Otis Spunkmeyer Muffins

Update Review, 2023

A few years passed since my last Otis Spunkmeyer encounter, and so even though I hadn't really liked their products before, I tried them again when a hotel I was staying at had them in the buffet and I truly didn't want anything else on offer.

Wild Blueberry Muffin.

This was just as blah as previous ones I had tried.  The top was gummy.  It was too sweet overall, more like cake than a breakfast muffin.  Very homogeneous tight crumb structure.  Blueberries small and didn't add much flavor.

**.

Update Review, 2021

Much like Costco muffins, Otis Spunkmeyer muffins have their place in this world.  Granted, usually that is in airline lounges, hotel breakfast buffets, etc, and you may not know what brand they are at the time, as they are mainly a wholesale distributor.  No one will claim these are the best muffins ever, and they certainly don't taste, nor look, wholesome or homemade, but, when the mood strikes for a perfectly fine generic muffin, they most certainly do the trick.

I last (knowingly) had Otis Spunkmeyer muffins many years ago, so a update review was in order, when I recently attended an event with the Otis Spunkmeyer "Delicious Essentials Variety" mini muffins.  Of course, I had to try all three flavors, just for you, dear readers.

Wild Blueberry.

"Blueberry muffins made with no artificial colors or flavors. Our blueberry muffins use real wild blueberries and are an ideal healthy treat for your breakfast or as a snack. No tame blueberries for us!"

The full size wild blueberry muffin was the first Otis Spunkmeyer muffin that I (knowingly anyway) tried.  The mini version looked much the same: homogenous texture, not a crispy top, slightly moist on top.

However, I ... really didn't care for it.  It tasted very artificial.  Full of preservatives.  From a package. The texture wasn't a nice crumb, rather, it was spongy.  It did at least have little bits of wild blueberry, but, eh, I would certainly pass on this in the future.

**.

Banana.

"Muffins are delicious. Bananas are delicious. So we put them together."

Next, I tried the banana muffin, really just for completeness as it looked rather boring.  The full sized ones have a buttery crumb topping, and they also make a banana nut version, both of which I imagine are more appealing.

This was as boring as it looked.  It tasted like ... nothing.  The banana was incredibly faint, honestly barely detectable.  It had no visible banana, and, obviously, no nuts or topping.

Bo-Ring.

**.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip.

"Our Double Chocolate Chip Muffins are a decadent dessert that is guaranteed to turn any frown upside down."

I saved the best for last.  Chocolate Chocolate Chip.  A chocolate based muffin studded with chocolate chips.

Let's just be clear on one thing.  A double chocolate muffin is not really a breakfast item.  No, this is a chocolate cupcake, just missing the frosting.  Which is not a bad thing.  Served as it was, it was "fine", decent chocolate flavor, like a fluffier brownie really.  But I preferred slathering some buttercream frosting on it (that I had from a rather awful piece of cake, the frosting the only salvageable part!).  I suspect it would be nice warmed with ice cream as well.

Original Review, October 2014

Ok, I admit it, this is a bit random.  I am rarely satisfied with the baked goods from nice bakeries all over San Francisco, particularly when it comes to muffins.  So what on earth am I doing reviewing packaged muffins?

Well ... you may recall that I do have a particular fondness for the almond poppyseed muffins from Costco, so, there is some sort of precedent here.  Oh, and you can't forget about the crazy good cinnamon rolls from 7-Eleven.  So yes, sometimes delicious things come from surprising places.

But, the real story is that I was helping test out Google Shopping Express before it launched publicly.  After ordering all our household essentials of toilet paper, tissues, shampoo, and whatnot, we started to get a bit creative.  And Ojan loves blueberry muffins, so, at some point, he ordered blueberry muffins from Google Shopping Express.  You may recall the blueberry muffin from Walgreens that I reviewed a while ago?  Yeah, same reason.

This batch came from Otis Spukmeyer, a large baked goods distributor.  They sell wholesale baked goods for restaurants and businesses nationwide, apparently including the US Army.  However, little known fact, they actually started as a fresh baked cookie shop in nearby Oakland!  They also make those rather delicious hot fresh cookies that American Airlines serves in first class.  Their products are available in retail version fully cooked, or, for restaurants, they come as frozen dough and pastries to be baked off on site.  They also distribute their own special ovens to bake their signature cookies, 3 dozen at a time.

Wild Blueberry Muffins, 3-pack.

The muffins did not look good.  Sure, they were from a grocery store and pre-packaged, so I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but they looked gummy and moist through the packaging.

And they were.  Moist muffins wrapped in plastic are going to get gummy, I don't think there is any way around that.  One thing I love with cupcakes and muffins is when they have a crispy top, yet moist interior.  (Yes, I'm definitely the type who wants the crispy edges of lasagna too!).  These were entirely homogenous throughout, not dry, but not moist exactly.  Just, preserved "freshness"?  And the tops were indeed a bit gummy.

I wasn't a huge fan of the consistency at room temperature, so I popped one in the toaster oven for a few minutes.  A warm muffin is always appreciated, and it eliminated the gumminess this way.  It also crisped up the top.  Much improved!

Many reviews I read said they were "not too sweet".  I'm not really sure what those people were thinking.  These tasted as sweet as any cake, not a muffin.  Too sweet for my breakfast tastes.  And I like sweets!

They did have a slight tang to them, pushing them slightly on the muffin side of the cake-muffin divide, but just slightly.  That was the part I did like.

I was amused that they came as a 3-pack, yet the nutrition stats were for 6 servings.  Because you know, people really eat just a half a muffin ...

Cross section.

I cut one in half, to see what the suggested portion size looked like.  While the muffins were large-ish, a half a muffin was way too small.  Silly portion sizes.

As you can see, there was a decent quantity of little blueberries.  I am never much of a fan of wild blueberries, I prefer large plump ones, so that was not a selling point for me, but the blueberry was at least more substantial than in the Panera muffins.

Ojan is the one who ordered these, as he loves basic blueberry muffins, and he liked them, particularly for a packaged good.  I however, would not get again.

Magnolia Bakery, Boston & New York

Update Review, New York, 2023 Visits

I know I visited one of the original Magnolia locations when I visited New York ages ago, but, I don't remember being particularly impressed, and think we just got cupcakes.  But once I had that banana pudding from their short lived Boston location ... I knew I had to get it again when I was in New York this summer.

Spoiler: that banana pudding remains completely worth the visit.

Pumpkin Spice (Fall, Seasonal):
"Creamy pumpkin pudding layered with vanilla wafers and decadent cookie butter."

On September 1, like clockwork, Magnolia Bakery launched their pumpkin spice version of pudding.  This is NOT a banana pudding, which seems like a wise choice, as I don't think pumpkin spices and banana would combine all that well.

Since pumpkin spice can be fairly polarizing, sometimes way too heavy in, say, the nutmeg, I asked the staff member at the shop how aggressively spiced it was.  She said it wasn't too spiced at all, and that it just tasted like pumpkin pie.  As she was saying this, she was immediately fetching a container of it, and asked if I wanted to sample it.  Who am I to say no to a sample?

Her description was very accurate.  It tasted, indeed, like pumpkin pie.  Creamy, lightly spiced, pumpkin pie, that just happened to have some soft wafers in it too.  It was quite enjoyable, but, you had to be in the mood for pumpkin pie, which, it turned out, I really wasn't at the time.  ***+.

Banana Pudding (Medium). $7.95.

"This world-famous, 12 ounce cup of Banana Pudding is layered with vanilla wafers, fresh bananas and creamy vanilla pudding."

The last time I had Magnolia Bakery pudding, it was in their Boston location, in 2018, before it closed.  I really enjoyed it then.  But I wasn't sure if my tastes had evolved in the past 5 years.

Turns out, this pudding really is still quite good. The vanilla wafers are soft in a good way, almost cake-like.  The pudding is thick and rich, very creamy, and lightly banana flavored.  The ratio of pudding to wafers was spot on too - easy to get a bite of just pudding, but most contained a bit of both.  I was surprised though that there didn't seem to be much in the way of the fresh banana slices.  I didn't mind, as it was so rich, creamy, and delicious as it was, but if you are looking for a banana forward pudding, this isn't it.  I added fresh strawberries and blueberries to mine, and that was perfect.

**** though, really, excellent pudding.

Original Review, Boston, 2018 Visits

Magnolia Bakery.  The bakery credited with (or blamed for, depending on your take), the cupcake craze of the 1990s.  Thrust into the spotlight after appearing on Sex and the City.

Originally just a single little bakery in New York, but now a global empire, with locations in most of the big US cities, and internationally in places as far ranging as Dubai, Kuwait City, Bangalore, and Seoul.  Known for the cupcakes, obviously, but also for good classic American desserts.  Clearly, I needed to check the place out.

I never visited the New York locations, but when they opened in Boston, I was thrilled, as I always fly into Boston when I go to visit my family.  And as a lover of all baked goods, how could I pass this up?

But spoiler: it wasn't really the baked goods I was after.  Sure, I wanted to try those, but, itt was something else that led me to go out of my way to check out Magnolia Bakery.  Their other signature item.  The banana pudding.  Yes, just banana pudding, but, uh, it has a serious following.

I quickly found out why.

Visit #1: Icebox Bars & Puddings. July 2018.

My first visit was aimed at trying the signature banana pudding, obviously, in as many flavors as I possibly could.  I also selected a couple icebox bars, as I was unfamiliar with the concept, and wanted to try them out.

The puddings were the runaway hits, no question.

Visit #2: Ice Box Bars, Cupcakes, Cake. December 2018.

On my second visit, I tried more icebox cakes, and this time, added on some cupcakes and a slice of cake.  Of course I got more banana pudding too.

I've still yet to try the cheesecake, classic icebox cake, cookies, brownies, or bars.

Setting

The Boston location of Magnolia is located in tourist central: Faneuil Hall.  Right at the entrance.  It isn't exactly the most peaceful of locations, but it is very accessible and easy to find.

Pudding / Cupcake Finishing Station.

The space begins with a glimpse inside the bakery, which does help the feel of the place be not quite so cookie-cutter, there was prep going on there, unlike many other stalls.

Since this is an active bakery, you can actually see staff finishing cupcakes and scooping out containers of pudding right there.

That is, when they have a moment between the steady stream of guests ...

So. Many. Treats.

The remainder of the shop front is display cases filled with all the treats.  

Magnolia is a full bakery, with an extensive product line, ranging from cookies, to brownies and bars, to cheesecakes, to cakes, and of course, the cupcakes and pudding.

It is from the cases that you order with someone on the other side, then stand in line to check out.

Counter of Treats.

This section was mostly cheesecakes, all mini sized, $7.95,  offered in traditional flavors, or fun ones like German Chocolate or Red Velvet.  I didn't even know Magnolia made cheesecake until I saw these, and I'd love to try them sometime.

The layout suffers quite a bit, as it was hard to browse the items, since people needed to stand in front of the cases to place orders, and the line to check out extended back in front of the cases at most times.  People also seemed generally confused, where to order, how to pay, etc.  But staff did their best at keeping things moving.

Drink Menu.

To go with your treats, you can also order coffee and espresso drinks (hot or iced), cold summer beverages like lemonade and ice tea, or, during the winter, nice warm hot cocoa.

I hear the caramel latte is quite good, made with their house made caramel.

Party Supplies.

The one non-food section had a funny assortment of items, some party supplies like candles and balloons, but also ... tattoos?  And the Magnolia cookbook for sale.

Register.

Eventually you make your way to the register to pay and retrieve your goodies.

Here you see the place in a moment of calm, which I waited around for so I could actually get some photos.

Seating.

Magnolia does actually have a few seats, unlike almost everywhere else in Faneuil Hall.  Just a few stools and counters in a narrow hallway that leads to an exterior door, but, still very welcome.

I managed to luck out and a big gaggle of teenage girls vacated the entire area as I walked up.  I thank them for this, as it was nice to get out of the center flow of tourists so I could enjoy my treats. 

Packaging

Items are all very clearly marked with the magnolia brand.

Magnolia Bags / Bowls / Boxes.

If you are getting your treats for later, items come packaged in Magnolia boxes, taped shut so they don't fly open, and placed into handled Magnolia bags.  This packaging is less elaborate than what you'd find in a fancy bakery in Paris, but, still takes time (for them to do, and you to un-do!).  

The counters are filled with signs encouraging you to just get a plate, not a box, if you are going to eat your treats right away.  I'm sure it is frustrating to slowly pack up a cupcake, just to watch someone pull it out and eat it 2 feet away, throwing out the box immediately!

Cupcake Boxes.

If you do get those cupcakes to go though, they come in a custom box that holds them in place perfectly.  No ruined cupcakes here!

Banana Pudding

Magnolia may be most well known for the cupcakes due to the show, but, if you ask people what to get at Magnolia Bakery, there is something else entirely that *everyone* will tell you to get.  The banana pudding.  Any variety.

 

As a pudding lover, this makes me a very happy girl, because I always feel it is such an under-loved dessert, when it can be so very good if given proper attention.

And, spoiler, Magnolia does this justice.  The rave reviews are well deserved.  They have discovered two not-so-secrets: use sweetened condensed milk instead of milk in your pudding, and fold in plentiful whipped cream to make it lofty.  That is the magic.  Nothing fancy.  Just delicious.

Voting for the next banana pudding flavor!

The counter had ballots to vote for the next banana pudding flavor.  Some sound amazing (cookie dough! Butterscotch!) and really there is something for everyone in the list.

Banana Pudding Cones.

For National Banana Pudding Day (yes, it is a thing), Magnolia offered up a limited time creation: banana pudding cones.

Yes, "scoops" of banana pudding, in a cone, with sprinkles.  For 4 days only, $5.25 each.  Kinda cute, really.

I almost got one, but since I wasn't planning to consume it right then, this didn't seem very practical.

Small Puddings. $4.25 each.

Magnolia always carries the signature classic banana pudding, a monthly special that generally sounds amazing (I just missed salted caramel!), and, exclusive to Boston only, one additional flavor: Boston Cream Pie.  They also normally carry a chocolate pudding with chocolate pudding and Oreo wafers instead of vanilla wafers, but they didn't have it at the Boston location, perhaps it was just sold out, perhaps they just don't offer it since they have the Boston special. 

Pudding is available in this small size for $4.25, medium for $6, large for $7.50, or many other larger party sizes for groups.  I ordered a small of each of the puddings.  You know, for "research".  I needed to compare them all!

Boston Cream Pie Banana Pudding (Boston only special),
Banana Pudding, S'mores Banana Pudding (August Special). 

The small size seems reasonable for having a dessert that leaves you fairly satisfied, but not feeling awful, but I don't think the medium is really too much for a pudding lover to easily polish off in one sitting.  I'd recommend getting bigger and taking some home for later, or just getting several.  They won't keep for long due to the fresh bananas, and obviously require refrigeration, but, believe me, you'll want as much of this as you can get.

It is seriously good banana pudding.

Classic Banana Pudding.

"Layers of vanilla wafers, fresh bananas and creamy vanilla pudding."

I started with the classic, since it is the most simple.

You will laugh if you look at the ingredient list for this classic banana pudding.  It is, literally, just instant pudding mix made with sweetened condensed milk (!), whipped cream (e.g. heavy cream), Nilla wafers (yes, the regular brand name), and sliced fresh bananas.  They aren't trying to be fancy.  No house made wafers, but also not even "real" pudding.  But clearly, Magnolia discovered the secret (hello, sweetened condensed milk!)  I can't wait to try making pudding myself this way ...

Anyway, this is, well, really ridiculously good banana pudding.  Creamy.  Sweet.  Rich.  The Nilla wafers soft, almost like cake inside a parfait, from soaking in the pudding.  The fresh banana soft and just plentiful enough to give banana in nearly every bite, but not overwhelming.

It is a classic thing for sure, but, um, wow.  Certainly the best banana pudding I've ever had.  And yet, of the trio, this was my second favorite.  Because they got better than this.

****+.

Boston Cream Pie. Small. $4.25.

"Layers of vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, bananas and a decadent chocolate fudge. Available exclusively at our Boston location daily while supplies last."

Next, I tried the exclusive Boston version: Boston Cream Pie.  It is just the classic pudding, but with chocolate fudge added.  Chocolate and bananas are a classic combo after all.

I did like this, but, honestly, I think it was more "banana split" than "Boston cream pie".  For me at least, Boston cream pie/cake/donuts are all about the custard layer, and this had the same pudding layer as the regular banana pudding.

Once I started thinking of it as "banana split", all I could think about was how much more fun it would be with some maraschino cherries (and sprinkles?) added in too.  How good does that sound?  Who knows, maybe they have done that for the flavor of the month before?

Still, it was my favorite, the chocolate fudge just amped the basic banana pudding up a notch I wasn't expecting.

****+.

S'mores Banana Pudding (August). Small. $4.25.

"Layers of chocolate pudding, graham crackers, marshmallow fluff, marshmallows, bananas and chocolate shavings - the taste of summer in every bite."

And finally, the August special: S'mores.  I'm not usually excited about s'mores, but this was fairly good.

S'mores Banana Pudding: Close Up.

It had graham crackers instead of vanilla wafers, and chocolate pudding instead of vanilla, so even just the base was quite different.  And then, mini marshmallows, marshmallow fluff, and chocolate chips added in.

The chocolate pudding was just as good as the vanilla, but I do like vanilla pudding more in general, so it got the edge.  The graham cracker soaked up even more moisture than the wafers, resulting in a softer cake-like texture, but one that tasted like graham, which I preferred less.  And then, um, yes to marshmallow fluff, sweet and sticky, and always something I adore.  Chocolate chips were awesome for texture and crunch.  Eh to the mini marshmallows, but, a yes to everything else about this one.

My least favorite, but still good, particularly if you like chocolate desserts.  ***+.

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Chocolate Pudding. (December 2018)

"Layers of OREO® wafers*, fresh bananas, creamy chocolate pudding, and chocolate shavings."

The chocolate version is offered daily in New York, but since Boston has the Boston Cream version, this showed up only as a monthly special, in December when I visited.

It was my least favorite, just chocolate pudding, some Oreo, bananas. Eh.  Just get the Boston Cream.

Icebox Desserts

Magnolia makes a large variety of icebox pies and bars, sold as individual bars for $6, mini pies for $10, or full size 9" pies for $28.

All are variations with kind of crust (vanilla or chocolate wafers, graham crackers, Oreo cookies), with some kind of whipped cream filling (classic, peanut butter, ricotta, lime custard), and a topping (Snicker's, blueberries, etc).  They also make their chocolate and banana puddings as pies as well, same ingredients, just, different assembly.

On my first visit, I was there on a mission to try the latest Boston exclusive item, a Cannoli Ice Box dessert, but I knew I wanted to try one other too.

I was about to order the peanut butter or Snicker's versions, because both sounded pretty amazing, the former made with a vanilla wafer crust, caramel, peanut butter whipped cream/cream cheese filling, and Reese's PB Cups, the later with a chocolate wafer crust, peanut butter, cream cheese/whipped cream filling, and Snickers, but then I saw the August special peach "jamboree" bar, and got quite excited.  And then it sold out in front of me.  Doh.  I fell back on the blueberry jamboree bar, as I loved the sound of the crust (pecan shortbread!).

I'll admit that I was hit with buyer's remorse on this one.  I really did want either of the peanut butter based desserts, and it was only my disappointment in the peach disappearing in front of my eyes that lead me to the blueberry.  I considered turning back when I was about 10 minutes away, not because I didn't like what I had, but because I still really wanted peanut butter!

So when I returned in December, it was clear I had to order both of them.

Blueberry Jamboree Bar. $6.

"Pecan shortbread crust layered with whipped cream and cream cheese filling with a fresh blueberry topping."

My consolation prize, when they didn't have the one I wanted the first time: the blueberry jamboree bar.  I think the "jamboree" is a Magnolia creation, as it is not a term I was familiar with before, and a quick Google search doesn't reveal much (besides recipes for the Magnolia one).

This was the best of the two icebox bars I tried.

I really liked the crust, made from compressed pecan shortbread, full of texture from chopped pecans, and very pleasantly sweet.  It went great with the cream filling, which was rich and creamy.  The cream cheese mixed with the whipped cream gave it more body and flavor than a simple whipped cream filling.

I wasn't crazy about the blueberry topping though, little wild blueberries, in a compote of sorts.  I prefer bigger, juicier berries, and maybe even more of a classic "goo" around the fruit.  You can also get this topping on the cheesecake.  My companion who I split it with however loved the blueberry layer, so this was clearly just preference.  He couldn't decide if he liked this, or the banana pudding, more.

I was happy enough with just the crust and cream layers to be honest, but I can't help but wonder how amazing the peach version is!

***+.

Cannoli Icebox Bar. $6.

"Inspired by the traditional Cannoli, this exclusive Icebox Dessert has a Nilla Wafer Crust, Sweet Whipped Ricotta filling with a hint of Lemon and a layer of Mini Chocolate Chips." 

The last item we tried on our first visit was the new Boston exclusive Cannoli Icebox Bar.  It was our least favorite, no question.  Neither of us cared for it much at all.

The crust was compressed (and sweetened?) Nilla wafers, thick, and kinda boring.  Why didn't they use crushed cannoli shells instead?  Using Nilla wafers here in a cannoli inspired dessert seemed a bit wrong.

The filling layer was sweetened ricotta, per a traditional cannoli, with much more than a "hint of lemon" to it.  We both felt it was far too strong on the lemon, much more of a lemon bar dessert than we were expecting, and, as neither of us care for lemon desserts, far too much lemon.

The mini chocolate chips were fine, I liked the texture, and they obviously added to the "cannoli" aspect of it.

So, overall, this just wasn't a success for me.  Boring crust, filling I didn't like due to aggressive lemon, meh.  **.

Peanut Butter Icebox Bar. $6.

"Vanilla wafer crust layered with caramel and a peanut butter whipped cream and cream cheese filling, topped with Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups."

My second visit yielded success at getting a slice of the incredible sounding peanut butter icebox bar.

I love peanut butter cups, so this sounded pretty awesome.  I did think it was strange that the peanut butter icebox bar had caramel and the Snickers one did not however, as I expected it to match the Peanut Butter Cups on top a bit better.  Same with the vanilla rather than chocolate crust.  Maybe they found that chocolate crust and just peanut butter whipped cream and cream cheese filling was too much sameness?

Anyway.

I liked this more than the previous bars, but I think that icebox style bars just aren't really my thing.  The crusts are kinda odd to me, crumbly and they break apart, and I always want the fillings to be either richer and thicker like cheesecake, or more like a pudding.  Nothing wrong with the execution of this bar, I really think it just isn't the form for me.

The peanut butter flavor in the filling is strong, and you can tell this is a peanut butter dessert.  I didn't really taste much, if any, caramel though.  Nor cream cheese really.  Just sweetened peanut butter cream really.  Which is tasty, but not really a complete dessert to me.  Having layers of distinct peanut butter whipped cream and peanut butter cream cheese might work better?

Of course I liked the chunks of pb cup on top, along with a few bits of crushed peanut.

I think I'd like this more with a thicker, firmer crust (with some pb cups in it perhaps?), a layer of just whipped cream, and a rich thick chocolate ganache in there somewhere ... yeah, I think I don't like icebox bars!  ***.

Snickers. $6.

"Chocolate wafer crust layered with peanut butter, cream cheese, and whipped cream filling, topped with Snickers® Bar pieces."

I also managed to get a slice of the equally decadent sounding Snickers icebox pie.

The Snickers version was very similar, although this cream was only peanut butter, not caramel I guess, a lighter color, and slightly more mild flavor.  It actually did taste a bit like caramel, but, it says just peanut butter ...

The texture of the crust was similar, just chocolate this time.  Chunks of Snickers were less exciting to me than peanut butter cups.

I liked the peanut butter version more since it featured the cups, but I still can't help but think it would make more sense to have the caramel filling here, and the vanilla crust ... **+.

Cakes & Cupcakes

And finally, yes, the cupcakes.  Or full size cakes if you prefer.

Whole Cakes.

Magnolia offers classic cakes daily, usually vanilla or chocolate bases with vanilla or chocolate buttercream in a variety of flavors, available by the slice or full cake in assorted sizes.  They also make a number of specialty cakes, ranging from German Chocolate with coconut caramel pecan filling to Hummingbird with banana, pineapple, and pecans in the cake.

The cakes are all available to pre-order and can be decorated as well.

Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Slice. $5.

"Rich, buttery, old-fashioned cake with a light crumb. Our most popular cake!" 

I decided to get a slice of cake because I knew it was layer cake, and I often find that layer cake has better frosting to cake ratio (as in, more frosting!) than a cupcake, and the cake is generally more moist.  (Sorry cupcakes, but full cakes often have the leg up!)

The cake was decent.  Moist, buttery vanilla cake.  Not particularly notable, but a nice cake.  Fairly textbook.

The buttercream, light blue but just vanilla buttercream, was quite sweet, but, that is what I was after.  Good texture.  Nice amount on top and in-between the layers.

Overall, a very solid, very basic, classic vanilla cake.  Well made, but it mostly made me wish it was a cake from Empire Cakes in New York ... I was obsessed with their cake when I was there recently (review soon)!

***+.

Cupcakes.

But the main attraction at Magnolia is still the cupcakes.  Multiple display cases are filled with cupcakes, all versions of chocolate and vanilla (e.g. chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream, etc), plus a daily cupcake flavor, plus a weekly special.

On my visit in December, there were also holiday decorated cupcakes.  The seasonal cupcake was chocolate with peppermint buttercream, the daily was red velvet.  Specialty cupcakes are also available to pre-order, including a fun confetti cake and a pb & j version with jelly inside a peanut butter cake, with peanut butter buttercream.

Vanilla (Holiday) Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream. $3.95.

"Rich, buttery, old-fashioned cake with a light crumb. Our most popular cake!" 

I'll admit, I got this one for my mother because she loves snowmen, and because it was so darn cute, not because I wanted a plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream, when I had also gotten the slice.  But seriously, how do you pass him up?

It was ... a decent cupcake.  Vanilla base, moist but not as moist as the regular cake, decently buttery, good texture, good sweetness level.  The buttercream was exactly the same as the cake, just, white.  I did like the extra large sugar crystals on top, which truly did give it a snowy shimmer.

This was a fine cupcake, but again, not as good as Empire Cakes, although it wins a lot for style points.  ***.

Red Velvet Cupcake with Whipped Vanilla Icing. $3.95.

"Light chocolate cake with whipped vanilla icing."

I also got a red velvet cupcake, because the lofty icing was just too much to pass up.  Seriously, look at that mound of frosting!!!

The cake was the best of the three I tried, a lot more flavor in the classic red velvet base, a touch of cocoa in it, and I believe buttermilk.  Good moisture level, good crumb.  A nice cake, but again, just good, textbook, but not exemplary.

The frosting was actually much lighter than it looked.  Truly it was whipped.  It was sweet and fluffy, kinda fun.  I think I liked it more than the classic thicker buttercream. 

They also make the red velvet cupcake (or cake) with a more traditional cream cheese icing.

***+.

Golden Diner, NYC

An Asian diner.  I've seen lots of fusion cuisines before, but, I hadn't ever stumbled upon an Asian diner until I spotted the menu at Golden Diner, in New York.  I was intrigued.  The menu had your expected diner dishes, like a wedge salad, burger, club sandwich, pancakes, coffee cake, etc, except ... all have a bit of Asian flair to them.  That wedge is garnished with chili crisp.  The burger has gochujang sauce.  The club sandwich is actually chicken katsu.  The coffee cake is green tea.  Etc.

I was even more drawn in when I saw how strong the reviews were in general, AND when one of my most trusted locals told me she adores the place, and in particular, the pancakes.  So although I never made it there during August when I was staying in New York, I finally made it last week, and dragged 10 others with me.  For context, the diner seats only 20, so we took up more than half the restaurant.  Our visit was at dinner time.

Setting

Counter Seating.

I absolutely loved that they have classic diner counter seating.  The short order cooks were working the line right behind it.  Coffee cake was in the display on the end.  Such great vibes (and don't worry, it filled up quickly!).  No jukebox, but they were blasting some solid tunes the whole time.

Table Seating.

The rest of the seats are at tables for 2-6, made up from a combination of benches and chairs.  The diner seats 20 total inside.  The decor isn't really diner-eque, but the brick and white lace curtains had a charm to it too.

There is additional sidewalk seating.

Drinks

To drink, they had a few wines available (1 sparkling, 2 white, 2 red, 1 orange), a few beers on draft or by the can, a couple korean spirits, and some soju or korean wine based cocktails.

Sparkling water was Topo Chico, which I love.

Omija Negroni. $14.

"Seoul night plum suju, omija 'campari', sweet vermouth."

I briefly considered getting plum wine, because it had been a while since I'd had it, but when I saw they had a play on a negroni, I wanted to try it.

I didn't really care for it.  It was rather sweet, lacking any bitter notes.  Not much booze flavor either.  I wouldn't get it again. *+.

Savory

Since we were there at dinner, not breakfast or brunch, we mostly went for the savory lunch/dinner appropriate dishes, rather than the breakfast all day, although that was available too.  We opted to share a few things, starting with one salad (which was hard to pick, as all the salads had really interesting components to them), and their most famous sandwich, the aforementioned chicken kastsu.  We skipped the share plates with popular Korean fried chicken wings or some interesting sounding vegan nachos, and the burger as that seemed the least unique.  If we had ordered one more dish, it certainly would have been the vegetarian hero, which has marinated yuba in it, and sounded fantastic.  If you are noticing the extensive vegetarian and vegan options, you are absolutely correct.  This diner has extremely strong vegan offerings.

Chili Crisp Wedge Salad (Vegan). $17.
(Dressing on the side).

"Chili crisp a la Fat Choy, iceberg lettuce, vegan ranch, blue "cheese", mushroom "bacon"."

I struggled to pick between the two interesting sounding salads, but was drawn in by the chili crisp and mushroom "bacon" in this one.  It just happened to be vegan, which certainly isn't what you think of when you have a salad known for 1) blue cheese, 2) ranch, and 3) bacon.  I'm also certainly not vegan.

But honestly, I couldn't tell it was vegan.  The ranch was creamy and flavorful enough, basically, well, it tasted like generic ranch.  It was fine, but I'd love more buttermilk tang, or interesting herbs in it.  It certainly didn't taste oddly vegan.  I had it on the side as I was worried about not liking it, but normally the salad comes smothered in it.  Average ranch dressing: ***.

The chili crisp they also put on the side, and it was good.  Nice size bits of "crisp" and not too oily.  A notch above average chili crisp.  This is something I regularly drizzle on my own salads, so this was a natural salad topping for me.  ***+.

The salad base itself, two iceberg wedges, was not as crisp as I'd expect for a wedge salad.  Kinda limp and pale too.  I know it is iceberg, which isn't exactly known for being a robust lettuce, but, it was pretty boring.  Same with the bits of tomato, and harsh red onion.  ***.

The vegan blue "cheese" was fascinating.  It tasted, and looked, quite a bit like blue cheese.  It was white with blue veins.  It had funk to it.  Uncanny.  I am not a big blue cheese fan, but, this was interesting and novel as a vegan item.  ***.

And finally, the mushroom "bacon", which I adored.  Great crunch, nice umami flavor.  There was far, far, far too little of it.  Just a few little bits.  This was my favorite component of the salad, and the most minimal.  **** for taste/texture/etc, but * for quantity.

Overall, this was a fine salad, and there is no way I'd ever think this was vegan, but, it could do with fresher base lettuce, more "bacon", and a better onion component, like fried onion strings or something.  I wouldn't get it again. ***.

To the salads, you can add avocado for $3.50 or crispy chicken for $10.

Red Cabbage Slaw. $5.

I adore cole slaw, and when I saw it was available as a side, I added it to our order.  It normally comes on the club sandwich.

The portion was a sizable mound.  It really was just red cabbage and mayo.  I think I expected carrot at least.  It was a bit soft.  Well dressed, but the taste was just mayo.  Not much seasoning, if any.

As a standalone slaw, it didn't work very well.  I wanted it crispier, more flavorful, potentially more components.  But, used inside the sandwich, I see how it would totally work.

** as a side, but not holding this against them as most people get it inside the sandwich.

Pickled Diakon. $5.

One of my other guests saw that they had pickled diakon on the menu, and immediately ordered it.  I may or may not have stolen a bunch.

It was good, nicely crisp, good pickling flavor.  $5 worth of diakon?  I'm not sure about that, but I liked it.  ***+.

It normally comes with the Korean fried chicken wings.

Chicken Katsu Club. $19.

"Panko breaded chicken katsu blt w/ red cabbage slaw, bulldog sauce, and kewpie mayo served on milk bread."

Take the classic chicken club, and make it fusion.  That gives you their top selling sandwich, the chicken katsu club.  Most of my group wanted this.  

The portion was a full sandwich, cut into 4 wedges, with three slices of bread, one separating the chicken and slaw, the other the lettuce, tomato, and bacon.  Not a single person was able to finish it, even when served without a side.  They seemed to really like it, although one guest lamented that it was too hard to eat because it was so tall.  Another took all the leftover 1/4 and 1/2 slices from the group home, and was quite pleased with her bounty.

For $5 more, you could make it "deluxe" with fries and a pickle, or $6 you could opt up to home fries.

Out of the rest of my group, one other ordered the vegan grilled cheese and tomato soup, and one had the matzoh ball soup, neither had much reaction to their items.

Sweet

And there, of course, we get to desserts.  A primary reason for me to pick many places.  Here you find a pastry item (green tea coffee cake), a cake (thai tea tres leches), and pudding (pistachio rice pudding).  All sounded good to me.  

And then there is the pancakes.  My co-worker's top recommendation, but also, the top recommendation of many others in reviews too.  This is probably Golden Diner's most well known dish.  The pancakes technically aren't on the Sweets menu, but rather, the All Day Breakfast section, but we ordered them as dessert.

Honey Butter Pancakes. $15.

"Double stack of fluffy, moist and savory pancakes served with honey butter maple syrup and whipped honey butter, finished with lemon zest."

Behold, the famous honey butter pancakes.  The serving is a stack of two diner plate sized large fluffy pancakes.  They come pre-sauced and buttered, no additional is provided unless you order and pay for an additional $1 each.

The honey butter and honey maple syrup were both good, and while the pancakes were pretty smothered in the syrup, I wanted more.  The pancakes were quite plain without it.  **** syrup/butter though.

You can add a berry compote for $4 more, and I wished we had.  I just really wanted more flavor in this dish.

Pancakes: Second layer.

The pancakes were cooked really unevenly.  As you can see in the first photo, the top pancake was light and perfectly colored.  The pancake under that one?  Wow, so dark!  At first I really thought it was burnt, and wondered "wow, how could they plate that and not notice!"  

But actually, the uneven cook was fine.  The top one was light and airy, this one had a bit of a crust to it, which I liked.  The pancakes were a bit bland though - no real buttermilk tang, no cornmeal grit, nothing like that.  Just, plain pancakes.  Good pancakes, nicely thick pancakes, but, plain.  ***.

Pistachio Rice Puddin'. (Vegan) $11.

"Coconut milk, orange, candied cardamon pistachios."

Because I can't resist a pudding, and because I was saddened by the lackluster rice pudding at my office the previous day, I also ordered their newest menu item, the pistachio rice pudding.  It also happens to be vegan.

It was attractively served with orange supremes and pistachios on top, in a layered parfait style glass.  The rice pudding was fine, the rice nicely cooked, not too mushy, not too al dente, nice sized grains.  It was quite thick and rich from coconut milk.  I loved the bits of pistachio for crunch, and there was plenty of it, so every bite got some.  The pistachio also added a lot of flavor.  The orange supremes added a bit of freshness, and juiciness, and went well with the pistachio, but I'd rather see fresh berries.

Overall, this was absolutely fine, but I found myself wanting a bit more of a complimentary flavor, maybe some whipped cream too.  ***+.

Green Tea Coffee Cake. $7.

"Made with hojicha and matcha."

And lastly, we ordered the coffee cake, made with both hojicha and matcha.  It was served warm, but otherwise unadorned.

The color of the base was not particularly appealing, somewhat green-gray, but it was clearly loaded with green tea.  The flavor was, well, green tea, fairly strong in the hojicha direction.  If you like green tea flavor, this delivered.

The crumble topping layer was equally as thick as the base layer.  It was quite crispy.  It was good, but not remarkable.  

Overall, this ate pretty dry.  I wanted whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream to make it a real dessert.  Pairing it with some berries would be nice too.  Most of my group didn't even try it, so even though we only had one piece, we had plenty left.  I took it home and had with breakfast the next morning, and enjoyed it more in that setting than as a dessert.

Overall, perhaps worth trying if you really like green tea, and for brunch, but not what I'd recommend for dessert.  ***.

Breakfast at Residence Inn by Marriott New York Downtown Manhattan/World Trade Center Area

Another day, another hotel stay.  In this case, another Residence Inn, which means included breakfast for all.  While domestic Residence Inn free breakfast never comes close to rivaling the breakfast I get in other parts of the world with my status, some locations do an actually decent enough job, like the Residence Inn in Cambridge, MA, that surprised me with the variety and constant change from day to day.  I cannot say the same for the Residence Inn I stayed at in Manhattan, near World Trade Center.  

Breakfast was a crazy time every day, with a space not seemingly designed for the crowds, with bottlenecks abound.  The wait for the elevators at breakfast time was even worse.  The lackluster experience was pretty on par with everything else I experienced at this hotel, which included really shabby rooms in need of updates (literally every door frame or painted surface had paint hunks missing, there were weird patches on the walls, the wallpaper was peeling off, nothing was actually clean, with visible debris around the corners of the room and under and around everything, the linens smelt awful, etc, etc).  Anyway, this isn't Julie's hotel review blog, but, yeah, I don't recommend this hotel at all.

And now, back to the food and drink review.  I can solidly say: meh.  I was there for 8 days, tried a variety of items, and only found one that I liked in the entire time.

Starbucks Machine.

There were two Starbucks branded drink makers that made a variety of espresso beverages, coffee, chai and hot chocolate. Two choices for regular coffee beans, plus classic Pike Place decaf were available.

One machine was broken.  The other was sloooooow.  It took a fair number of steps for each guest to actually get to the button to "zomg, give me my drink already", and then it was quite slow at grinding beans, brewing, etc.  Given how truly awful the big urns of brewed coffee (regular only) on the side was, this meant quite the queue.  I saw people routinely give up, and say to their partner, "I think there is a Dunkin Donuts across the street, let's just go".

Anyway, I had both the regular and decaf coffees from the machine.  All were almost passable, but not particularly good.  

Apple and Orange Juice.
Water Dispenser.

The buffet starts with dispensers with two kinds of juice, classic apple or orange.  There is also an in-counter faucet controlled by a display on the side for chilled, sparkling, or elderflower (!) water.  I appreciated having what I assume is filtered sparkling water on tap.  Sadly, the breakfast room is closed after breakfast service, so I couldn't use it to fill bottles later in the day and the faucet is too low to fill a water bottle, which seemed intentional.  You could only fill their tiny little glasses, no extra water for you!

Cold Brew, Oat Milk, 2% Milk

This Residence Inn went slightly above and beyond, with a pitcher of cold brew, and oat milk.  (Strangely no soy milk, which I'd think is more common? ) The big dispenser had 2% regular milk, and nonfat was further down in individual bottles.

It turned out that that cold brew was only there one morning.  I never saw it again in my 8 night stay.

Cereal: Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Kashi Granola.

The cereal was in those annoying dispensers that either 1) jam up, 2) dump way too much at once, or 3) crush the contents.  All basic cereals, nothing particularly interesting.  I wished the corn flakes weren't frosted, and that the granola wasn't so full of super hard pellets of sugared raisins, but, it was at least a reliable option.

Oatmeal.

The standard pot of hot oatmeal and toppings was on offer.  I do like the walnuts they have, but, boo, no chocolate chips (like most Residence Inn locations have).  Only nuts, seeds, dried fruit.  Not even cinnamon to put on top! (the shaker was cocoa powder).

Yogurt & Milks.

In the little fridge was Chobani greek yogurt and a few flavors of lowfat creamy Danon yogurt, along with non-fat milk, both regular and chocolate.  I tried the chocolate milk on a whim one day, it was, well, chocolate milk.  The yogurt was all cloying sweet and fake tasting.

The only fruit to go with the yogurt was whole apples and oranges.  No berries, no melons, no pineapple.  Just whole fruits.

Bagels.

In a city known for bagels of course they had bagels, but I think these were just generic mass produced bready kind.  No bread or english muffins, just bagels.  Toasters were on the side to toast, and, judging from other guest's comments, seemed to not really toast at all, just, lightly warm.  There was always a long, long line for the toaster slots too.

Peanut butter, jam, s & p.

The usual suspects were on offer as spreads: Jif creamy PB, Smucker's brand jam.  Grab n go individual packets made it easy and mess free in the spreads area.  Not a very compelling lineup, particularly when I've seen RI locations with fancier jams (and a big lineup of them), plus come on, not even fairly standard Nutella?  Just peanut butter and jelly.

Cream cheese, butter.

At least the cream cheese (plain only, regular or low fat) and butter were properly kept cold.

Scrambled Egg Whites.

The hot bar had 4 items, two were eggs, either whites and regular, scrambled.  These never changed.  No fried eggs, no poached eggs, etc.  Just scrambled.

Next up was a rotating breakfast meat of the day.  The day it was sausage patties I heard multiple guests complaining there was no bacon.  The next day, it was labelled as sausage, but was in fact bacon.  It seemed to only ever be the pork sausage patties that looked highly processed and limp, or the bacon.

There were never any breakfast hot potatoes of any kind, no hash browns, home fries, or anything like that.

Daily Special: Liege Waffles.

The last item in the hot buffet did rotate.  On weekends, it was waffles.

So, um, these were a surprise.  Not because omg there was something decent in the buffet, but because of the noticeable absence of *the* signature Residence Inn self-serve waffle station.  I actually looked around, checked around the corner, thinking I really must be somehow missing it (like, in Cambridge, MA, where it really was in another room entirely).   But, nope, this RI does not allow you to make a horrible mess everywhere and burn your own waffles.

Now, those signature waffles are never actually anything special, even if you do cook them properly, but even otherwise "meh" RI locations tend to have a great toppings lineup for the waffles.  Flavored syrups, fruit compotes, and always, always whipped cream.  I was counting on being able to get a cup full of whipped cream at breakfast!  But alas, no whipped cream.  In fact, the only topping for the waffles was packets of pancake syrup, and it was only there on waffle day.

That said, these were liege waffles, and thus, syrup isn't actually needed, as they have pearl sugar baked in.  I was particularly excited as I got a fresh batch of the waffles my first day.  They were ... soft.  At least not over cooked and dried out, but, this kind of waffle is not supposed to be floppy.  And these were floppy.  The base flavor was fine, and they did have pearl sugar studding them, but, presumably being kept hot in a steam tray did them no service.  I pondered sticking one in the bagel toaster ...

Overall, still ***, but, would get another half star if actually lightly crisp.

Update: The next weekend, the waffles were back.  They were not just soft this time, but also wet and gummy.  Sadness, as these really could be good, but this steam tray does them no justice. **.

Daily Special: Sausage Biscuit.

On Monday, I went eager to snag a liege waffle and found that slot now housed packaged sausage biscuits with cheese.  Lukewarm.  It turns out, this 4th hot dish was a rotating special, so waffles weren't actually available daily (only weekends I was told).

Sausage Biscuit: Unwrapped.

"Our Cheddar Sausage Biscuit is made with our classic, scratch made Mason Dixie® Cheddar Biscuit and nitrite/nitrate free sausage and ready in just 90 seconds."

I didn't try the sausage biscuit the first day, but, when it came back 2 days later, and I literally wanted nothing else from the buffet, I decided to brave it.

It was worse than I thought it would be.

The biscuits were both dried out and moist at the same time.  More like soggy I guess, due to the steam inside the plastic wrapper.  But they were hard/dry as if overcooked as well.  I did not taste the cheddar cheese, that was supposed to be inside the biscuit part.  They had no tang either, no buttermilk or anything slightly classy about these.  They tasted like soggy hard compressed cardboard.  Not good. *.

And the sausage?  A thin, chewy patty.  Tasted highly processed (I know all sausage is obviously processed, but, these were very processed). *.

Truly nothing redeeming about this. *.

Daily Special: Swiss Cheese & Spinach Crustless Quiche.

The third day, the breakfast special was packaged crustless quiche.

It was soggy.  Lukewarm.  Had no real flavor.  Did not like. *.

Egg, chorizo, & cheddar breakfast burrito.

"For the True Southwestern Morning."

Another day, another "special" pre-made packaged item.  This one came from Green Chile Food Company, who make a variety of burritos, both breakfast and regular.  The breakfast burritos feature eggs and most include hash browns and cheese, along with a variety of breakfast meats (bacon, sausage, chorizo, beef, etc).  Regular burritos include the standards like pork carnitas, chicken fajita, steak and jalapeno, bean & cheese, etc.  Our special was the egg, chorizo, and cheddar version.

I didn't try this the first time it showed up, after the other specials failed so miserably, but when it returned the very next day, I grabbed one out of curiosity/boredom.

Ir was actually considerably better than I was expecting.  The flour tortilla was soft and not dried out.  The fillings well distributed, warm, and comforting.  The cheese was nicely melted.  The chorizo bits were flavorful.  Soft bits of scrambled egg and shredded potatoes rounded it out.  The roasted corn and other zesty "southwest" inspired ingredients gave it a ton of flavor.  Basically, good textures, good flavors, and truly not bad.  No additional sauce required either.

It did leave me feeling *very* weighed down, as this is a heartier item for breakfast than I normally would have, and I wished I had my griddle to toast the exterior on, but, I wasn't upset I ate it.  I wouldn't get another unless really craving something like it though.  ***.