NYC: Chocolate & desserts
 

I am staying at the Kimberly hotel in June at 145 E. 50th St.
Looking for some great places to go close by for desserts, especially anything chocolate!!

serendipity on 60th between 2nd and 3rd.
http://www.serendipity3.com/

I second Serendipity-- the frozen hot chocolate is delish!

There's a
La Maison du Chocolat
at Rockefeller Center

Pierre Marcolini is at
485 Park Avenue (between 58th & 59th)

Fauchon is at
442 Park Avenue (at 56th Street)

One more:
Teuscher
is also at Rockefeller Center

Buttercup Cafe on 2nd Ave & 51st Street. "Life is short eat dessert first."

If you go to Serendipity expect LONG lines.

Can you manage to get up to Payard Patisserie on Lexington, near 73rd? You'll need the walk back!

We love Serendipity. I just made our reservations (212-838-3531) for August! Plus you just never know who you might just see there!

I have always wanted to go to Serendipity! It sounds like it lives up to the hype! Thank You for the ideas!

SERINDIPITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do adults without children go to Serendipity?

I am not sure if this is close by or not.....but try the Cupcake Cafe...I have heard wonderful things about it, and even considered going to NYC for my birthday and having a cupcake from them for my birthday---they are the most adorable looking food creations!

ekscrunchy: i'm an adult and I don't have a child and i make a point to go to serendipity everytime i'm in NYC....

I was there once when I was very young and do not remember it. I always thought of it as a tourist place for people with children. The place is a ten minute walk from my house so I guess I will have to pay a visit and see what all the excitement is about!!

I have to say I have never "gotten it" about Serendipity, it is really for tourists, and it's very busy with long lines.

If you are looking for something wonderful, go to Veniero's which is a cafe with the MOST amazing pasteries. It is located on 1st Ave and 11th St. Alot of the restaurants in the city get their pasteries from there. There might also be a wait to get seated, but you can browse the LONG display of yummies, and you can also get something to take back to the hotel to indulge in later.

Is the Buttercup Cafe the same as the Cupcake Cafe? If not, would one be closer to my hotel or which is better?

Thanks!

It is not too close to your hotel, but you might want to check out the new Michel Cluziel chocolate bar at ABC Carpet and Home's main store on Broadway and 19th Street. The store itself is a wonderland of things for the home and you can do chocolate tastings at the bar. Pierre Marcolini is another good tip, on Park Avenue not far from your hotel.

If you can, make a special trip to Jaques Torres in Brooklyn. It is on Water Street about a block north of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Very easy to find.

Another vote for Payard.

Jacques Torres now has a store IN Manhattan in Soho. From his website

<font color="blue">Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven is located at 350 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. That is just 1 block South of Houston. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm. Phone us at 212/414-2462 or email to [email protected]</font>

Here's a list of 10 chocolate places in NYC. Close to your hotel is 5, 9, 10.
http://gonyc.about.com/od/shopping/t..._chocolate.htm

Another chocolate shop nearish your hotel is Teuscher at 25 east 65 st known for their champagne truffles.

Here's a list of NY Magazine's 10 best chocolate desserts.
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/restaurants/features/15728/
Only #9, Gilt's Chocolate Chili is near your hotel (VERY near).

If you like banana, I would add Davidburke &amp; Donatella's banana chocolate torte. That's a 10-15 minute walk from your hotel. The River Cafe, known for their great view of Manhattan has a dessert called the chocolate. Brooklyn Bridge.

I would be surprised if Reese can just walk into Gilt or David Burke and Dona and simply order a round of desserts..both of these are very expensive restaurants and Gilt is pretty hot right now, which might make reservations problematic.

You can certainly have just dessert in the bar area of Davidburke. Yes, I'd phone first and ask, but I know you can. Gilt, I'd guess at the right hour, you could too.

Another that occurs to me is Cafe Boulud. A bit further from your hotel, but great desserts and they're happy to oblige later at night.

The desserts at Serendipity are incredible and certainly appeal to plenty of New Yorkers ... including me. I just try to avoid it at &quot;high tourist&quot; times, like weekends in the summer, when the lines are ridiculously long.

The best dessert I've had lately was at Telepan, some sort of chocolate peanut butter thing that was amazing.

If you're willing to walk a bit I also suggest Payard. Sant Ambroeus on Madison near 78th is also very good.

Good thing I will be walking alot in NY with all these suggestions, I'm going to gain a ton of weight if I make it to alot of these!

I love the idea of a chocolate bar!
Again, thank you for all the ideas and the great lists of best chocolate places! It will be hard choosing!

Another vote for Fauchon at 56th and Park. I had a chocolate hazelnut thing that was oh-sooooooo-good the last time I was there. I also enjoyed Serendipity, but the lines were too much for me - reservations a must.

You can go to the fancy-pants restaurant Daniel for desserts in the lounge area!! Fabulous desserts.

there's also a fabulous and tiny place that only serves dessert called chickalicious, downtown in the east village. their site is http://www.chikalicious.com/
i have only been once, before i moved from NYC to LA - it got lots of buzz when it opened, and it was well deserved! it's run by a husband and wife team, and they serve a prix fixe of desserts to sample their wares. that's my kind of restaurant... and it's a very only-in-new york kind of experience.

I also vote for Payard. I don't think anyone answered the question about Buttercup vs. Cupcake - they are not the same. I, for one, am not a fan of Cupcake. Their cakes are very pretty but tasteless. You might as well eat a few sticks of butter sprinkled with flour. The cakes and pies at Buttercup are much better, plus they've got all sorts of cupcakes if that's your thing. And it's quite close to your hotel to boot - 2nd Ave @ 52nd, I think.

Also, if you make it down to Soho, try a little place called Ceci Cela. City Bakery on 18th is also quite good.

City Bakery used to b good. But over the last few years they seem to have gone downhill. They have at least 6 servers behind the large serving area/counter in the middle of the room who are mostly trained to ignore customers needing to point out their orders.

Another common complaint is how messy the place is. Since every staff is too busy ignoring customers, nobody has time to clean up after the disgustingly gross tables that customers leave behind.

DO you know of anything on the Upper West Side? Thanks!

Telepan, an incredible new restaurant, is on the Upper West Side. Every course is great, including the desserts. Go with the tasting menu with wine pairings.

Please tell me more about the Michel Cluizel bar!!!