Danielle said it best:
"On a foodie adventure!"
That was her Facebook status update at 10:42am this Saturday. And we needed a foodie adventure. Needed to release those pent-up urges for salty, sweet, and fat. Urges left untamed after yet another week of eating right, working out, and slimming down.
And for some time, we'd had a couple of destinations in mind. Granted, these weren't places that employed fussy plating techniques, or ingredients more suited for laboratory work. We wanted to see the modern masters of the ordinary at work. People who spend their days doing the simplest of things--doughnuts and hamburgers--at the very highest of levels.
So we got in the car--me, Danielle, and my brother, Mike--and we went to Doughnut Plant and Shake Shack.*
(As always, click the photos for higher-resolution goodness)
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If you blink, you'll miss it.
And that's funny, considering this is a doughnut shop that has been written about in Saveur, Vogue, and Bon Appetit, and has their product sold in Bloomingdales, Dean & Deluca, and Balducci's.
Mark Isreal's Doughnut Plant is located at 379 Grand Street between Essex and Norfolk. His creations fall into two categories: yeast doughnuts, which are lighter and bigger, and cake doughnuts, which are smaller, but denser. The flavors/glazes/fillings change seasonally.
They. Are all. Amazing.
For our visit, the following were available:
We decided to sample both the yeast and caked varieties.
Which turned into *cough* five of the eight options, actually.
The Blackout doughnut. Chocolate cake, chocolate filling, and chocolate crumbs on top. I'm not even a chocolate-lover, and I thought the Blackout was terrific. I was amazed to find that this was a filled doughnut,** a sentiment that, as you will see, will repeat itself over and over.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that I took--11--pictures of the Creme Brulee doughnut. This was both Danielle and Mike's favorite. Danielle called it, "One of the best things I've ever put in my mouth." It's such a ridiculously smart idea, too. A crunchy burnt sugar layer on the outside, sweet, light yeast cake, which gives way to a cream interior that is, obviously, very reminiscent of a creme brulee. Doughnut Plant's Creme Brulee doughnuts are small, and pricey, and worth every penny. There's nowhere else on the planet where you could get something like this.
The Tres Leches doughnut was my favorite. One of the denser cake doughnuts, it was covered in a milk glaze and the interior was a perfect interpretation of, yup, you guessed it--traditional Tres Leches cake. Again, a filled doughnut. With a hole in the middle. Don't ask me how it happens. Just be glad that it does.
We had to try the "traditional" yeast-leavened, glazed doughnut, which is far from traditional at Doughnut Plant. It's got much more of a vanilla presence, and the glaze is drippingly fresh. Once it's in your mouth, it seems to be a closer relative to cotton candy. A corporate glazed doughnut will never be good enough again.
The Peanut Butter Glaze/Blackberry Jelly doughnut is a fun play on the classic PB&J. And by "fun play," I mean, "You don't know if you should eat it or shove it down your pants." The square doughnut is yet another of Doughnut Plant's gang signs and I hope that I see it everywhere soon. And if my mind wasn't blown already, yes, this too was filled all the way through.
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Simply put, Doughnut Plant is where you should go if you want to eat the best doughnuts you've ever tasted. And the fact that their offerings vary based on the season means that I will always have an excuse.
Make sure to check out the full gallery of everything I shot while visiting Doughnut Plant:
Doughnut Plant (3/27/10)
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Since we had such a light breakfast, we figured we should procure something more substantial for lunch.
Now, I'd heard of Shake Shack many times before. And frankly, I was never too interested. I've had some good burgers. To be totally honest, I'd rather make my own. But once I read this recent post by the NYC Food Guy, and saw the Shack Stack for the first time, I knew I had to have it.
For those who don't know, Shake Shack has been around since 2004. There are currently two locations in Manhattan (Madison Square Park and Columbus Ave & 77th St.), although two more are coming, and there's a Shake Shack concession at Citi Field. The line is long, the line is long, and did I mention that the line is long? But the wait is worth it.
Don't believe me?
*Cue up the burger porn music*
At least if you're waiting on such a long line, you're in a nice park, right?***
I kind of ignored the menu. We knew what we came to get. I debated getting a "Shack-cago Dog" as well, but I didn't feel like splitting my pants on the ride home. It was unseasonably cool on Saturday too, so for most of the wait on the line, getting any of their frozen custard seemed unlikely. Emphasis on "most."
The order. Taking this photo prompted this classic exchange:
Mike: You're taking a picture of the receipt?
Me: Yeah (while trying to shoot and hold the receipt just right).
Mike: Uh, why?
Me: It's all part of the experience, man.
Mike: *shuffles over a couple of steps, hoping people won't realize we're related.*
The food. We had to eat in the car because our meter ran out by the time we got the bags. Yes, we waited on line for an hour for hamburgers. Yes, I'm okay with that. You looked at the picture, right?
I almost didn't get fries, but I'm glad I did. There was something--how do I put this--really fucking good about them. Crispy and fresh, obviously, but they were seasoned with something beyond salt, I swear.
Mike got a single cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato. What I like so much about it is that it just looks the way a cheeseburger is supposed to look. There's something to be said about food that just looks--right.
What we came all this way for--the Shack Stack. A cheeseburger with a 'shroom burger on top, which is a "crisp-fried portobello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese." Yes, it was delicious. Cream-your-jeans delicious. Perfectly cooked burger, good fresh toppings, and a supportive, slightly toasted, but not overbearing, bun. Let's get one more look at it:
And finally--dessert? Why not?
It probably seems pretty funny that we went to Shake Shack and didn't get a shake. Like I said, it was freezing. Like, 40's-when-you're-expecting-55-or-60 freezing. But something funny happened when we got to the front of the line. We caught sight--more like I caught sight--of the March "Custard Calendar." And that's when I saw that Saturday's cutard was "Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel." And that's when I decided to get a cup.
Because, you know, it's not like we'd eaten most of the menu at Doughnut Plant three hours beforehand.
To be fair, the custard was good, but not great.
I mean, we licked the cup clean.
But on a day when we had truly great food, the custard took a back seat.
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Let's review:
Is Shake Shack as good as the hype? Yes.
Is it worth the wait in line? Yes.
Should every burger sold in the United States come with a cheese-stuffed deep-fried mushroom on top? Without a motherfucking doubt.
Be sure to check out the full gallery of all of my Shake Shack shots:
Shake Shack (3/27/10)
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When you're a foodie,**** it's easy to get caught up in the high-end, the delicate, the expensive. But there's something great about simple foods executed at the highest level.
It is my contention that basic flavors like chocolate, burnt sugar, and ground chuck deserve to be celebrated.
And Doughnut Plant and Shake Shack are two examples of establishments that agree.
So go out and have some foodie adventures of your own. Keep an eye out for what you might ordinarily look past.
Do yourself a favor, though.
Save room for a Tres Leches doughnut from Doughtnut Plant.
More soon.
JS
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Footnotes
*I just want to make one thing clear. In no way am I presenting this review/post/pictorial as evidence that I "discovered" Doughnut Plant or Shake Shack. I am well aware that hordes of people have been flocking to both establishments long before I planted my ass down, ate some food, and snapped some pictures. Okay, now I feel better.
**I looked into this online and I found nothing, except one article that said the doughnuts are "injected," which means nothing to me. I just don't get how you fill a doughnut that has a hole in the middle. This will keep me up tonight, I promise.
***If that doesn't do it for you, the air is thick with the scent of charred ground chuck, which coincidentally, is in Yankee Candle's new summer scent line of candles.
****To be honest, I don't consider myself a foodie. Just a guy who gets off on good food. And takes high-resolution pictures of his food. In public.
