Telegraphe Cafe

Telegraph Cafe is another small business I wouldn't have randomly stumbled in to if it wasn't for the summer of the great Paze promotion, but I was charmed by it instantly when I entered.

*If you are unfamiliar, Paze is a digital wallet system (like Paypal or Google Pay) that you can use to check out with some merchants.  In the summer of 2026, when they launched, they had a promotion with most major credit cards and banks to give you back a $10 credit, up to 10 times, per card/account, if you spent $10 and paid with Paze.  One of their launch partners was Clover, the company behind many restaurant POS systems, so if you ordered online through their Clover storefront, and paid with Paze, you got $10 free (over and over, again, 10 times per card/account).  Tax, tip, it all counts towards the $10, so you could get something <$10, and just tip up to the $10 to trigger the credit.  I love a freebie, and I love excuses to check out places that I wouldn't normally stumble into, so I used Clover and Paze to go on little missions every weekend, gettings $100s in free food along the way.

Setting

"Welcome to Telegraphe Cafe,your cozy neighborhood cafe! Whether you’re looking for a place to catch up with friends , relax with a good book, or get some work done, we’ve got you covered."

I found the cafe very charming, ambiance wise.  Located of a side street, and every time I visited it had such great coffee shop vibes, with folks sitting and working at laptops, pleasant music playing.  I could see it being a great neighborhood place, just as they say.  And they seem to welcome lingering.

Counter.

The space is pretty small, with a counter for ordering, a back prep area, upper level storage, and a few seats along the window on barstools.

Seating.

There were also a few small tables.  No outdoor seating.

Food

Telegraphe is both a coffee shop and a cafe, and they do have a back kitchen with real food.  The breakfast menu has a large lineup of egg sandwiches, plus standard bagels, granola, yogurt, overnight oats, pastries.  Lunch is sandwiches, soups, and salads, and I appreciate that they offer half sizes.

Pastries.

The pastries look better than average for a coffee shop. They do have a house made look to them, or at least not mass produced, although I'm not sure if they really do make them there, I doutb it.

The lineup had an assortment of croissants,danishes, and muffins, plus several kinds of cookies in jars along the counter.

Spinach Turnover.  $5.60. 

In non-standard Julie behavior, I opted for a savory pastry, the spinach turnover.  I ordered it thinking it was going to have spinach and ricotta inside.  Or maybe spinach and mozzarella.  I was quite surprised when I warmed it up to discover ... woah, it was like spanakopita inside.

Spinach Turnover: Inside.

It was quite generously filled, and the filling was quite flavorful but ... I don't care for feta, and these just weren't flavors I was excited by.

The pastry itself was nicely flaky, and almost seemed like it might be a bit whole wheat?  It had some grains and heartiness to it I wasn't expecting.

Overall this was a bit unique, and well made, but not the flavors I like much.  Low 3/5.

I handed it off to my mother who was visiting, who does like feta, spinach, whole grains and she didn't care for this either, so ... shrug.

Some Kind of Cookie. $3.50.

Of course I wanted something sweet too.

What I ordered (from the menu, online): "White Chocolate Cookie & Oatmeal chocolate cookie" ... which I hoped meant they had both these kinds and I'd get one of them, or perhaps that it was one kind of cookie with all these things, or even one of each.  I wasn't entirely sure what I'd be getting, but I did expect at least one of white chocolate or oatmeal to be present.

What I got: this.  A rock solid, like, not just crispy, but hard puck of a non-oatmeal cookie with chocolate hunks in it and chocolate coating.  Oh, and nuts, bits of walnut. Good thing I do not have a nut allergy.  No white chocolate.  No oatmeal.  And a very, very stale hard cookie.  The base flavor was actually ok, but, just not at all what I ordered, and way too hard.  The chocolate coating wasn't particularly good either, which is a shame, as the dark chocolate hunks inside were decent.  2/5.

Looking at the menu on their website, not the online ordering page, they have "Double Fudge Chocolate Chip", perhaps that is what it was?

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Chip City, NYC

Update Review, October 2026

Well, Chip City is no more, but since I had already written this up from cookies consumed this summer, I wanted to post in Chip City's honor one last time.

Catering 25 Classic Variety Bundle x2.
$124.75 x2.

"Includes 5 chocolate chip cookies, 5 triple chocolate cookies, 5 oatmeal apple pie cookies, 5 cookies 'n cream, and 5 confetti cookies."

This is the basic catering lineup from Chip City.  5 flavors, 5 each for 25 cookies, or, as we had, 10 each for 50 total.  The classic variety bundle is only kinda boring, basic flavors, not the ones I head to Chip City for, but I was still eager to have them all (ok, ok, I had some restraint, I only had 3 of the 5!).

Oatmeal Apple Pie.

"Honey oatmeal cookies stuffed with apple pie filling."

"Spiced honey oatmeal cookie filled with cooked apples."

I started with the one that didn't look like basics I'd had before, e.g. not the chocolate chip nor triple chocolate chip, not the confetti or cookies & cream.  I grabbed it thinking it was a peanut butter cookie, given the textured bits on top, as I didn't know the actual flavors in our box.

Consider my surprise when I broke off a piece and popped it in my mouth, and didn't taste peanut butter at all (which, makes more sense, including a peanut option in a default catering lineup probably isn't a great move with allergies, and also, they don't make a regular peanut one, only a vegan peanut one, and it also wouldn't make sense to have vegan ones mixed in ....).

The bits that I thought were peanut turned out to be ... oats!  It was a very hearty cookie, loaded with oats, in a way that tasted almost health-adjacent, although it was clearly a sweet cookie, and clearly a high butter content cookie, so I couldn't quite talk myself into thinking "oh, this is a cookie I could totally have for breakfast!"

It was a very pleasant oatmeal cookie base though, not cloying sweet but sweet, a touch of honey for sophisticated sweetness, and lovely warm spices like cinnamon (but no nutmeg or cloves, phew!).  I genuinely enjoyed it, it reminded me a lot of fruit crisp or crumble topping, just in cookie form.  4/5 base cookie.

Oatmeal Apple Pie: Inside.

But this wasn't just a pleasant oatmeal cookie.  It was actually an apple pie inspired cookie, with an apple filling!  

The filling was small bits of apple, minimal goo, and again, just simple pleasant spicing, cinnamon and sugar, not much else.  It went very well with the base cookie, given my description of it being like a fruit crisp or crumble topping, this really completed the deal.

This was a cookie that was nearly healthy tasty and fine at room temp, but turned into a wonderful dessert when warmed up and topped with ice cream.  Apple crisp/crumble, in cookie form.  I'm here for it.  And I thank them for not using aggressive spices.  I'd get this again, if in the mood for a winter-adjacent cookie.  4/5.

Confetti.

"Vanilla Sugar cookie mixed with rainbow sprinkles."

I've had the confetti cookie before, but I know I like it, so I grabbed one when there were still plenty of cookies left over.

 [ No Photo ]

Milk Chocolate Chip.

"Brown sugar cookie mixed with milk chocolate chips."

Well, huh.  I never had this before because chocolate chip seems so basic and boring compared to other Chip City options, but there were a bunch of pieces of these left after an event once, so I tried one finally.

And ... this is a very good chocolate chip cookie!  Loaded with creamy milk chocolate chips, rich and sweet brown sugar cookie base, perfectly soft.  It isn't particularly innovative, but, a good cookie nonetheless.  Low 4/5.

Update Review, October 2025

After discovering Chip City last summer when staying in NY for a month, I was eager to return this year.  I was not let down.

Display.

I always like the cookie display at Chip City, as the cookies are shown cooling on their baking trays, with spatulas to serve (although they usually pluck you a hot fresh one / top your cold one to order anyway).  Somehow this feels very fresh and homemade, compared to say Crumbl where they have a single premade cookie of each kind in a display case.

On this visit, I had done my research and knew what the weekly flavors were, but I was thrown for a loop when this location was also featuring one from two weeks ago (weekend special that I had missed out on), the raspberry cheesecake.  I know many people who say the blueberry cheesecake is hands down the best at Chip City, and I was super curious if the raspberry cheesecake would be equally awesome (but, it had only been on the menu that once, weekend only, so reviews are sparse).  I momentarily hesitated, almost deviating from my plan to get the current weekend special, but stayed the course.

Mixed Berry Tart. $7.
(Weekend Special).

"Sugar cookie topped with bavarian creme, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, and dusted with powdered sugar."

I instead went for the weekend special, a brand new one to the menu, dubbed the Mixed Berry Tart.  Mine was created to order, with the bavarian cream topping, fresh berries, and sprinkle of powdered sugar added after I ordered.  It looked as pretty as their stock photos, with the berries deliberately placed in an attractive pattern.

I tried the bavarian cream first.  It was fairly average, smooth, creamy, but not particularly flavorful.  I would have loved for a stronger vanilla or something flavor.  Basically reminded me of donut shop bavarian cream filling, which is fine, but particularly when it's the topping and so dominant, I wanted more from it (I also realized that I really associate bavarian cream with chocolate, and missed that here).  The berries were fresh, ripe, good enough.  So, fine topping, but not particularly special. 3/5. 

The cookie though is where this redeemed itself.  Basically just a thick, soft, fairly perfect sugar cookie.  High sweetness level, but a good sweet, pure sugar sweet, with lots of buttery notes.  It was as good as a sugar cookie really can get.  I loved how soft and nearly underbaked it was in the center. 4.5/5 cookie.

So as a composed creation, I wasn't really bought into the sugar cookie + cream and minimal fruit concept.  It was sorta like a mixed berry tart, the namesake inspiration, but not really.  But I loved that sugar cookie base.  3.5/5 overall, but that cookie, swoon.

This is actually a premium cookie, $7 like the crookies, instead of the regular $5.50.

Cookie Carnage!

I stumbled upon this box in my office micro kitchen one afternoon.  I got to try the remnants of 3 cookies: 2 classic, 1 seasonal.

Cookies & Cream

"Sugar cookie mixed with chocolate sandwich cookies and white chocolate chips."

Cookies & cream is never my flavor of choice, as I dislike Oreos, but there was a small hunk left, and of course I wanted to try it.  

It was good - the base cookie was very sweet, very sugary, very buttery, very rich, and super thick like all their cookies.  I loved the white chocolate, even though that made it even sweeter.  The chocolate sandwich cookie bits were fine, I didn't actually get as much cookies & cream from this as I did just pleasant sugar cookie with cream / white chocolate, but perhaps that was just my small hunk.  If you are curious, they go with Hydrox.

I wouldn't get this flavor again as there are too many others I like more, but I did enjoyed it.  Low 4/5.

Confetti

"Vanilla Sugar cookie mixed with rainbow sprinkles."

Pretty classic.  Soft cookie, sweet and buttery.  Exactly what you'd expect from a good, large size, thick, soft, confetti cookie.  Nothing I'd change about it, but not really the most exciting flavor.  I wonder if they ever do a version with buttercream filling or topping?  Now THAT would be exciting ... Another low 4/5.

Lemon Berry

"Lemon shortbread cookie filled with red berry jam and topped with powdered sugar."

Last up, lemon berry, a seasonal special.  Again not one I'd necessarily choose, as I tend to not be as into lemon desserts, but hey, I'm always happy to try things, particularly when they are conveniently already broken into hunks!  The base cookie was definitely lemon flavored, and indeed, more of a shortbread than any of the other cookies I've had from Chip City, as those have all been sugar cookie bases.  But not a traditional shortbread, or at least, not what I think of, as it was still soft and thick.  I actually did like it, and the lemon notes just accented the flavor in a nice way.  (Are lemon desserts growing on me?!).

The red berry jam, the best I can tell, is raspberry and strawberry.  It was sweet and fruity, and there was plenty of it.  It oozed everywhere.  Fairly standard jam but it went nicely with the base cookie.  I think of this sorta like an elevated thumbprint cookie, just with the jam as filling.

Another 4/5 despite me not caring for this type of item in general, because it really was still quite good.  My favorite of the ones I tried.

Original Review, October 2024

Cookies.  Not an item I ever really seek out.  I'm a dessert girl to the core, but to me, cookies aren't what I consider a "real" dessert.  Sometimes I'll enjoy a warm gooey cookie a la mode with a drizzle of a syrup and fresh fruit perhaps, but just a cookie?  Meh.  Not a real dessert (there are of course exceptions, like the Salted Caramel Manifesto cookie from Sweet Street, that is basically my favorite cookie on the planet, but even that I like to at least dip in whipped cream).  But cookies are definitely having their trendy spotlight (I'm looking at you Crumbl, which certainly takes the definition of "cookie" a bit liberally).  

Which brings me to Chip City, a New York City based franchise akin to Crumbl (they have expanded to a few other cities in other states as well now).  Cookies are the focus.  

The flavors change weekly, on Fridays.  The lineup always includes 5 from their classic cookie lineup, plus two more from the seasonals, along with one vegan offering, with special holiday ones making an appearance from time to time.  On top of that, sometimes one that is offered for just one day, replacing one of the classics.  You can always find the week's choices on their Instagram page.

The classics include your basic expected flavors, but also tempting options like cookie butter with Biscoff, Nutella sea salt, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Rev Velvet Cookies N' Cream, Blueberry Cheesecake, and more.  Seasonally, you get caramel corn, caramel apple cider doughnut, pecan pie, sweet potato s'mores, red velvet hot chocolate, peppermint crinkle, white chocolate gingerbread, and of course pumpkin spice latte (along with others) in the fall and winter.  Spring and summer bring banana nut oat, cannoli (what's spring/summer about that?), lemon berry, key lime pie, hot honey cornbread, peach cobbler, and more.  Oooh, and fluffernutter hits in the winter too.  Many are stuffed/filled, and some are topped, the fluffernutter for example has marshmallow filling, the cannoli has cannoli cream and mini chips on top.  Then there are the "Chip City Holiday" cookies, ones that come out for very exclusive appearnances.  Here you'll find crazy things like a baklava cookie (filled with spiced honey walnuts and wrapped in crispy phyllo dough!) and a blueberry Eggo waffle cookie (topped with a maple icing and Eggo® Graham Crackers).  These are all big, thick, gooey cookies.  Considered 4 servings each.  

In addition to the standard large cookies, they also offer thins (much crispier, single serving size), and, at some locations, the ever trendy crookies and, again, some locations only, ice cream.

The week I visited (in August), the lineup was:

• Chocolate Chip
• S’mores
• Confetti
• Cookies N Cream
• Triple Chocolate
• Banana Cream Pie
• Lemon Berry
• Dairy-Free Cookie Butter
• One day only: Choco Coco Caramel - 8/30 (replaces Confetti) and Peach Cobbler - 8/31 (replaces Confetti)

The first 5 are the classics, the next two were the summer seasonal picks of the week.  I recommend signing up for their rewards program, as you get a free one on your birthday, among other rewards.

Storefront.

The stores are mostly just cookie counters, with no / minimal seating.  They are no frills, except for the aroma of freshly baked cookies.  The aroma pouring out the door is a bit irresistible, even for someone who isn't as in to cookies normally.  

Fresh Baked.

The smell comes of course from the fresh baked cookies.  Cookies are baked in small batches at a time at each shop (literally just a tray of 6), so they are fresh as can be.

Enticing Cookies.

Chip City highlights the fresh baked nature by not even putting them into display cases, but rather, just displaying the cookie trays.

More Cookies.

 They are served using standard cookie spatula.  They look they just came out of the oven, because, well, they did.

Branded Box.

Once you order, cookies are not handed over in a generic cookie/pastry sleeve.  They always come in branded boxes.  This one was for a half dozen, but even a single cookie comes in a mini cookie box.

Cookie Carnage.

My first encounter with Chip City is when I stumbled upon this box of carnage in the office.  I tried a few nibbles, and quickly went back for more.

Chocolate Chip (Classic)

"Brown sugar cookie mixed with dark chocolate chips."

I started with the most basic.  Chocolate chip. This was very good.  The brown sugar made for more complex base than a standard chocolate chip cookie.   Plenty of high quality dark chocolate throughout.  Buttery, decadent, and sweet.  One of the better choc chip cookies I've ever had.  ****.

Orange N' Cream Cookie (Weekly Special).

"Orange cream sugar cookie stuffed with an orange cream cheese filling and drizzled with an orange cream flavored glaze."

Not a cookie I would have ever ordered given my dislike of citrus desserts, but, this turned out to be very good.  A thick sugar cookie base, which was kinda a first for me - I'm used to sugar cookies being thinner.  This was the form of thick, rich, gooey cookie, but, all the flavor of a sugar cookie.  So buttery and sweet and decadent.  And then, the hints of citrus and cream.  I'm glad I got to try this (and actually had taken a hunk not pictured here to start before I knew what it was, so I had a bigger hunk that it appears).  ****.

Dairy-Free Trail Mix (Discontinued).

"Oatmeal cookie made with roasted peanuts, raisins, and mini chocolate chips."

I lost my notes on this one, but I remember loving all the textures and components, particularly the peanuts.

Banana Cream Pie (Summer Special).

"Banana Cream Pie Cookie Sugar cookie with fresh banana and vanilla wafers, filled with banana pudding."

My next encounter was when I visited for my birthday in August.

I almost made the trip just for the one day only peach cobbler special, but decided that the banana cream pie was really calling my name.  I had been craving more banana cream pudding since having it at Magnolia the week before (everything else, cupcakes included, is not worth the hype at Magnolia, but that banana pudding ... swoon!).  The cookie was topped with a spray of whipped cream to order.

The cookie base was good - a very sweet cookie, lofty, quite soft, almost cake-like.  It had some complexity to it, which I guess was the vanilla wafer and banana bits, although I didn't really distinctly taste either.  But sweet and soft, and decent enough, it was.  ***+ base.

The whipped cream on top was interesting - it tasted far more like frosting/icing than whipped cream.  Definitely very sweetened.  Good, but it made me think of a cupcake more than a banana cream pie.  ***+.

Banana Cream Pie: Inside.

And then of course, perhaps the part I was most intrigued by, the banana pudding filling.  Given that the cookie was fresh and warm, and I think of banana pudding as a chilled item, I wasn't sure how this would work.  

The amount of filling was reasonable as it was a cookie after all, but there really wasn't that much.  I don't really think a pudding stuffed cookie makes all that much sense.  At least for me, I want more quantity when I have pudding, so stuffing donuts, croissants, bigger items works much better.  Cookie butter, chocolate, icing, etc stuffings work well in cookie, but pudding?  It was too easily lost.  It was fine, kinda basic banana pudding, but, really hard to really taste.  ***.

I did enjoy this cookie.  It was well baked, and flavorful, it just didn't really remind me of banana cream pie.  ***+.

One of their lightest offerings, 150 calories per serving, which of course is an amusing 1/4 of the cookie.

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Wafels & Dinges

I was this many years old when I learned what dinges were, when researching a small chain of waffle shops in New York, Wafles & Dinges. If you, like me, did not know the Belgian word, it simply means ... thingamajig.  You know, a whatchamacallit. A word for generic stuff. In this case, they use it to refer to assorted toppings you can put on waffles.

"You can feel sweet buttery goodness radiating from the Wafles & Dinges truck when it pulls up to the curb. Over ten years ago, Belgian-born Thomas DeGeest set out to bring authentic Belgian waffles to the US, creating Wafels & Dinges. Spelled the Flemish way, Wafel & Dinges (pronounced ding-us, and slang for “stuff”) has taken the New York street food scene by storm. From their Liège Wafels in Chocolate Fudge or Spekuloos to the Throwdown Wafel (named after the time DeGeest beat Bobby Flay on season seven of Throwdown), these waffels do not disappoint."

Wafles & Dinges has actually been around in New York since 2008, first started as a food truck,got more famous after beating Bobby Flay in 2010, expanded to a kiosk in 2013, now with several brick and mortar locations.  They also ship nationwide via Gold Belly.

The main attraction is the liège waffles.  They do not offer American style waffles, nor the other kind of Belgian waffles.  Just liège.  The menu has some curated waffles with toppings, but you can also build your own with a selection of toppings including sauces, fresh fruit, uh, candied bacon, and whipped cream or ice cream.  I found it interesting that chocolate chips or anything like it were not an option, yet mini marshmallows were?  During the fall, they also offer a pumpkin spice base waffle.

Besides the waffles, they have ice cream, croissants, crofels (croissants, waffled), and drinks.

Extravaganza Box. $90.

"Comes with: 8 Liège wafels (large), 8 Wafelinis and 3 topping jars (spekuloos cookie spread, dulce de leche & real Belgian chocolate fudge)."

We ordered for a group, so the "Extravaganza" box seemed appropriate.  It came with the regular size waffles (on the right) plus the smaller ones dubbed "Wafelinis" for those who wanted a smaller snack. We also got the included 3 spreads, one other kind of chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

Additional jars of spreads are $8.95, and cans of whipped cream are $12.

Wafelini w/ 4 dinges.

I started with a wafelini, and a tasting of all 4 spreads.

The spreads were fairly standard, not very memorable.  The Spekuloos was my favorite, but not on the waffle as it is pretty thick and rich, but I really enjoyed the leftovers later (on bananas, on plantain chips, on baby carrots, by the spoonful ...).  With the waffle, I probably liked the dulce de leche the most, or really, just the whipped cream (which was a large foodservice generic can, not a store brand, nor their own thing).  

The wafelini was fine. Slightly crispy and caramelized on the outside as it should be, pretty standard liège style, soft and fluffy inside.  I also had the full size wafel, and I found that preferred the smaller ones as they seemed a bit doughier and the pockets a bit more caramelized.

Overall this was all fine.  No complaints.  But not very memorable nor unique, assuming you've had liège waffles before.  I think I was spoiled by b. Street Waffles as a regular part of my life in San Francisco for years, and they just do not compare.

3.5/5, maybe, generously, as again, they were fine, but, I see no reason to seek them out again.

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Bluestreet Dessert Cafe

Dessert.  If you read my blog, you know I'm a dessert girl through and through (I eat dessert after every lunch and dinner, without fail, my blog has a label just for desserts and I review exclusively bakeries and ice cream shops on Thursday, etc).  So of course when a new dessert cafe opened in New York this May, I was going to pay attention.

"Coffee • Crepes • Waffles • Desserts. Your day-to-midnight cafe in NYC."

Note though that Bluestreet is a dessert cafe, not a bakery, a point I didn't quite realize until I visited.  The main attraction is their crepes, which they do make there and smother in Instagram worthy sauces, but most of the other desserts from the extensive lineup seem purchased from elsewhere.  Still a cute place, but not where to go if you want homemade desserts (other than the crepes and waffles).

Exterior.

The exterior was quite eye catching, with bright blue color (for "Bluestreet"?) and clear "COFFEE" and "DESSERT" signs.  In the summer, the whole front opens up, making it really quite inviting.

Inside.

Inside has table and long display cases, and an open prep area where you could watch them assemble items like crepes.

Nice Decor.

The place is really pleasantly decorated, is well kept, and clean.  I used the bathroom when I was there, and it too was aesthetically pleasing and clean.

Baked Goods / Chocolate.

The pastries looked decent, relatively glossy and flaky looking croissants, muffins with a homemade look, soft looking cookies.

They also sell several styles of $$ Dubai chocolate bars.

Cakes / Cookies.

On the bottom two rows of this case were cakes that didn't really look housemade.  I can't imagine a bakery making them in house putting in the little paper separators like that.  I suspect these are frozen and thawed, from a wholesale distributor. It was also notable that only one item in this entire case, on the middle row, said homemade (the carrot cake). The top layers were cookies and more cakes.

Mousses / Baklava. 

The most attractive looking items were here, as they carry a bunch of those fruit mousses that are shaped and colored to look like real fruits, and come wiht names like "Strawberry Bliss" (for the strawberry shaped one), "Blueberry Dream" (for the blueberry), etc.  This section also had tons of styles of baklava, and some other cookies and bars.

Dubai Chocolate Cake. $8.90.

"Rich chocolate cake layered with pistachio cream and crispy kadayif, finished with a glossy chocolate coating."

I ordered online in advance, so I didn't realize that the time I was picking something that didn't look homemade.  Yep, I went for the Dubai chocolate trendy cake.  I know, I know, but I really like crispy kadayif, and was in the mood for chocolate, so this sounded promising.

The cake was ok, but not really anything special. The chocolate cake bottom layer was a bit dry, not necessarily the freshest.  But the pistachio cream was sweet and creamy, I loved the texture from the crispy kadaif, and the fudge was fine.  This cake was definitely carried by the toppings, not the cake itself.

I did finish this (part I had with ice cream to balance the rich fudge) and liked it well enough, but I wouldn't get it again, and I doubt they make it in-house.  3/5, higher end.

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Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki

Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki.  That's an awkward mouthful of a business name. I think? it is the evolution of a previous bakery, Keki Modern Cakes.

"After traveling Asia and savoring pastries, founders Moul Kim and Lawrence Wai returned to New York determined to recreate those flavors. Teaming up with Executive Chef Kevin Kim, they founded Keki, sourcing fresh ingredients from Upstate NY and Amish Country, PA.  Chinatown, NYC, with its cherished memories, was the perfect location for their flagship. In April 2017, Keki opened on Mott Street, revitalizing the neighborhood and attracting visitors from near and far."

That's all the info I can find on Keki, of either business name.  These days, they make mostly cheesecakes in several styles, and also cream puffs, which I think were their most popular items from the previous incarnation.

Packaging.

We ordered for delivery. The cakes came attractively boxed up, tied with strings.

Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki makes 3 main styles of cheesecake: bouncy (per their namesake, several flavors), basque (with or without yuzu glaze), and "fancy" (several flavors).  I didn't get to try the basque this time, but tried several of the other styles.

Bouncy Cheesecake

"Hailing from Osaka Japan, Keki’s famous bouncy cheesecakes are light and silky in texture and melt in your mouth! Made with locally sourced fresh ingredients, our cheesecakes feature Organic Grass Fed Milk, Amish Cream Cheese, and Organic Free-Range Eggs. All this fresh goodness makes our cheesecakes bounce and dance with delight!"

Their signature cake, or at least the one they seem to be named after, is the bouncy style cheesecake.  If you are unfamiliar, the name comes from the fact that it jiggles a bit.  It is a lighter style cheesecake, sorta hybrid cheesecake-cake-souffle.  Some people call them souffle cheesecakes.  I first had this style from Uncle Tetsu in Sydney when it was ultra popular (2018), and wasn't quite as wowed by it as some people, but I still wanted to give this a try, as it had been years since I've had this style.  I believe they only make two flavors of the bouncy style, I tried both.

Original Bouncy. $18.

Just like Uncle Tetsu, this came with a nearly burnt looking top, and branding of the bakery name.  

It was fine.  Yes, a sorta lighter, less dense, less decadent, somewhat cakier cake, that still did taste like cheesecake.  Certainly not too sweet.  It made me think of angel food cake, one of my least favorite styles of cake, but, an angel food cake that had been crossed with cheesecake.  I found it kinda underwhelming flavor wise, and needed to add fresh berries and whipped cream to make it really into an appealing dessert.  3/5.

Ube Bouncy. $20.

The ube one actually looked pretty unattractive on top.  Brown does not really draw me in.  But inside was relatively vibrant purple from the ube.  It didn't taste all that ube unfortunately.

I felt basically the same way about this one as the previous.  It was fine, but I'd prefer another style of cheesecake, or another style of cake.  It was just soo cakey of cheesecake, or too dense of cake. 3/5.

Fancy Cheesecake

"Bottom layer of thin sponge cake, middle layer of American-style cheesecake, top layer of mascarpone mousse with a flavor."

Then there are the "fancy" ones.  These really were an adventure with three different distinct layers within.  Interestingly, these cakes are purchased frozen and requires 2-3 hours to defrost.  I actually liked them considerably more not fully defrosted.

The Fancy ones are available in original, green tea, or strawberry flavors, I tried all but the original.

Fancy Strawberry. $45.

First, visually, this didn't seem that actually "fancy".  The layers weren't even at all either.  

I actually had this after only an hour or so of defrosting time because our host didn't realize they needed to defrost for several hours.  It was rather hard to slice, as the strawberry hunks within were still very solid, but I actually liked it considerably more this way compared to once I let it properly fully defrost.

The base cake was whatever, barely noticeable, which was fine with me.  The cheesecake layer, when still pretty frozen, was just like cheesecake ice cream.  I liked it.  But the real draw for me was the strawberry top layer, which I guess was a strawberry mascarpone mousse.  It was sooo bright and fruity, and again, because quasi-frozen, it was sorta like ice cream or semifreddo.  I don't generally like strawberry ice cream, so this surprised me, but I really, really enjoyed this.  4/5 in semi-frozen form.

Once I let my other slice defrost properly, I liked it considerably less.  The mousse was almost too strongly flavored, and just an odd consistency, airy in a strange way.  The cheesecake seemed to almost melt, and didn't hold up like a regular cheesecake, even though they say it is American-style cheesecake.  So properly defrosted (but still chilled), I wasn't really into it, low 3/5.

Fancy Green Tea. $40.

"Total fanciness, now with extra pop. Kick dessert into high-gear with everyone’s favorite Asian pick-me-up and dance-about: matcha."

I also had the matcha version semi-frozen.  It was much the same as the strawberry, although easier to slice since it didn't have the big frozen strawberries within.  The bottom two layers, which made up about 1/3 of the cake, were exactly the same as the previous strawberry cake.  The green tea mousse was really enjoyable as green tea ice cream basically, such strong pure flavor, not too sweet.  I really liked this too.  4/5.   I didn't try this one defrosted properly.

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Seven Grams Caffe

Cookies and ... coffee.  Not quite the normal fill-in-the-blank choice of childhood milk & cookies, but, at least in New York it is a duo with some legit competition.  I don't mean a coffee shop that has some token cookies and mediocre baked goods on hand.  I mean businesses that focus on exactly those two things: coffee and cookies.  Such as Seven Grams, coffee roaster and caffe.

"That’s who we are, and that’s what we do: We roast great coffee, we bake sensational cookies (and cakes, and brownies, but, come on – the cookies), and we take immense pride in being a small, independent business. No investors, no suits, no big corporates. Just a dream, hard work, and a deep passion for what we do."

They have only 3 locations, all in Manhattan.  The name comes from the number of grams of espresso needed for the perfect shot.  I haven't had their coffee, but I did finally get to try one of their cookies, which frequent a slot in various "best chocolate chip cookie in NY" lists.  I rarely see them take the top honor, and they might not be as well known as some of the other common names (e.g. Levain, Culture Espresso - which, yes, is another cookies & coffee only place), but their name comes up enough that I took notice, even as someone who doesn't get particularly excited about cookies.

"Ooey-gooey, hand-crafted, and baked fresh to order. Expect a crunchy exterior, melt-in-your-mouth interior, and the best vegan cookies you've ever tasted. Crowned one of NYC's 5 Best Chocolate Chip Cookies."

They always offer a chocolate chip cookie for everyone: a classic chocolate chip cookie, a gluten-free and vegan dark chocolate chip cookie, and a vegan tahini & olive oil dark chocolate chip cookie. They have seasonal specials like pumpkin spice and apple cider in the fall, plus peanut butter dark chocolate chip and matcha white chocolate chip.  The bakery makes a few breads and scones too.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie.  $6.50.

"Our irresistible signature recipe of ooey-gooey, luscious, ultra-chocolatey cookies, packed-full of premium dark chocolate chips. Hand-crafted using only the finest ingredients and baked fresh to order, these decadent mega cookies have a crunchy exterior, a melt-in-your-mouth interior, and are packed-full of premium dark chocolate chips."

I had the simple classic.

I loved this cookie.

It was a soft cookie, not underbaked style, but trending that way.  It was thick.  It had plenty of chocolate hunks in it, but not so many it detracted from the taste of the base cookie.  I loved the base cookie flavor, butter, sugar, yes.  A cookie for cookie dough lovers. They say it is dark chocolate, but it was a lighter dark chocolate, a creamier, milkier style that I really liked.  

No edits on this one.  I really, really liked it.  My top chocolate chip cookie in NY so far ... 4.5/5.

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Aux Merveilleux de Fred

I thought I knew basically all types of desserts, and then I was in NY and realized I'd never encountered merveilleux before (I still haven't actually, but I learned about them when reading about a bakery I did have other items from: Aux Merveilleux de Fred).  "Fred", in this case, refers to the baker, Frédéric Vaucamps.  And, merveilleux, a specific kind of French dessert made with meringue, cream, and crumble coatings.  While I don't get excited about meringue (French style hard meringue that is), these still seem interesting, and I'd love to try sometime.

Fancy Box.

"Our cakes and pastries are traditionally made in each of our stores before your own eyes. You will love watching our teams in action as they make our Merveilleux cakes, cramiques and waffles. Our specialties are available in different flavors and sizes to suit all occasions and fancies, from our chocolate cramique as an afternoon snack, to our Merveilleux cakes for an unforgettable birthday celebration. Come and discover our know-how and taste our unmissable desserts!"

I did not have the merveilleux, instead I had some pastries and their other signature item, cramique, at a breakfast event at my office. 

Cramique

"A cramique is a Belgian brioche loaf found in Northern France.  Frédéric Vaucamps has reworked the traditional brioche with raisins. He has combined tradition and modernity with his new cramique recipes that include pearl sugar and chocolate chips. Our doughs are all made using traditional methods. From kneading, to shaping, to baking; watch as they come out of the ovens one after the other: hot cramiques baked all day long from breakfast time until late afternoon!"

These are available in plain, raisin, sugar, raisin & sugar, and chocolate varieties.  All but the raisin are round.  All are $4.95, which felt a bit high for just a simple brioche.  I tried a few to compare.

Plain Cramique.

"Plain brioche."

I started with the plain cramique.  It was ... well, a fairly plain, slightly sweet, fluffy bun.  No more, no less.  Not what I wanted to eat just as is, but I could imagine slathering it with something and enjoying it.  3/5 as there was nothing wrong with it, but it certainly wasn't interesting.

Raisin Cramique.

"Brioche with raisins."

Next I cut off a hunk of the raisin one, just to try it.  For some reason, the raison one only is a oblong shape rather than round roll.  But otherwise the same as all the others, studded with raisins.  Eh, raisins.  Not my thing, and it didn't have any additional spicing like a hot cross bun or other yeasted roll with raisins, so it still was  rather plain and simple for my tastes.  2.5/5.

Sugar Cramique.

"Brioche with sugar pearls."

The pearl sugar studded one was considerably more interesting, and I liked the sweetness, but it still was just a plain brioche, not something I can imagine wanting to just eat.  3/5.

[ Not Pictured ]

Chocolate Cramique

"Brioche with chocolate chips."

The one I picked to have a full size of was the chocolate one, which I somehow failed to get a photo of. It was studded with tiny chocolate chips.  I still found it a bit boring, better when I warmed it up so the chocolate got melty, but again not something I'd seek out.  The best of the bunch.  3/5.

Pastries

Aux Merveilleux de Fred doesn't make many other items, but I think they include croissants (and pain au chocolat) as kinda necessary elements of being a French bakery.

Croissant.

"Crispy pastry made from leavened puff pastry with butter. Our pure butter croissants are made in accordance with a traditional recipe and technique: mixing the pastry, incorporating the butter, shaping the croissant... We insist on the delicious, indulgent, authentic French taste of our croissants."

I had really mixed feelings on the croissant.  It ... wasn't flaky at all.  A good French croissant should be messy, it should shatter when you cut/bite into it, right?  And this did not at all.  But the buttery flavor was fantastic.  I think it would be good perhaps as a croissant sandwich bread, filled with meat/cheese, but really let me down as a standalone croissant, and I was surprised it was such a bready style.  3/5, carried only by the robust buttery flavor.

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Huascar & Company Bakeshop, NYC

New York has a lot of bakeries.  I have places I already love, and ridiculous lists of places I want to try.  I have a list targeted for cakes, another for laminated pastries, another for cinnamon rolls, another for cookies, etc, etc.  One category that doesn't get a lot of entries is pudding.  I adore pudding, of all kinds, hence the label on my blog for it.  Simple banana pudding, custards like crème brûlée, panna cotta, or flan, these all count.  I love them all.  So when a place has a few pudding-adjacent items on a menu, I pay attention.

Huascar & Company Bakeshop is primarily a bakery, with a large lineup of baked goods, all of which I'd be happy to try of course, but they aren't particularly at the tops of my lists for any of those items.  Their menu is extensive though, with a slew of flavors of cakes, cupcakes, and entremets.  Yes, like seemingly everywhere these days, they have a mango mousse that looks like a mango, a lemon ganache that looks like a lemon.  Dubai this and that.  They have cheesecakes and flans.  Cookies, brownies, and bars.  Many items incorporate Dominican flair, as the chef is from the Dominican Republic.  He competed on Food Network’s Sweet Genius and even won Food Network’s Cupcake Wars.

But I had my eyes on the pudding adjacent items, of which we ordered a slew for an event at my office.

Cheesecakes, Flans, Custards & Pies

Key Lime. $8.50.

"Graham cracker crust, fresh key lime custard, and whipped cream topped with lime zest and graham cracker crumbs."

Regular readers of my blog know that I tend to dislike lemon/lime desserts, and I downright loathe graham cracker crust / base, so, why on earth am I including a key lime item?

Simple: we had tons of these leftover, and people were taking just a few spoonfuls of each to try, so I was able to easily take a very small portion just to see if I liked it.  Spoiler: I did not, as expected.

Key Lime.

It was a fine item though, if you like these sorts of things.  The base was a layer of graham cracker crumble (not a crust, it was just loose, which is even worse to me, just, gritty sawdust that easily got mixed in).  The majority of the container was the key lime custard, thick, well set, very tangy.  Very not my thing, but the flavor and consistency were good.  The whipped cream was standard, and the zest on top was attractive and made the flavors pop a bit more.

I didn't care for it, but I have no real points of issue with it, just clearly not my preferences.

Passionfruit Coconut Tres Leches. $9. 

"Our tres leche cake, with a twist—soaked in an our virgin coquito mix, topped with homemade passion fruit jam, coconut whipped cream and sprinkled with toasted coconut."

Next up was the tres leches, which is something I like, but rarely love or get excited about in general.  I've had a lot of kinda mediocre tres leches, but rarely really bad tres leches, and rarely really great tres leches.  I think in my head it lives in the constant realm of things I like in theory, but don't ever get wowed by.

This one did come close to wowing me.  It was far better than any tres leches I'd had in several years but ... partially that is because it wasn't just any tres leches.   It was considerably more interesting than a standard tres leches, as coconut and passionfruit were the real attractions.  The basic formula of multiple milk soaked cake and whipped cream still applied, but otherwise, this was a pretty complex and flavorful dessert.  Also, I kinda think calling it a trifle may be more appropriate?  They do also make a more standard tres leches, spiked with rum.

The middle third of this was the cake, soaked not just in the standard three milks, but in coconut based coquito mix, so it was more flavorful than usual on its own (although I didn't really taste the booziness?). It was very moist, and the ratio of 1/3 cake to everything else made this eat really well.  Yes, it was soggy cake, but it was good.

On top was the coconut whipped cream, a far more substantial portion than what was on top of the key lime where that whipped cream was more of a garnish.  This was a full 1/3 of the dessert, equal ratio with the cake.  It was coconut flavored and had a great thick yet fluffy consistency.  It had a lot of shredded toasted coconut covering it as well, adding even more coconut flavor, lots of texture.  I could have been happy eating this sorta as a coconut cream pie, no cake required.

Below the cake was the passionfruit jam, where even more flavor intensity came from.  While the previous coconut flavors were strong, noticeable, the passion fruit was definitely the dominator.  The jam was so fruity, such concentrated tropical goodness.  Great for those who love passion fruit, and I appreciated that it didn't taste artificial.  It was sweet, but somehow not overly so.  This thick layer was about half the base of the dessert, and again, the ratio just made sense and made it eat so well.  There was a dollop on top of the whipped topping as well.

At the very bottom was a little more very soaked cake, almost so moist it was like pudding.

Overall I found this really easy to enjoy.  An excellent layered tropical trifle where every spoonful just made sense.  4/5.

The portion was large, easily 2 servings, maybe 3, which made the $9 price very reasonable.

Salted Caramel Banana Pudding. $8.25.

"Vanilla pudding with layers of caramelized spiced bananas, vanilla wafers & salted caramel sauce."

And finally, the one I was most excited for, the banana pudding.  Make that, salted caramel banana pudding.  Oh yes.  This took the basic banana pudding format and elevated it considerably (besides the kinda basic vanilla wafers on top, which sorta seems like a miss not to use house made ones?).

I had mixed feelings on this.  It was good, but borderline just too sweet.  I ended up adding a lot of tart blackberries, and regular less sweet whipped cream, to balance it out.  As it was served, it was just too much, even for someone who really loves sweets like me.  Maybe I just needed a black coffee or bitter red wine to pair with it?

Anyway, starting from the top, besides the aforementioned generic throwaway Nilla wafers, there was thick rich whipped cream, lots of it, sweetened, and drizzled with salted caramel sauce.  Very tasty, but even this topping was pretty sweet.

Banana Pudding.

Below that was a layer of the caramelized bananas that were really quite good, and a nice change from just standard sliced bananas in banana pudding / banana cream desserts.  They were nicely spiced, and were a good way to make the dessert less perishable too - I always find slightly brown fresh bananas a bit off putting, but here they were cooked down so this wasn't an issue.  However, this was a really sweet element as they were caramelized, and bananas are already pretty sweet.

After that a thick pudding (they said it was vanilla, but it really tasted banana to me), sweet but not cloying, great consistency, with vanilla wafers embedded within that basically turned into bites of soft cake and bothered me less than the ones on top.  And more salted caramel sauce, more caramelized bananas, more pudding, all kinda layered together in a not distinct fashion.

Put it all together and you had a number of winning elements, and it ate well with thick pudding, soft cake-like layers, sauce and bananas but ... every element was sweet, and some (the salted caramel sauce and caramelized bananas) were overly so.   I found it hard to eat large portions, without adding more plain whipped cream and other fruit.  Lower 4/5, as it was still very good, just, needed a bit less salted caramel sauce, or sweetness toned down in the pudding, to really knock it out of the park.

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