Pizza Tour and Cupcakes

Yesterday I went on a food tour.  For those of you who know me, I've been going on food tours for the past three or fours years.  These tours involve trips around the city going to different restaurants to taste a particular food. My favorite tours have been Bronx Pizza Tour, Brooklyn Pizza Tour and Hot Dogs, which is no surprise because these are some of my favorite foods. So when DT (the friend who organizes the tour) said he was doing a pizza tour...I was in. Originally it was 5 boroughs, but going to and fro from Staten Island is a time suck, so that borough was scrapped and it became a 4 borough tour.  But by the time the tour was fully under way, it was clear that the MTA's weekend track work and schedule changes meant that the Bronx had to be cut, so it was a 3 borough tour with 2 stops in Manhattan.

We had a pepperoni pizza at Sac's in Queens...good crust and cheese, a lot sauce, but I think it needed something. Basil? Oregano?  I can't place what was needed.  But it was a good solid pie.

Then we were off to Franny's in Brooklyn...I didn't get the best vibe from the staff here.  The bartender took FOREVER to take a fellow food tourist's espresso order and the place was FAR from packed.  Then this place had one of those, "is your whole party here?" rules, which I hate.  If I have a party of 4 and 3 of us are here, just seat us.  If we said we were three you would seat us at the same table, so why are you wasting our time by having us wait.  Hell, we probably would order more if you let us sit down!  Anyway, despite that, this place had what I thought were the best of the tour. I liked the pizza with Prosciutto Cotto, Caciocavallo, Onions and Marinated Peppers.  I was shocked because I normally don't go for prosciutto, but this was a thicker, a more ham-like cut.  DELICIOUS!

The last stop for me, before I took myself back to Mt. V to do the Wii, was Keste in the West Village.  Unlike Sac's and Franny's, this place considers itself a pizzeria, where the other two were Italian restaurants offering pasta and other entrees.  We ordered the Keste and Salume pizzas.  The Keste had prosciutto, arugula and gran cru cheese, in addition to tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella cheese.  The Salume had salami.  This place had the best crust, but otherwise I wasn't wowed.  I didn't like the prosciutto and the salami was fine, but not outstanding.  However, I don't think I've ever had a salami pizza.

In between Franny's and Keste, we took a little break to see if anyone else was going to be going us and it was during this break that I spotted Molly's Cupcakes on Bleeker Street. While hot dogs and pizza are some of my favorite foods, cupcakes are definitely a favorite dessert, so I knew I was going to sample them.  DT asked if I wanted to check any yelp reviews before my purchase, but I said, no.  I don't need to read reviews to try cupcakes...if I see it, I'll try it. In I went and I saw they had special cupcakes like Pumpkin Spice, Creme Brulee, and Peach Cobbler, and the "normal" cupcakes where you choose your cake and frosting.  I decided to get three make my own cupcakes and one special cupcake.  My three normal were carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, red velvet cake with butter cream frosting, and vanilla cake with vanilla (sugar) frosting.  For the special cupcake I chose the Birthday Cake.  I didn't really notice a description, but I clearly saw the price tag...$3.75!  I thought "This cupcake better be good."

So after doing my Wii for an hour I decided to sample the cupcakes, starting with the Birthday Cake.  I noticed that the cupcake felt really heavy...not necessarily a bad thing, but usually means that it's a bit dense. Then I took the wrapper off and saw what looked like batter in the bottom of it. Ummm...what?!?  Is this thing not cooked?  I realized that what makes Birthday Cake special is that the cupcake is filled with Cake Batter.  I didn't know how to feel about that because raw cake batter can make you sick and I don't mind licking it off the spoon, but filling a cupcake with it?  Well, the verdict is, I don't really like it.  I only ate half of the cupcake and I didn't think the batter added much to the flavor of the cake on the whole, plus it was too runny. Cake batter in a cupcake doesn't work... I don't need to be reminded about what it tastes like and it does not make me think BIRTHDAY! On my birthdays I liked a basic yellow cake with sweet sugary frosting...usually chocolate, not butter cream.  On a basic level, the cake was moist, and while the texture of the frosting was nice, the flavor was bland and not at all what I would expect for a birthday cake.

Next up was Vanilla cake with Vanilla frosting.  Again, the cake was moist, but I think it was a little rich and yet not flavorful.  I think my stomach even felt a little queasy afterwards...it probably was that damn cake batter.

Tonight I decided to try the last two flavors...Carrot cake with Cream Cheese frosting and Red Velvet with Butter cream frosting.

The carrot cake, like the others, was moist.  I think it's safe to say that Molly's doesn't produce a dry cupcake.  But the flecks of carrot were barely noticeable and didn't taste better than a box.  The frosting gave you that true cream cheese flavor, but a good frosting isn't going to make a mediocre cake better.

And finally the "It" cupcake...Red Velvet.  I'm not on the Red Velvet bandwagon, but when I'm trying a new cupcake place I get a red velvet.  Shockingly, the red velvet cupcake and the frosting were the best.  I was a little nervous, because the red was a little light -- I'm accustomed to darker.  But the hint of cocoa was there and the cake was sweet.  I think when I said the cakes were bland, I think I meant that they weren't sweet enough.  And because the red velvet was sweet (as a cupcake should be), a light butter cream was the perfect compliment.

When I try four cupcakes and only one, my least favorite kind of cupcake, gets high marks, I know that I don't need to make a special trip to Molly's. But I will gladly go back to any of the pizza places...who's treating?