Dessert Bites

          As I always told my mom, there is a different compartment in my stomach for dessert, meaning that there is always room for something sweet at the end of the meal. In my opinion, dessert is not really an option, but rather a necessity. But for me, Levain Bakery In New York City is especially essential to my diet. Cookies are a typical dessert because they are universally known as a tasty delight. However, the monstrous cookies from Levain are far from ordinary. Levain has a couple of different types of cookies. These choices span from oatmeal raisin to dark chocolate chocolate chip and they even have dark chocolate peanut butter chip. Although all these choices are excellent, my all-time favorite Levain cookie is the chocolate chip walnut. I was reminded of these orgasmic treats over thanksgiving when I decided to pay Levain a visit. When I step foot into the bakery I prepared myself to fall into the sweet coma I have so dearly missed. Straight out of the oven, my chocolate chip walnut cookie was oozing melted chocolate chips and out popped the crunchy walnuts, which created an amazing texture. As I bite into this heavenly delight, the moist insides fall into my watering mouth. The hard exterior of the cookie is merely the shell for the soft and fluffy insides. This almost two inch cookie usually takes me a while to finish, and over the years I have realized that it is almost impossible successfully complete a Levain cookie without a glass of ice-cold milk. My one complaint about these divine cookies is that they are extremely pricy, $4.00 is more then I would like to spend on a cookie, however, they are probably double the size of the average cookie.

            Prior to coming to school in August I knew there would be ABSOLUTLY no substitute to Levain. But being a huge dessert fan, I knew it would be my ultimate challenge to find something I could eat at the end of each meal. Surprisingly, this alternative to Levain came to me in my first meal at the DUC. After I was done with my less than satisfying meal I took a lap around the DUC to hopefully find some halfway decent dessert. Much to my surprise, the one area that the DUC is not too shabby at DUC is the dessert part. I had my choice of chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, cupcakes with whip cream, vanilla cake with chocolate frostings, cherry tarts, peach cobbler, and brownies. I decided to stay away from the cookies because I did not want to start my dessert experience at Emory with a disappointment. So I took the lead from one of my friends and opted for the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. This piece of moist cake did not have overpoweringly sweet butter cream chocolate frosting, which is what I would have expected from cafeteria cake. But rather, it contained the perfect ratio of chocolate frosting to cake and even had a bit of a crunch from a few sprinkles that were fluttered on top. I was able to end my meal with just the right amount of sugar I needed, thankfully! 

Photo 1 From: Levain Bakery

What is College Bites?

          Everyone knows that transitioning to college from high school is difficult: being away from home, more work to do, and of course the big one of meeting new people. But what most people don’t realize is that one of the hardest things about going to college for the first time is the food situation. At home, you can get a wide range of foods: mom’s home cooking, take-out, or snacks. Yet, it can be a brutal awakening if students step into their first collegiate experience thinking their stomachs are going to be fed the same way. This new period in the lives of young adults is clearly a challenging adjustment, so why not make this scary process a little easier by giving your body the food it loves…with a little college twist? Through this blog, I hope to give all you Emory freshman some tips on where you can get a substitute, at college, for your favorite meals from home. 

Dinner Bites

            Growing up in New York City, I have always been lucky enough to be exposed to various cuisines. I have experienced many different types of food from Vietnamese to French and everything in between. But even after trying various dishes, one of my favorites still remains to be Mexican.

            There are an uncountable number of Mexican restaurants in the City, and even a good number in my neighborhood of the Upper West Side. However, where I like to go to get my Mexican fill is not exactly what most would call a restaurant, it’s more of a whole in the wall. Taco Grill definitely reinforced the common childhood lesson of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” This shack may not have fancy tablecloths, or even tables for that matter, but it sure does serve up a tasty burrito. Typically, I prefer to take out Taco Grill for obvious reasons but that does not make this Mexican delight any less yummy. The wheat flour tortilla serves as the protective covering for the Mexican-style yellow rice, steak, black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and of course Monterey jack cheese. Talk about a mouth full! The first bite can be a little tricky because you have to be sure not to get too excited and rip open the whole tortilla, making all the fillings fall out. Once you do manage to safely sink your teeth into this burrito the ingredients come alive. The rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and melted cheese all mix together to form a sort of delicious, creamy, crunchy spread. And every so often, you grab a piece of the streak, which is covered in this mouth-watering mixture. Taco Grill makes the best, and cheapest, burrito because they are somehow able to put in the perfect balance of each ingredient. They manage to have all of the items in the burrito tasted evenly, without one overpowering the rest. Taco Grill puts in enough steak to get your meat craving satisfied but not too much that with every bite you have to be tirelessly chewing. There are many small qualities about this dish that make it special: the streak is cooked perfectly to medium rare, the lettuce and cilantro are not soggy but rather fresh and crunchy, the pico de gallo gives the burrito a little kick, but nothing too spicy, and the tortilla is cooked so that it is the tiniest bit crunchy but still soft and fluffy. Did I mention that this dinnertime fiesta comes with a side of tortilla chips and guacamole?

            Now of course you all know what is coming, I am going to attempt to come up with a viable solution to my Mexican crave at college. However, this one wasn’t so easy. The only place on campus to get Mexican food is in Cox Hall at Salsa Rico. But when I tried a burrito there the first week of school, I was sadly disappointed. The ingredients were soggy and the pico de gallo over powered the meal to the point where I could did not even want to finish my dinner. So, for a long time I stayed away from Salsa Rico, and even Mexican food for that matter. But this past week I had such a Mexican craving; I decided to give it another try. This time I came into the experience with my previous knowledge about the burrito, so I stayed away from that dish. Instead, I got the fajita bowl with grilled chicken. This sizable portion comes in a large plastic bowl containing a flower tortilla at the bottom, Mexican-style yellow rice, grilled chicken, black beans, roasted peppers and onions, guacamole, pico de gallo, tortilla chips and shredded Monterey jack cheese. It was very overwhelming when I first look at what I had decided to order. I couldn’t help but think: is this too many ingredients mixed together in a bowl? So I played the first bite safe, scooping up a tortilla chip and dunking it in guacamole, which had a fresh taste to it. After swallowing that bite, I decided to sink my fork into the mixture. There seemed to be a good balance of each ingredient and nothing was soggy. Being a rice lover, I could have gone for a greater quantity of the Mexican-style rice, but the amount wasn’t too shabby. The sprinkling of the cheese was done so that each part of the bowl was covered with the melted stringiness. The chicken was seasoned and cooked well and the roasted peppers added some crunchyish texture. The flower tortilla did cause me some problems; not only was this getting in the way of attempting to eat the rice at the bottom of the bowl, but it also was just plain bad. It was clearly not freshly made and it could not have tasted any blander. However, this was a decent Mexican meal. Salsa Rico definitely did not live up to the caliber of Taco Grill, but it satisfied my Mexican dinner craving.