Struesli

Granola.  Redefined.  That is the promise of Struesli, a relative newcomer in the very saturated healthy granola market.  Although unlike most, they actually do craft a fairly healthy product, not as laden with fats and sugars as most.

"Struesli is more than just granola; it's a commitment to health, taste, and quality. Our brand is dedicated to crafting delicious and nutritious granola options that cater to various dietary needs, including keto and paleo. We prioritize using natural ingredients to ensure that every bite is not only flavorful but also beneficial for your well-being. With Struesli, you can indulge in a guilt-free snack that's as wholesome as it is delicious."

It is unique in the market in that it has no grains and no sweeteners at all, not even healthy alternatives like dates or monkfruit or the like.  So it is gluten-free and keto and all that from the start.  It is also vegan as no butter or anything like that is used. And organic.  And kosher.  All the things some people care about.  

"Most conventional granolas are made with oats, not Struesli! We swapped the oats and the cheap fillers for organic tiger nuts, which are not a nut, bean, or seed. Rather, they’re a nutritious tuber, a type of root vegetable that’s a potent source of prebiotic fiber and adds a delicious crispy texture and natural sweetness to our granola."

The lack of grains of any kind definitely makes it considerably different from most granolas, not just in the nutritional profile, which they focus on, but actually in the resulting texture/format of the product, the key thing that makes it more streusel or muesli-like rather than granola.

Struesli is available in 3 flavors: Original, Savory + Seed, and Cacao + Coffee, the later of which I tried.  All use the same base of tiger nuts/pecans/walnuts, hemp/chia/flax seeds, and coconut flakes/butter/oil.  The "Savory + Seed" version adds in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, the "Cacao + Coffee" adds cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, and coffee.

They recommend using it on yogurt like you would granola to make a parfait, to sprinkle on toast with nut butter, or to add to smoothies or even baked goods (for the chocolate or original only). They also say you can just snack on it on its own, which is something I do regularly with normal granola, but didn't find possible with this product as it has no clusters or finger-food size bits at all.  You'd have to snack on it with a spoon, which isn't quite snacking in my head.  However, the idea of using it in place of a streusel on a baked good or fruit crisp/crumble does seem appropriate, or, for the savory flavors, they also suggest using on a salad, soup, cottage cheese, or avocado toast.

Cacao + Coffee.

"With hints of chocolate and coffee, this granola elevates your snacking experience while maintaining all the health benefits of the Original blend."

"A dark and delicious version of Struesli Original, this sophisticated blend features indulgent notes of cacao and coffee."

I opened this up and found ... wow, yeah, a product I myself might dub "the lovechild of muesli and streusel", e.g. struesli, indeed.  The product is very well named.  Rather than a granola with clusters, or even tiny bunches due to oats/flakes/grains, it is pretty much just little bits of rubble, like a topping you'd find on a fruit crisp or cobbler.  I grabbed a few fingers full (which is difficult!) and gave it a taste.

While it looked deeply chocolately with the dark brown color, the dominate flavor was coconut.  They use coconut three ways in all products (flakes, butter, oil), and it really comes through, for better or worse.  It was also exceptionally bitter.  With zero sweeteners whatsoever, the bitter cocoa and coffee, the bitterness from the seeds ... yeah, wow, this was bitter.  I knew not to expect a sugary sweet product, but, this was considerably more bitter than I anticipated.

I found myself disliking it pretty immediately.  It was bitter, I didn't taste chocolate, and the texture, while fascinating, was just annoying.  They could have at least left some nuts coarsely chopped, but even those were finely chopped, so there really just were no bits to enjoy.  Although I never tasted it, if you are wondering, it really is a caffeinated product, a 1-ounce serving contains about 18 mg of caffeine (~¼ cup of coffee).

It didn't work for me as a finger food or topping very well at all, but I did manage to enjoy it with sweetened vanilla soy milk, which added sweetness and made it less annoying to eat, since I was using a spoon and having with milk like cereal.  But overall, this was a letdown for me, as cereal format isn't really what I wanted.  Perhaps if you really want a health food feeling item, give it a try? 2/5.

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Mercado Little Spain, NYC

Mercado Little Spain is a Spanish food hall consisting of kiosks, restaurants, and vendors, located in NYC, in Hudson Yards.  It is helmed by Chef José Andrés, which made it catch my attention, as even though Spanish cuisine isn't really what I go for, as I've adored, really adored, some of his restaurants in the past (zomg, the foie gras cotton candy at Bazaar in LA).

"Mercado Little Spain is a veritable love letter to Spain – featuring the delicious, diverse food and drinks from all corners of one of the richest culinary countries in the world. Whether you have five minutes or five hours, there is something for every taste – from a quick bite to a lively tapas crawl to an elevated Spanish steakhouse."

There are currently 9 kiosks for quick grab and casual dining, and several full service restaurants.  I believe more are planned as well.

Qué Sweet

"Enjoy a wide variety of Spanish sweet treats at Qué Sweet. Whether you’re in Madrid or Manhattan, there’s no better way to cool off on a hot day than with ice cream; or try tarts, pastries, and cakes from around Spain, like crema Catalana, xuxos, and the ultimate xuxo helado—flaky pastry filled with your favorite soft serve and toppings."

It likely comes as no surprise that the first place I tried from Mercado Little Spain was the dessert place, Qué Sweet.  I didn't order myself, so I was not able to select what I wanted like the basque cheesecake, but instead I was introduced to one item I didn't even know existed, and now must seek out more of.

Xuxo de Crema. $5.

"Reminiscent of another cream-filled fried pastry invented in New York, but predating it by almost a century, the xuxo is a beloved and delicious creation from the Catalan city of Girona in the 1920s. According to legend, during a quarantine forced by an epidemic, an acrobat known as el Tarlà (a common figure in Girona folklore) came to town to entertain sick residents. During his stay, he fell in love with the local pastry chef’s daughter. One day during a surreptitious visit between the couple, the pastry chef returned home early, and el Tarlà was forced to hide in a bag of flour. From his hiding spot he couldn’t hold back a sneeze, and betrayed himself with a loud “xui-xui.” The pastry chef discovered el Tarlà, who announced his love for the chef’s daughter and immediately proposed marriage. Knowing his audience, he sweetened the deal by sharing a recipe for a cream-filled pastry. The pastry chef (and his daughter!) accepted, and the pastry became known as “xuxo” after the acrobat’s telltale sneeze. 

While the story may be fanciful (the name may in fact come from the French choux, which refers to an airy, light dough used in profiteroles and éclairs), the pastry itself has remained a local favorite. It’s made with a laminated dough, similar to croissant dough, which is then filled with pastry cream, fried, and coated with sugar. The Catalan government has recognized the pastry as a Producte de la Terre – a list highlighting traditional products from the region – and Chef José Andrés has even gifted them to Chris Martin and the members of Coldplay."

This was my first ever xuxo, and I'll admit, I didn't even know these existed before today.  One bite in, I was blown away.  Cronut, step aside.  There is a much better pastry in the building.

The exterior pastry was exceptional - it is laminated pastry like a croissant, but deep fried and coated in sugar like a churro.  Super crispy, great sugar coating, but also layers of pastry and some underlying butteriness.  Honestly, it didn't need to be filled to be good, I'd be extremely happy just with it this way.  High 4/5 shell.

But they were filled, and I got to try two varieties, crema and chocolate.  I still don't know which I liked more.

Xuxo de Crema

"The Catalan cream-filled flaky pastry of your dreams filled with pastry cream."

The cream filled version had a very thick pastry cream, very custard like, thick, rich.  This was not a light item.  That pastry cream would probably be too much as a bowl full like a pudding, but inside the pastry, it was fantastic.  It was stuffed very, very full, so definitely a seriously undertaking.  The flavor was good, the consistency was good, just really great pastry cream, I can't think of any I've had better really.  4.5/5 filling.

Xuxos de Chocolate

"The Catalan cream-filled flaky pastry of your dreams filled with chocolate and hazelnut cream."

I also got to try the chocolate version, with a chocolate and hazelnut cream, perhaps even better?  It was not very Nutella like, but rather just chocolate hazelnut pastry cream, so lighter in color, and more strong in the custard.  Complex flavor, again, great consistency.  Another 4.5/5 filling.

Put it all together, and this was a top notch pastry, 4.5/5.

El Flan de Mamá Marisa. $7.

"Traditional Spanish caramelized egg custard inspired by José Andrés’ mother’s recipe."

I also had the flan, as I'm a lover of all puddings.  

It was a perfectly good flan.  Well set.  Decent flavor.  The caramel was in the base rather than on top, but, if you were to tip it onto a plate, you'd have a proper flan.  It had the right caramelized notes, with some bitterness just approaching burnt in the right way.  A traditional dessert, done well, but not overy exceptional, particularly compared to the xuxos!  3.5/5.

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Alaska Airlines First Class, JFK-SFO

Flight info:

• Flight #114
• JFK-SFO
• 1pm (Scheduled) 12:53pm (Pushback) 1:15pm (Takeoff)
• 4:12pm (Scheduled) 3:48pm (Landing) 3:56pm (Gate)
• Seat: 3D
• Aircraft: 737-900

I've flown the opposite route, SFO-JFK several times before (reviews here), but never the other way as, frankly, I'm traumatized by the getting to JFK experience, and usually opt to fly out of Newark after a NYC visit, or go visit family in NH and fly from Boston instead.  I was not really looking forward to this trip.

My past trauma with JFK also meant I had a loooong time to hang out in the Alaska lounge, so I was pretty bored by the time I got on board (tl;dr - I've missed one flight in my life, and it was from JFK, when I thought I left far more than enough time to get to the airport/etc, and, well, zomg traffic).  Boarding started promptly on time, and was orderly and efficient.  We pushed back early, and had only about 20 min taxi time (which is good for JFK!).  We were warned to expect turbulence getting out of NY, so the FAs had to stay seated for quite a while, which delayed food and drink service (and bathroom access of course).

We arrived early, had minimal taxi to gate (<10 min), bags were delivered fast, so, operationally, this was a good flight, definitely better than my track record with JetBlue lately.

Service / Amenities

My flight was on a 737-900 (not Max) that seemed actually fairly new.  No amenities are provided other than a very thin blanket.   Service was friendly but largely absent (even once able to be up and about of course), with no one coming to pick up our trays post meal for quite a while, no real check backs to see if we needed anything later on.  The food and drink were not very good.  The seat was not comfortable.

I knew that Alaska really is not competitive on the in-flight experience in any way with the others flying this route, but ... they are so much cheaper, and hence, I did it again, but it certainly wasn't a very enjoyable nor premium experience.

Economy.

The leather still had a bit of a nice leather smell, and it seemed in good shape (no rips, tears, etc on the seats).  Since no one had pre-boarded (no kids, etc), I was able to snap a photo of the entirely empty main cabin.

First.

I was in First Class.  The seat seemed the same as all other flights I've taken with Alaska.  Wide, but otherwise, meh.  No where to put anything, just a basic seat back pocket, tiny tray table.  No where to put a water bottle, no where to hold a phone, etc.  Power outlets including USB were located between the seats.  No foot rests.  Not comfortable for 7+ hours.

Food & Drink

As we settled in, a PDB of sparkling wine, orange juice, or water was offered from a tray.  The drinks came in paper cups, which I understand for abolishing plastics, but something about drinking sparkling wine from a paper cup ...

PDB: Sparkling Wine.

I rarely get anything other than (hopefully sparkling) water when I board, but, I had been in the airport for nearly 3 hours, and was bored, and hey, sparkling wine sounded like at least something quasi-interesting at that point.

It was fine.  Fairly sweet.  Not particularly good nor bad. 3.5/5.

Nuts.

It was 1.5 hours into the flight before our first beverages were served due to the FAs being seated that entire time per pilot instructions.  Orders for drinks were taken once they were allowed up, and delivered row by row, along with some nuts (warm, mixed, salted, basically just cashews, although I had a single almond, and two seasoned bread twist things).  I would have liked more diversity in the nuts, but I loved the bready twists (or maybe I was just starving?).  Better than average offering, despite the poor distribution of items.  3.5/5.

Red Wine.

For red wine, there was no choice, just a cab.  She didn't know what kind it was.  It was not great, very high acid.  I would not want it again.  Huge pour.  Low 3/5.

[ No Photo ]

Old fashioned

Later on I switched to the Old Fashioned (Straightaway brand), as I had liked it before.  I got it not on ice as I was freezing, which made it very, very strong (I thought it was strong before, and wanted to dilute it a bit then, even with the ice watering it down).  A nice boozy, but, definitely strong.  It was also sweeter than I remembered, or really wanted.  But still a decent cocktail.  3/5.

Mango Seltzer.

I was happy to see a flavored sparkling water option, mango (Polar brand I think).  It was lightly fruity and enjoyable enough, and I'm always happy to have a flavored (non-sugar) option.  3.5/5.

Lunch-ish Menu.

For my main dish, I had 5 options: one crowd pleasing chicken (no, I hate chicken), one vegetarian AND gluten-free AND vegan pasta dish (meh, gluten-free pasta? And no cheese or cream? Sorry vegetarians that you got lumped into that bucket!), the standard fruit & cheese plate (I know it has its fans, but not what I wanted for lunch, one seafood option (shrimp diablo over grits that actually did sound pretty good), and one non-vegetarian, non-gluten-free pasta (mushroom ravioli with pork sausage garnish).  I was tempted by the shrimp and grits, particularly given that it gets great reviews, but I still had memories of how much I loved a previous pasta (shells) dish with Italian pork sausage on a previous Alaska flight, and hoped this may take the same trajectory.  Plus, it came with asparagus and featured mushrooms, both things I love.

Meal.

All meals are served with the same salad and bread roll, along with tub of ice cream, no option for anything there, no appetizer, no other dessert, etc.  Compared to the other airlines flying this premium transcon route, Alaska really really does lag behind - e.g. United has the full ice cream sundae cart and another dessert, a choice of appetizer, AND a second meal service before arrival.  

The salad/bread/main dish were all served at once.

Roll.

The bread was warm, didn't taste stale, and was pleasant enough.  A peasant style white roll, no choices.  Very hard, cold butter to go with.  3.5/5.

Salad.

The "salad" was the tiniest amount of arugula ever (like, literally 5 pieces?), plus three balls of average mozzarella, and a few sorta sundried tomatoes, all covered in pesto.  I had enjoyed something similar once before as the tomatoes were super flavorful, but this time they weren't, just kinda somewhere between roasted and fresh, no real flavor to them, and even the pesto didn't seem very flavorful.  I was glad I had my own backup salad (knowing how small theirs are in general).  1.5/5.

Mushroom Ravioli.

"Mushroom filled pasta with Calabrian chili Pomodoro sauce topped with Italian pork sausage, served with grilled asparagus, and sautéed edamame with peas. Finished with fresh parmesan cheese."

Well, I didn't really like the main dish either.  The main reason being that the sauce was really kinda crappy.  Definitely not "Calabrian chili" as advertised, just very bland, generic tomato sauce.  Very, very bland and generic.  Since the dish was smothered in it, it dominated everything else.

I did like the asparagus, and the peas (although they were hard to extract from the sauce), and found it annoying that there were both edamame and peas, as I like peas, and feel "meh" about edamame.  I would have happily eaten all the toppings though, if it wasn't for that sauce.  I just really didn't care for it.

The sausage, which had been exceptional on a previous flight was not very good.  Sorta reminded me of generic pizza topping sausage.  A bit soft, not very flavorful (a theme here).  It was fine, but, it had been SOOOO good before, this was a letdown for me.

And finally, the ravioli of course.  A decent portion of 6 ravioli.  They were filled with mushroom and ricotta.  Didn't really taste the mushroom.  The pasta was cooked kinda ok, not too dried out, but pretty soft and mushy overall.  Sorta TV dinner quality, definitely not particularly good.

Put it all together, and this was a pretty low end dish.  The sauce ruined everything for me, and besides the asparagus, I didn't really like much about it. 1.5/5.

Dessert: Salt & Straw Pumpkin Spiced Latte Cake Ice Cream.

The dessert was not served for a while, which was fine with me because 1) it was ice cream, and I was FREEZING, and 2) I had brought my own dessert anyway (always prepared!).

The flavor, as it was Sept 1 and it just changed out was ... pumpkin spice latte. Doh.  August had a pistachio with ricotta ripple that people raved about and sounded great to me, and I'm not really one for pumpkin spice.  But, still, I do like Salt & Straw, so of course I tried it.

And ... yeah.  It was aggressively pumpkin spiced, which I think is probably great if you like those spices, no doubt, but for me it was waaaay too much nutmeg and things I don't generally like.  I didn't taste anything latte about it either (which was fine, but an odd name for a flavor if it's really just pumpkin spice ...).  

It was served at a decent temperature, it still required a bit of time to soften nicely, but wasn't a total rock.  No freezer burn.  Good quality ice cream base.  But just not a flavor for me. 2/5 for the flavor, 3.5/5 for the quality.  My FA was excited to try it (this was the first day they had it) and she told me she took one bite and threw it out too.

Snacks.

1.5 hours before arrival, a snack basket was offered.  It had one kind of chips (Community Brand, salt & vinegar), 1 kind of granola bar, shortbread cookies, and these two items, cheddar popcorn and Skinny Dipped lemon almonds, both snacks I've had before elsewhere and enjoyed.

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Ole & Steene

Ole & Steen is an "all day Danish bakery" that started in 1991 in Copenhagen. They expanded to London in 2016, and then in 2019 to New York City, which is where I visited.  They now have 5 locations in New York, I visited the one closest to Union Square.

The menu offers up sandwiches, parfaits, and whatnot for breakfast, toasties, soups, bowls, and salads for lunch, a full line up of espresso drinks and coffee, but the focus really is on the bakery side of things. On the bakery side, the breads take center stage, with a slew of different Danish rye and sourdough loaves, assorted sweet and savory buns, many pastries (including their well known Cinnamon Social), along with cakes and tarts.  Given my love of dessert and baked goods, you can guess what I was there for.  Oh, and did I mention, that they give you a birthday treat for free if you join their rewards club?  I can never resist a good freebie, and this actually was a good one.

Blueberry Muffin (sample).

"Vanilla batter, blueberries, topped with almonds and crunchy sugar." 

When I first visited to scope the place out, they had samples on the counter.  I eagerly grabbed one.  It turned out to be the blueberry muffin.

It was a fairly sweet muffin and tasted rather processed.  The base did have a strong vanilla flavor.  More like a blueberry crumb cake for an afternoon snack than a breakfast item.  Mine didn't have any almonds, but did have pearl sugar on top for a bit of crunch.   The berries weren't particularly plump nor plentiful.

Seemed sorta like the kind of muffin you find it a hotel breakfast buffet.  2.5/5.

$6.50 normally.

Carrot Muffin.

"Carrot cake, cream cheese frosting."

Other visit, this time to actually get my birthday treat, but I couldn't resist trying another sample that was laid out, this time the carrot muffin, which, given the fact that it had actual frosting, certainly seemed even more like a snack/dessert item than the blueberry crumb cake muffin, which I already thought wasn't really a breakfast item.

I love carrot cake, and had been sorta craving it, so this sounded great to me.  Alas, it did not please me.

The frosting was a bit too fluffy, a bit too sweet, and tasted more like butter or shortening than cream cheese.  I didn't detect any cream cheese element really.  The cake was too strongly spiced, and dry.  It lacked any raisins, nuts, or pineapple to jazz it up.  Bo-ring, and I didn't even want to finish my little sample.  2/5.

Also $6.50 normally.

Strawberry Tart. $10.

"Fresh strawberries, vanilla cream filling, dark chocolate-covered nutty shortcrust base, sprinkled with

chopped almonds ."

For my birthday free small cake, I went for the strawberry tart.  Regular readers of my blog know that I'm not normally one for tarts, but this wasn't a standard American/French style tart.  I'm told it is a classic Danish style though?  It certainly wasn't as pretty as tarts from French patisseries, but it also wasn't quite rustic, rather, just somewhere in-between.  This is the small, personal size, but they also make this in a larger format.

It actually was really quite good.  The strawberries on top were fresh and ripe, and the almond slivers added great crunch.  Good, but not standout, elements.  The rest is where it got both unique (to me anyway) and delicious.

Strawberry Tart: Cross-Section.

The rest really was quite different from what I was expecting.

Yes, there was a thin shortcrust base that was fairly average (and why I'm not into tarts in general) but above that was a thick layer of almond frangipane.  It was soft, nutty, sweet, and quite tasty.  Lovely almond notes, that were accented even more by the sliced almonds on top.  The dark chocolate covering it was a very thin layer, so easily lost, and I did find myself wanting more dark chocolate (so I added mini dark chocolate chips!).

Then, the part that really surprised me, was the "vanilla cream filling", which was a thick, rich, diplomat cream.  The consistency was perfect, it did have quite a bit of vanilla flavor, and it was the right level of not too sweet.  

Any set of these elements was enjoyable, e.g. just some frangipane and strawberries, or cream and strawberries and sliced nuts, and I almost enjoyed eating it more deconstructed in different combinations than all together.  It really had a lot to offer, and was better than I expected.

Low 4/5.

Raspberry Almond Croissant.
(Special). $7.95.

"Almond and raspberry jam filled croissant dusted with freeze dried raspberries."

I visited at 6:50pm to use up my rewards points that were going to expire.  I could pick any Danish item, and was immediately drawn to the raspberry Almond croissants, which aren't actually part of their formal menu, but were a special at this location.  There were two left in the case, and the person bagging up my order hesitated for a second, and just scooped them both up.  Score!  It was interesting to see them side by side though, as, not sure if you can tell from the photo, but they were quite different in shape and baking job, one was super puffy, and one was flat as a pancake.  And both were massive (that is not a normal small individual pastry bag, for reference).  I knew I wouldn't eat them both that night, and croissants are never that great a day old, so I handed one off to a friend who happened to be just a few blocks away.  I couldn't decide which one I'd prefer: the lofty one clearly looked better, but the smushed one had more topping, so I let her pick.  I got the pancake version.

I had pretty low expectations for this, given that Ole & Steen gets pretty mediocre reviews in general, plus laminated pastries like this are rarely good at the end of the day, even from a great bakery, but, hey, I had reward points to blow, and these did look unique.  

I was really quite surprised by how decent it was, smashed and all.  The pastry itself wasn't the flakiest, the most well laminated, the freshest, but it did have a really great, strong buttery flavor to it.  Perhaps a touch over baked though, pretty dark.  But the butter flavor was quite notable.

Of course, a twice baked and filled croissant is only partially about the croissant itself.  The fillings and toppings are the star attraction really, and they most certainly were here.  It was extremely generously stuffed with almond frangipane.  So much of it - nearly too much, really, it made it really a heavy item! There was more baked on top, along with the crunchy sliced almonds, which I loved for the extra crunch.  But that is all standard twice baked almond croissant.  The raspberry is what took this over the top.  There were pockets of intensely flavorful, fruity, sweet, raspberry jam within.  That jam was very, very good, and the bites I got with it were fantastic.  That said, it was not well distributed, so there were a few bites loaded with it, and most without.  The freeze dried raspberry dust on top was nice for looks, but I didn't really taste.  

I brought this home, warmed it up a bit, and stuffed it with ice cream to balance the heavy frangipane, and really quite enjoyed it.  3.5/5.

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