These days Brooklyn seems to be the place for artisanal everything. It’s becoming the Etsy of the food world from beer to ice cream, so why not rainbow baked goods?
During this Easter weekend, however, our focus centers on the new trend: rainbow.
Whether it’s rave inspired or something straight out of the 60’s, 2 Brooklyn bake shops have found a way to bring in the trippy colors into their offerings.
The Bagel Store has two locations, their newer store is right off the Williamsburg bridge on Bedford avenue, on the corner of south 4th street, and the other farther inland on Metropolitan avenue, right off Graham avenue. Noted on Buzzfeed,Huffington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, the Instagram buzz on these bagels hit so hard that it forced the closing of their Bedford location for renovations back in February. To avoid the chaos, I went over to their Metropolitan avenue location to see if I could snag one of the highly demanded baked good. Although it’s been only a month since the huge social media explosion, I was fortunate to not have to wait on line to pick one up. I requested a smattering of confetti cream cheese and voila, breakfast in technicolor!
At first glance, I have to admit, this bagel does look like a work of art. Even when I took these photos, the colors reminded me of the old 60’s sketch comedy show “Laugh In” or a lava lamp (do you dig?), with the confetti cream cheese in the center looking like something from Times Square during New Year’s Eve.
As for the taste, although I tend to like my bagels a bit more crusty on the exterior (which requires boiling them a little longer before putting them in the oven), they’re okay, but not like the old Brooklyn bagels I’d go deep into the neighborhood for. These were just chewy, but very colorful. The confetti cream cheese is what really made the bagel. Although colorful, it’s the sweet, slightly fruity nature of the cream cheese that made this morning sandwich worthwhile.
The Bagel Store occasionally offers different varieties on their rainbow bagels, including cotton candy, black and whites, and other off the cuff choices. As for their standards, they have the classics including onion and plain, however, for the exception of their rainbow bagels, their everything bagel is traditionally their best seller. They also have a bacon, egg, and cheese variety (yes, it’s part of the bagel) that’s best toasted.
Our second stop took us one stop on the G train to Nassau Avenue to a small doughnut shop called Moe’s Doughs to pick up their rainbow cake doughnut. Featured inMashable and Business Insider, Moe’s rainbow combines their sour cream, pistachio, red velvet, strawberry, and blueberry doughnut flavors into one super doughnut. After a fry and a glaze, the taste of this doughnut is pretty damn near spectacular.
Although by the look of it, it’s not really that pretty on the outside, but once you split this baked good open, you see the striations of the flavors within. It looks something like a the lines on a semi precious gemstone hidden within a geode’s rocky crust.
Even with the glaze, it’s not overly sweet, and although it is a mix of all these various doughnut cake flavors, you are not overwhelmed by any one flavor overpowering the bunch. Think of it like an everything bagel, but in doughnut form.
The doughnut shop also offers another interesting flavor, which will most likely appeal to girl scout cookie fans: samoas!
The thing about all these artisanal treats is their price tag. The rainbow bagel costs $3.25 just for the bagel alone, forget the cream cheese and the rainbow cake doughnut is going to costs you $2 each. If you’re willing to shell out some cash for these treats, then go for it. Help them pay for the highest real estate rates in the New York.
One more thing…
Although it doesn’t have any rainbow wares, we stopped by the classic Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop, which is also located off Nassau Avenue stop on the G line, on Manhattan avenue. This 1950’s style counter coffee shop caught our attention from a recent video from Eater’s facebook page, and since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to stop by. The first thing we noticed when coming in was the line. Upon entering, we were caught in the middle of a line of customers waiting to order and some looking for seating. Three cops were there waiting for their coffee and doughnut order (you can’t make these things up) while two women were at the counter, running registers and fulfilling orders. The price tag of their donuts were cheaper than Moe’s, but not as adventurous, but when you’ve perfected your wares like Peter Pan has, you don’t need mess with something that’s not broken.
We picked up a lemon filled and to our surprise, they didn’t skimp on the filling. The doughnut is about the size of your standard dunkin variety, but the powdered sugar is only on top, and the filling isn’t overly sweet. The slight tang of the lemon cuts through the sweetness making this a perfect balance of tart and sugary. Their most popular doughnuts tend to be their classic sour dough and their chocolate cake doughnuts, and if their lemon is any indication, we understand why the line was out the door.
If you’re ever in the mood for something old or new, colorful, or classic, stop by at any of these three places for a taste of artisanal and old world Brooklyn.
(post originally from TheMassInvasion)
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