I have so many memories of Yeh’s Bakery 5725 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355, a no frills Chinese bake shop outside of the main traffic crazed part of Flushing. The Chinese name translates to “red leaf” (you can spot the store by the red leaf logo on their yellow awning) and they have a limited menu. What they lack in flair they make up in reputation. My birthday cake nearly every year for about 10 years was the strawberry cake from Yeh’s, a tradition that ended after I developed an allergy to food coloring. (If you don’t want a whole large cake, they make a similar strawberry cake as a roll cake that is just as  good.) I’ve asked if they can make it without the food coloring and sadly, they cannot.

My late uncle Chester used to buy their Boston Cream Pie (Chinese version, a much more light and airy version than the American version) whenever he came to visit from New Jersey.

Ultimately, the MVP of Yeh’s is their Curry Pastry or Ga Li Jao. I remember when they were 70 cents and then 90 cents and now $1.00 (still a steal). These very, very curry and onion-y, beef-filled, flaky-doughed pastries are addictive and satisfying. The crisp outer layers hold tight to a doughier inside giving each bite both spring and substance. Two of these easily make a great breakfast. One can be a snack for any time.

They also sell a chicken roll, but the curry beef is the way to go.  Regularly my family will purchase a large box and gorge.  I can’t say for sure that my nostalgia doesn’t play a part in my endearment of these treats, so you can rely on Lon’s objectivity. Let’s just say one of the first things Lon learned how to say in Chinese is “ga li jao.”

The two are really not comparable, with very different flavors and styles. The good news is you can love both and I do. I’ll stick to Peter Pan on this post since I already wrote about Doughnut Plant.

We tried six doughnuts and every one is big, fresh, with controlled sweetness.  As usual, the cake doughnuts lose out to the yeast doughnuts, even the red velvet, which is cool, but Lon said no big deal. (I can’t eat those because of the food coloring.) Our absolute favorite is the apple crumb. The apple pie filling has such a fresh apple flavor without being too sweet or too sticky and gooey. It’s generously filled and topped with what seems like chopped up coffee crumb cake.

Lon’s other favorite was the doughnut topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. The feel is airy and creamy with that added texture from the sprinkles. I also enjoyed their clever idea of topping doughnuts with whipped cream and chopped cake doughnut, again gathering up multiple textures on a light base.

The sugar raised is ultra light and the jelly filled is very filled, which ends up making it sweeter than the others.

What adds powdered sugar on top? The fact that these are very reasonably priced doughnuts, averaging out to about $1 each. It’s definitely worth a trip to Greenpoint, or several.

I am always a fan of tasting menus and here, a 3-course Kaiseki at $17 is enough for two to share. (Perfect, I was with my friend Emily.) It starts with the signature soft tofu, but the rest varies seasonally. On Sat night, the second course was actually a three-part tasting in itself. The ginger-y rice pudding was perhaps my favorite, warm on the bottom and topped with a cool fruit sorbet.

The Chocolate Miso Cake is respectable, though not as interesting as other offerings here. It’s soft and dense, like truffle cake. The miso adds a faint saltiness and earthiness.

The Green Tea Creme Brulee is excellent, a smooth custard with a fragrant green tea flavor.

The last course is soft-serve ice cream, a twist of spicy chocolate and chestnut that underwhelmed us. The chocolate wasn’t quite spicy and weak on the chocolate too. The chestnut didn’t have the faintest essence of chestnut. We thought perhaps it was confused with butter pecan?

Like traditional Japanese food, these desserts are not for everyone. Kyotofu offers a lighter, more subtle approach. The prices are reasonable and I would have enjoyed it if it wasn’t for the service (or lack of) throughout. There is a feeling of being invisible that I have not experienced in a long time. I’ll keep this is mind for take-out next time.

Prior to arriving in the Glendale location, we were expecting a small, Latin bakery.  Our hope was for some seating (not common in many bakeries) and for the food to be decent.  What we got was a huge cafe, with dozens of people forming lines for the two ends of the restaurant (there are separate ordering areas); we also had a personal greeter who introduced us to how Porto’s works; and we found it to be a humming picture of efficiency… delicious efficiency.

While on line we perused the printed menu while also eyeing the treats in various cases.  To the right was the cold case, filled with the remarkable cakes for which Porto’s Bakery is known.  We marveled at the expertly crafted white chocolate cake, made to look like it was created from silk.  To the left was the hot case, filled with empanadas, croquettes, and other crispy, flaky, and often meat-filled pastries.  And ahead of us was a wide case of Danish pastries, French pastries, Viennese pastries, and more.

In order to avoid weighing 800 pounds, we limited ourselves to three selections each, not including drinks.  (amazingly, yes, six items for two people is “limiting” in our book)  Jessica selected the recommended Refugiado (a cream cheese and guava danish); a Strawberry & Cheese Turn-Over; and the Sweet Bread.  I choose the Plaintain Croquette Stuffed with Black Beans; the Hot Ham & Cheese Croissant; and the Chorizo Meat Pie (empanada).  Our clerk was as rapidly collecting the goods as we were requesting them, and without feeling pressured, moved us along quickly to the cashier.

While he rang us up, she expertly assembled two boxes and organized our breakfast into them.  We were then instructed to head around to the cafe to pick up Jessica’s Cortadito (the Latin version of a Latte Macchiato).  I headed out front to grab a curb-side table under a large shade umbrella.

As I was finishing taking pictures, Jessica came out to meet me, raving about how amazingly fast, but not rushing, the baristas were.  Very un-New York.

We dove into the goodies.  The Strawberry and Cheese Turn-Over was good, but nothing special.  Unfortunately it was a bit flat, which reduced the intensity of the flaky layers.

The Refugiado was more interesting.  The guava was bright and the cheese, a standard cream cheese richness.  Definitely an enjoyable flavor.

The Chorizo Empanada was distinctive.  The filling had a great flavor, with hints of olive and shrimp, but was primarily spiced pork.

The outside offered a bit of eggyness and the expected empanada dough taste.  I enjoyed it, but it’s not a rollercoaster of taste.  However, the next three items, they were.

The Sweet Bread, a choice I was concerned about (it looks pretty plain Jane)… well, it was amazing.  The dough was rich and fluffy and flavorful.

It was fun to pull apart and let it melt on your tongue.  While the top was encrusted in sugar, it wasn’t overly sweet.  Porto had found the right balance.

The Stuffed Plaintain was equally exciting.  The outside was tender, but firm enough to hold the black bean filling.  The beans were savory while the plaintains sweet.  Each bite had that wonderful salty-sweet that everyone loves.  Jessica likened the taste combination to PB&J, but Latin-style. Que Rico!

And the best, I’ve saved to describe last.  The Hot Ham & Cheese Croissant, a seemingly blasé construction was, in sticking with my theme park ride metaphor, a moment of sheer excitement and intensity, like when you start to tilt over the peak of a rollercoaster.  The croissant was large and steaming hot, without being burnt or oily.  The selected cheese, some type of Swiss (I think), was flavorful without overwhelming the sandwich; plus, it gets double credit for evenly melting and lining the interior void with gooey goodness.  And several stacked layers of flavorful ham (read: not junk deli slices) filled the center.  I could’ve eaten six of just that sandwich.  Yum.

Jessica enjoyed everything as she sipped her delicious Cortadito, which she mentioned was preparedly perfectly.

So by now you must’ve calculated our tab?  Perhaps $16?  $24? $31.84?!?  Wrong.  $8.  Yes.

So if you’re anywhere near Los Angeles, take our advice and go to Porto’s and enjoy a wonderful, inexpensive breakfast with expert service.

I am happily impressed with their namesake, Sweet Revenge, a peanut butter cupcake with ganache filling and peanut butter buttercream. It’s a decadent dessert but has a lightness in the frosting that makes it feel less heavy.

I am equally crazy about Dirty, a Valrhona chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate truffle. The tight crumb of the moist cupcake is perfect with the smooth truffle, also with that deceiving lightness. These two amazing cupcakes finally balance sweetness correctly, which I have not yet been able to buy in Manhattan, till now. They use good ingredients and allow the flavors to shine instead of hiding behind a cloak of sugar.

My dad had one with lime and mango, which had a great flavor and tang, but it was a tad too sweet. Sophia had a Mexican Vanilla cupcake with strawberries and cream. It was also a tad too sweet for me but others enjoyed it.

Justin ordered an Ice Cream Sandwich, choosing the Crimson and Cream cupcake (Raspberry Red Velvet) with vanilla gelato. I couldn’t taste this one (I’m allergic to food-coloring) but everyone else decided it was the least favorable anyway.

Lon also had the Seville, with Chorizo, Manchego, and Scallions. It was a savory scone-like cake, served with Romesco sauce. He loved it.

At $3.50 per generously sized cupcake, I’m dying to try other flavors. I need to do my due dilligence before officially awarding Sweet Revenge “favorite” status right? (You know how infrequently I do that.) The iced coffees were pretty good, the service is upbeat, and it’s a nice atmosphere overall. I highly recommend putting Sweet Revenge on your must-do list for this weekend!

We’ve been searching for a new home in Long Island City, where they seem to have their own little coffee chain: Brasil Coffee House 44-02 23rd Street, Queens, NY 11101. (There is one location in Manhattan 161 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016 but I never noticed it.) A great coffee place could really help sell the neighborhood to me, but after trying an Iced Coffee and a Cappuccino, I’m not that impressed. They have reasonable prices and pretty decent service, but the drinks were burnt tasting.

Spice, Thai junk, used to occupy this corner on University place. I was glad to see them go, although they moved closer to me, yuck. Recess 60 University Place, New York, NY 10003 opened up and I didn’t know what to make of the decor. It looks so college rec room-ish that I was reluctant to go. (I understand that being a good look for them btw, since they are right by NYU, my old stomping ground.)

We stopped in one night and got some fro-yo. Hmm…it was pretty good, actually reminiscent of Flurt. A couple of days later, I stopped in for a coffee in the morning and spotted a familiar face. Hey, it’s Alex from Flurt. Just to be clear, I have no relationship with this guy, I just met him when I first tried Flurt, and he isn’t all that interested in chatting compared to other places that spot me with a camera.

In any case, long story short, I’ve had cappuccino there, hot coffee, iced coffee, frozen yogurt, and the “Just Peachy” smoothie. Nothing is mind blowing but very good stand-by for the very reasonable prices. The staff is always smiling and friendly, although slow at times, and they don’t seem to care about me bringing my dog in to pick up something to-go.  I’ve yet to try food (none of it looks interesting to me and sourced from other places) but I’ll be stopping in for beverages on my dog walks for sure.

It’s still not quite as good as what you’d get in Italy but pretty close. We loved how natural the flavors were, and how sugar was kept in check. The banana and peanut are amazing! The blueberry has a great flavor but it’s a little stiff. We do feel like the portion is a bit chintzy for $4.75 each, but I’ll have to suck it up and continue paying these prices because I will be back. We wish they would use better (or bigger) cups too, ones where this stuff doesn’t melt all over your hands.

After they scoop your flavors, they add a dab of another flavor on top for you to try, which is such a smart idea. Lon got pear and I got passion fruit, and now I’ll want those flavors next time. Feisty Foodie, if I get fat this summer, it’s all your fault. =/

So visit L’arte del Gelato. They have 3 locations!

They have a nice variety of doughnuts so I grabbed a dozen for $12.99 and the guy threw in some extra doughnut holes.

Then I spotted some of their fancy doughnuts, one with a cherry pie filling, one was a marble cake doughnut with blackberry jam, two were crumb crullers with blueberry or apple filling. These are $2 each.

Generally, the doughnuts are fresh, but I find them too sugary and very average in flavor. Lon likes them because he calls it, “down and dirty doughnuts”, the kind he imagines that cops eat. I also noticed that the fancy doughnuts aren’t as good as the regular while more expensive so they should leave the fancy pants stuff to Doughnut Plant, the heaven of glorified doughnuts.

In related doughnut news, Tim Hortons (huge Canadian doughnuts and coffee chain) is taking New York by storm, taking over 13 Dunkin Donuts locations. We’ll be sure to compare those doughnuts soon, but it won’t be hard to beat Dunkin Donuts, which has been declining steadily in the last 5 to 7 years.

Sophia brought over some incredible cream puffs one day. They were airy on the outside and filled with cream to the max. She told me they were from Happy Lemon 40-23 Main Street, New York, NY 11354, the first kiosk on your left when you enter Sweet Season Shopping Mall (really small mall).

I had been waiting so long to have these again that I bought a box of six, not at all knowing who was going to eat all of this with me. I hopped into the car (my mom was driving) and started to dig in. I was so sad, the pate a choux was soggy on top, as you can easily see from this picture.

The inside is still stuffed with some of the best cream ever. My best guess is that there is a hint of cream cheese in there, which would explain why I love it so much.

I am now so tormented over this. It was so incredible the first time, but the soggy shell really killed it the second time. They are $1.25 each but 6 for $6. Considering how cheap they are, I’m definitely going to try it again and hope that was a fluke, but next time I’m going to buy one first and taste it before I buy a box.