Milk Bar at the Grocery Store

I like to think that I knew about Milk Bar "before it was cool".  Long before Christina Tosi was a well known face and name from judging cooking competitions.  Long before there were multiple Milk Bar outposts.  When it still carried the name "Momofuku", and wasn't a separate empire.  Yes, I've known Milk Bar since the very early days, and was a fan back then.  It has been amazing to watch the expansion and success of the brand.  I've reviewed it many times before, including the iconic soft serve and crack pie, the cookies, and even cross-country cake delivery.

But a few years ago, Milk bar expanded even further: into grocery stores nationwide.  Talk about mainstream.

"Our taste buds were formed in the aisles of the grocery store, and the simple staples on those shelves have been our inspiration from day one. We make treats to bring you little moments of joy - wherever, whenever."

In grocery stores, Milk Bar carries 3 product lines: cookies, ice cream, and truffle crumb cakes.  I haven't yet tried the ice cream, but I've had a chance to try a product from each other category.  While it isn't quite the same as getting more freshly baked items at one of their flagship stores, I'm still a fan.

Cookies

The first products I ever had from Milk Bar were the cookies.  My first bites of the corn cookie, the compost cookie, the blueberry cookie ... those first tastes remain fixed in my memory as fairly life changing.  I've seen the quality drop as they moved to mass production, so I was definitely curious to see how the grocery store versions fared.

"Inspired by signature Milk Bar cookie flavors, these smaller, soft-baked cookies come in convenient on-the-go two-packs tucked into a colorful milk carton-inspired box."

For the grocery store, Milk Bar has 8 cookie flavors, sadly, the corn and blueberry ones did not make the cut, but the signature compost, cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow, and confetti did, along with some new ones: sugar sugar, cocoa mint, pancake, chocolate confetti, and seasonal candy cane chocolate chip cornflake. 

If you read my blog regularly, you know that cookies aren't really my thing generally, mostly because they are just a bit boring, not "full desserts", but, the early part of the pandemic lead me to appreciate cookies in a new way.  Simplicity had its place, and I found myself sometimes just wanting things to be easy, amongst all the uncertainty of those times.  So, simple cookies and milk it was, regulars on my rotation.  But of course, generally I ended up jazzing my cookies up, dunking into whipped cream and sprinkles, at least, often warming them up, serving a la mode or with ice cream ...  ).  Anyway.  I learned to like cookies again.

Chocolate Confetti.

"Yes, chocolate! It’s a party in this cookie and everyone’s invited. Chocolate Confetti is choc full of rich cocoa, mini chocolate chips, and lots of rainbow sprinkles."

Chocolate Confetti isn't really the flavor I'd pick, but these were given to me in a gift bag, so, Chocolate Confetti it was.

My first thought when I opened the package was just how ordinary the cookies seemed.  They were much smaller than the regular Milk cookies, just slightly larger than any other generic grocery store packaged cookie, and very thin.  They were at least very soft.

The cookie was ... kinda as boring as it looked.  Yeah, it had a chocolate base, and it did have lots of sprinkles and a few mini chocolate chips, but the chocolate flavor wasn't particularly strong, and the sprinkles added a touch of crunch, but not much else.  It had a processed flavor, and lacked the buttery sweetness of the classic cookies.

It was a fine cookie for a packaged grocery store cookie, but, nothing like the "real" Milk cookies.  The softness was the only real strong point.

***.

Truffle Crumb Cakes

I moved on to a more exciting product: truffle crumb cakes.

"Get to know these crunchy-on-the-outside, fudgy-on-the-inside snack cakes, inspired by our signature Cake Truffles, and nostalgic supermarket desserts. Find them in the refrigerated section!"

The crumb cakes are available in 6 flavors, 5 of which are chocolate based - chocolate chip, chocolate birthday, birthday, cocoa mint, chocolate pretzel, and seasonal candy cane chocolate.  They are slightly high maintenance in that they require refrigeration, just like the truffles from the shops themselves.

Birthday.

"A rich update on classic Birthday Cake flavor in a super-convenient handheld package! Sprinkle-packed cake inside, crunchy B’Day crumbs outside."

I went for the single non-chocolate option, birthday cake.

Wow, what a unique (and totally delicious!) product.  I'll admit that I had no clue what to expect from a "truffle crumb cake", and sorta thought they would be like cookies, but, they really were something else entirely.  Sorta like a dense sugary cake meets thick rich sugar cookie all covered in sweet buttery crumbles.  Thick of the most sugary buttery sugar cookie you've ever had, but, instead of being really soft and thin like a cookie, make it a denser thicker hockey puck.  If that sounds rich and overwhelming, you aren't wrong.  And THEN coat it all in the delicious sweet buttery signature Milk Bar crumble bits.  And if THAT sounds even more rich and overwhelming and potentially cloying sweet, you aren't wrong, except that ... it works.  Really.  Assuming you are in the mood for sweet that is.

I understand why they say they are "inspired by" the cake truffles, as my description of these reads fairly similar to that of the cake truffles (which I've reviewed before), although these are slightly more cookie-cake like, and have an even more substantial crumb coating.  Truffle crumb cakes.  Aha.  It makes sense now.

Anyway.  Yes, these are crazy sweet.  Yes, they are crazy rich.  Yes, the birthday cake flavor is basically just sugary sprinkles with more butter and sugar, and isn't exactly a highly refined complicated taste, but, its delicious.  I enjoyed dunking one in whipped cream just to tamper the sweet a bit, and found they pair equally well with red wine and black coffee, pick your vice of choice.

Each package comes with two of the cakes, and the serving size is just one, which actually is more than appropriate.  I adored this, but couldn't imagine eating two in one sitting just due to the high sugar content.  

I'd gladly get these again, and would like to try other flavors too.  ****.

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Breakfast at the Residence Inn, Cambridge MA

When I visit Boston, I most often stay at the W.  I really like it there - the suites are amazing, the staff treat return guests so well, the location is central and great for a variety of things, and the breakfast included with my status (essentially whatever I want from the restaurant, The Gallery, which I've reviewed many times) if fantastic.  But this year, they added a destination fee AND rates were really high, so, I decided to take a gamble and try a new place, the Residence Inn in Cambridge.  I knew it would be a very different tier of hotel, with no door man there to greet me, no lovely toiletries, and not-so-comfortable beds, but, it is located right near my office, and would have a full kitchen, which I appreciate.

The hotel was about as I expected, a standard Residence Inn, although recently renovated.  The beds were hard and uncomfortable, the AC was noisy and cycled on and off constantly, the elevators were slow and one was always out of service, etc, etc.  I didn't love the property, but, it was fine.  Included for all guests is free breakfast, which of course I took advantage of.  It was slightly better than I was expecting.

Daily Continental

The breakfast lineup always had the same basic continental offerings, essentially what you'd expect anywhere.  These were entirely unchanged from day to day and were fairly low quality.

Bagels & Toast.

Bagels (regular and cinnamon raisin), english muffins, and wheat bread were available, with a toaster and basic spreads (Nutella, Jif creamy peanut butter, jam, butter).  The breads/bagels were pretty low end generic quality.  The toaster seemed to only toast one side of the bread.  I had toast one morning and was not very pleased with my half-toasted mediocre bread.  **.

Cereal.

The cereal lineup was entirely sugary cereal.  Kids were always thrilled.  Adults were not.  The lineup never changed, and was always: Fruit Loops, Raisin Bran, and Cap'n Crunch.  Not even basic Cheerios or corn flakes.  I tried the Cap'n Crunch one morning, I think the first time I've ever had it, and truly did not care for it.

In a fridge nearby was individual cartons of 1% or 2% milk to use with the cereal, along with chocolate milk and yogurt (plain, vanilla, strawberry).  Fairly mediocre offerings in these sections.  **+.

Oatmeal & Toppings.

The oatmeal actually was decent, not gloopy, and seemed to be a hit with many, likely due to the great toppings lineup.  ***.

I was impressed with the toppings, which included the usual suspects of dried cranberries and raisins, shredded coconut and cinnamon, plus sunflower and pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, whole walnuts, granola, and chocolate chips, along with brown sugar, strawberry sauce, and mango puree.  These toppings would be great with the waffles, breakfast carbs, and mixed with yogurt too.  Above average toppings lineup, ***+.

Fruit Salad.

The fruit salad always had melons, pineapple, and a few token grapes.  Never any berries.

Not pictured, but they also had whole apples, oranges, and bananas every day.

This area also oddly always had a pitcher of oat milk.  It was not kept on ice or cool in any way, and was not near anything you'd use it for.  It was like that every day though, so, clearly not just a setup error one day.  I'm not sure why it wasn't located with the other milk and yogurt, or closer to the cereal ... 

Signature Waffle Maker.

Residence Inn is known for having a DIY waffle maker at all their properties, and this one was no exception.  The waffle batter was in a branded Golden Malted Better Batter dispenser, that seemed to do a decent job at preventing messes.

I did try a waffle one morning, and it was too generic tasting and crispy for my tastes, but kids and adults alike did seem to enjoy this feature. **+.

Waffle Toppings.

The waffle station had the same toppings every day: syrup, berry compote, whipped cream.

The provided syrup was packages of Madeira Farms "Table Syrup", not real maple syrup, made with corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, water, and less than 2% of natural and artificial maple flavor.  I didn't try it.

The berry compote seemed to be tiny, previously frozen, shriveled blueberries in a bit of sauce.  Certainly not a fresh topping.  I used it to swirl into yogurt and cereal, but I wouldn't really want to eat it on waffles or pancakes.  **+.

Finally, I was of course thrilled to see whipped cream, but oddly, it was always Reddi-Wip non-dairy whipped cream, which had a very, very odd taste to it that I didn't care for.  I appreciate the non-dairy inclusivity, but, I really wished they had regular as well.  **.  This product is only available for foodservice distribution, not to general consumers (Reddi-Wip does make two version of non-dairy whipped topping for grocery store distribution, one coconut milk based, and the other almond).

Daily Changing Hot Bar

The hot bar actually surprised me.  It was different every day, which I wasn't expecting.  It always had one type of egg, two types of breakfast meats, one type of potato, and one other carby thing.  Reasonably extensive.  There were a couple repeats while I was there, but, the variety was far above what I thought most Residence Inn locations provide.

Fried Egg Patties.

The egg patties were the style you find in breakfast sandwiches at fast food places, with the yolks very fully cooked.  I didn't try them.

Scrambled Eggs.

Other days it was scrambled eggs, essentially what you find in any breakfast buffet, always a bit dried out looking.

More Scrambled Eggs.

Others seemed to go for the eggs, but I didn't try them.  Always fairly dry looking.

Hot Meats: Bacon, Veggie Sausage.

The bacon was reasonably crispy, and strangely wavy.  It too reminded me of fast food bacon, not actually cooked by anyone there, as it was too homogenous.  But still, nicely crisp.  ***.

I didn't try the veggie sausage, but it was nice to see them offer those up some days. 

Hot Meats: Ham, Turkey Sausage.

The ham honestly looked scary, round slices of slightly thicker deli ham.  I stayed far away.

I tried the turkey sausage, but it was not very good, thin, no seasoning, limp.  *+.

Hot Meats: Pork Links, Veggie Sausage.

The pork links were probably the best of the sausages, with a slight snap to them, but, overall, the sausages really weren't high quality.  **+.

I didn't try the veggie sausage here either.

Hot Meats: Pork Sausage, Turkey Sausage.

The pork sausage patties were no better than the turkey ones.  Both just limp, thin, and not seasoned, and just seemed really low quality.  *+.

Breakfast Potatoes: Hash Brown Patties.

The hash brown patties looked like big tator tots that were smashed.  I didn't try them.

Breakfast Potatoes: Seasoned Home Fries.

The regular seasoned home fries seemed to be a hit, everyone was taking tons of these.

Breakfast Potatoes: More Home Fries.

Another morning they were less seasoned, but same style, some with skin on, nice sized chunks.

Breakfast Potatoes: Roasted Red Potato Wedges.

I didn't try the red skin potato wedges either, but, give them a point for skin-on, and the nice color on them.

Pancakes.

My first morning had pancakes, and at that time, I assumed the buffet would be the same every day, so I planned to try them another day.  Alas, they never came back.  

French Toast.

The next day had decent looking french toast.  It had some color on it and looked fairly "fresh", although I didn't really see any spicing (cinnamon, etc) on it.

Jalapeno Egg Souffle Muffins

The breakfast carb the next morning was these pre-wrapped jalapeno egg souffle muffins.  Curious.  

Biscuits & Sausage Gravy.

On the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, the hot carb was biscuits & gravy.  This called out to me for sure.  I had it both mornings.

The biscuits were reasonable.  They didn't have much buttermilk tang, and weren't remarkable biscuits, but, they were fine, not stale, and a nice base for the gravy of course. ***.

The gravy was very think, was reasonably seasoned, and had decent hunks of sausage in it.  The sausage fared better here than alone in the hot bar.  I wonder if they make their own gravy with leftover sausage? ***.

Pastries

And of course, they had some breakfast pastries every day.  Another surprise, these changed out daily too.  Most mornings had just 1-2 choices at any given time, but, they changed daily, and even throughout service (I went one morning at 8am, and stopped by later at 9:15am and found an entirely different set of items).  I love baked goods, so, even though these looked like pretty average hotel breakfast buffet quality, e.g. not good, I still tried many.

Danishes.

My first morning had the most variety, and I assumed they'd be the same every day.  Mini danishes (fruit or cheese), pecan plaits, and chocolate croissants.

They looked the same as I've had at many other hotels, and I generally do like the pecan ones, but, thinking they'd be there every day, I held off on getting a pecan one.  I've had remorse ever since, as they never returned.

I did try the chocolate croissant, a unique style with the chocolate swirled through, and just didn't care for the flavor of it.  Something about it really tasted odd.  I wanted to like it, it had a nice amount of chocolate, but, alas, I just didn't like it.  *.

Banana Nut Muffins / Chocolate Croissants.

The next morning, the chocolate croissants returned, and I tried another, thinking it must have been a fluke.  They did look good!  But again, something about the flavor was just off for me.  Good amount of chocolate, fairly flaky pastry, but, just, strange taste. 

The banana nut muffins were reasonable buffet muffins.  Not too dry, decent flavor, little bits of nut.  ***.

Blueberry Muffins.

The blueberry muffins were a slightly different style than the banana nut, a bit bigger.  These were actually pretty good.  Really moist, lots of berries, good flavor.  Far better than your average buffet muffin.  ***+.

Double Chocolate Muffin.

The double chocolate muffin was decent as well, moist, large, good chocolate flavor.  Slightly above average for a hotel buffet.  ***.

The blueberry was again really quite good.  ***+.

Cinnamon Roll.

I grabbed a cinnamon roll my last morning even though it truly didn't look good at all.  It looked hard, and over baked, and not a style I'd like.  I don't know why I grabbed it, but, I was rewarded for my random move.

It wasn't a soft, ooey gooey cinnamon roll, clearly.  It was sort of a danish style, but, thicker and harder.  Plenty of cinnamon and sugar.  Really, quite enjoyable, particularly once I warmed it up and topped it with ice cream.

***+ as served, **** warm with ice cream.

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