giant chocolate eggs that can be purchased for $1,000. The chocolate purses and shoes were beautiful and would be a great centerpiece at a bridal shower or bachelorette party.
Everything we tried was delicious. The small chocolates were my favorite, probably because of the beautiful designs that reminded me a bit of Mariebelle, but weren't as costly. The people in the store were friendly and helpful; even though there were a ton of samples out on display, when we expressed interest in something they let us try it. This is definitely a place to go to get seasonal chocolates; the selection for Easter was astonishing for a brand new shop. We walked out with a bunny cake pop, a box of chocolates, and a cookie. I loved everything I tried, and have bumped Sugar and Plumm the restaurant higher on my list so I can try the desserts too.
For some background, Chef Pichet Ong is involved with the creation of the pastries and desserts, which are made fresh each day with natural ingredients and sent out twice daily. The chocolate in the Chocolate Shop use the world's finest all-natural raw chocolate, most of which is sustainably-farmed in the US for Sugar & Plumm. The chocolates are hand-crafted in small batches in-house, and since they focus on the perfection of the crystallization process of the chocolate and temperature control, a chocolate bar can take a week to complete. Somehow knowing each chocolate bar is made with love and care, makes the chocolate taste even better.
Sugar and Plumm
Open Sunday - Thursday 10am - 10pm and Friday-Saturday 10am - midnight.
www.sugarandplumm.com
No comments:
Post a Comment