New York City Avenues For Fun

First it was Magnolia, then Crumbs, then some sort of revolt created Buttercup. Presently, we can’t keep track of the city’s sweet shops and trucks and such no matter how hard we try. And now we don’t have to because cake balls are the new cupcake. Well, almost.
Yeah, cake balls sounds kind of vulgar but they. are. delicious. My best friend brought me red velvet cake balls dipped in Ghirardelli chocolate last weekend. They were so moist, rich delicious and…homemade. That means, you can bake them on your own! But if your oven is full of shoes, you might want to order them. Nothing smells worse than burned Louboutins.

Brooklyn baker/ cool- maker, Julie Tran, sells similar cake balls on Etsy; and they taste scarily similar to my pastry-esque BFF’s. Cake balls are ping pong ball size and easily eaten in 2-3 bites. Sweet Jewels, Julie’s clever double entendre for the delicacies, are also red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese icing and dipped in chocolate. Julie’s are rolled in coconut. A newer, “Red Hot,” version includes spiced cinnamon and a candy red hot center.

When I Etsy-searched cake balls, tons of listing came up with lemon cake balls, pumpkin cake balls, sprinkled cake pops and more. Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery and City Bakery both have their own versions of cake balls, which were cleverly decorated as little chicks and bunnies for Easter. Other cupcakeries have yet to catch on, but with swimsuit season just around the corner, you can bet people will be yearning for smaller bites…er, balls.

Emma Dinzebach

On a rainy afternoon last week, I went on a Williamsburg adventure ending in a delicious drink at the apparently wildly popular (how was I supposed to know!) Hotel Delmano. Hotel Delmano is not a hotel. I know, tricky, right? The unassuming spot on Berry Street serves creative cocktails and small plates for regular prices. They have a real record player…and use it! The Tuesday afternoon I popped in, they played sing-songy jazz and chatted with patrons.

The menu looked so divine, I could hardly decide what to order, so I had the bartender pick his favorites. “Well, I also have my own creation – the Russian Riviera,” he said. The Russian Riviera is vodka, champagne, lime and maple syrup. I was weary of the maple syrup, but I’m a sucker for bubbly. The sweetness of the syrup was adequately muted by the alcohol, and the combination tasted divine. My brother tried the Three Amigos – Patron, Bloody Mary mix, and Tecate. You drink it in that order, which sounds unsophisticated, but tastes quite good. Hotel Delmano’s menu also includes a delicious elderflower vodka drink and more mixtures than I can write in three to four hundred words.

Our stop was the best way to end an afternoon of vintage clothes shopping and record browsing in the BK. And even if I’m not in the mood for vintage clothes again soon, I might take the L Train for a cocktail…if you can fathom.

Hotel Delmano   82 Berry St. between 8th & 9th Williamsburg, Brooklyn  718.387.1945

Emma Dinzebach

If you just got really excited, maybe even said “Yes!” or “Sweet!” aloud at your desk. If there was a fist pump involved with your reaction to this week’s food find, then we half love you and half advise you watch a little less television. But regardless of your visible reaction, here at the Daily Vogue, we suggest you think Tasting Table New York and Thrillist for bringing you – Martini Week.

Martini Week extends March 1-14th (it was actually two weeks!).We would’ve written this sooner, but we were busy sampling the $10 martinis at several participating venues. Many Martini Week spots (see also: New Yorks classiest establishments) offer vodka and gin classics, while others list a combination of classics and some of their new school special martinis. 10 Downing’s delicious Elder Fizz (Grey Goose Vodka, St-Germain and maraschino liqueur) was on the list as was Tabla’s “Tablatini” (Grey Goose Vodka, pineapple “soup” containing sweetened pineapples and lemongrass, and a squeeze of lemon) and at Public last night we sampled a “Liquid Gold Martini” (Grey Goose Le Citron flavored vodka, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and kumquat honey syrup containing star anise and clove).

For a super classic experience head up to Peacock Alley at the Waldorf, Delmonico’s or the Oak Room. Not interested in life above 14th Street? You might try Madam Geneva on Bleeker and Bowery or Rayuela on Allen. Whatever floats your spirit-loving boat. It’s March, and that’s reason enough to sip something strong and feel fancy shmancy glass.

Emma Dinzebach

Well it’s the week before Christmas, or the week of Christmas rather, so it comes as no surprise that retail stocks were up Monday and Tuesday. But that can’t hold a candle to the $2 billion in lost sales retailers felt when a pretty blanket of snow covered the Northeast last weekend. Yeah, a White Christmas might sound nice to those off work, done shopping and baking snickerdoodles. But for retailers – and our economy – it sucked. (Not to mention the millions it costs the city, state and country every time it snows.) Delusional retailers are accelerating pre-xmas markdowns and apparently still trying to recoup lost sales.

But there is still a lot of shopping to be done from now until Christmas. What. Will. We. Buy?

We would help out Cabela’s, Cache, Delia’s, New York & Co., Quicksilver and American Apparel because they were in the evil red this week. (In the black crept unusual suspects Zale, Joe’s Jeans and Crocs because people either feel badly for these companies or actually still want them. Or they are on sale since they’ve continually been so red, which is likely a better argument.) But for serious, choose wisely this week as you make your last minute present purchases. What might not make a huge difference to a big department store, might mean the crux of the season for a smaller boutique struggling to get another, stay in Nolita or even survive. This isn’t to say that “the man” doesn’t need our business as well, but leave your larger purchases to someone it might make a difference for.

Oh, and Merry Christmas! We can’t wait to report on the outcome of this week… in shopping.

Emma Dinzebach