Momofuku Milk Bar: New on the Upper West Side
The West Side just got a whole lot sweeter. And pork bun-ier. Last week the James Beard Award-nominated rockstar pastry chef Christina Tosi brought her singular genius to Columbus Avenue with the opening of a terrific new Momofuku Milk Bar. We’re already long time huge fans of Tosi’s super-intense sweet treats, and are more than a little excited that we now have another outlet from which to get our fix.
Like its East Village and Williamsburg counterparts, the Upper West Side Momofuku Milk Bar–it’s really a bakery, rather than a bar, but the Momofuku crew couldn’t resist the Clockwork Orange shout-out–serves Tosi’s signature creations like Crack Pie (think pecan pie, but without the pecans), Cereal Milk Soft Serve (ice cream that tastes EXACTLY like the milk left in the bottom of your cereal bowl, sweet and creamy and delicious), and Compost Cookies (contains pretzels, coffee grounds, potato chips, chocolate, AND MORE). Unlike the other Momofuku Milk Bars, the new Columbus Avenue location has a few places to sit, so you can enjoy your mid-day dessert and Stumptown coffee on site, inside, all winter long.
We went to the Christina Tosi’s new Upper West Side Momofuku Milk Bar earlier this week, and, basically, ate ourselves silly. The feast began with a couple of Momofuku Milk’s savory snacks, including the outstanding new-model Pork Bun, with deep-fried soft-poached egg on top, of course. Pork Bun 2011 is almost Bao-like, with the dough folded in fours over the generously porky interior. This was explosively delicious. Less successful was the Bagel Bomb, which is basically a cream-cheese-stuffed bagely roll and, with Barney Greengrass a block or so away on Amsterdam, is an unnecessary addition to the neighborhood.
On the other hand, Momofuku Milk’s Cake Truffles–rich little balls of buttery, doughy heaven–are an extremely vital addition to this and every neighborhood, available right now in the Birthday Cake flavor, Pistachio flavor, and, new to us and totally brilliant, Dulce de Leche, which rivals the best alfajores for packing a milk-caramel punch. The cookies come in five flavors (if you’re new to Milk, get the three-for-$5 deal with a Corn, Blueberry and Cream, and the previously mentioned Compost); the slices of pie in three (get the Crack), the temptation to stop in every afternoon: infinite, and climbing.
Momofuku Milk Bar on the Upper West Side details
The Upper West Side branch of Momofuku Milk Bar is located on the corner of 87th Street and Columbus Avenue, and is open every day from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. For more information and a look at the Momofuku Milk Bar Upper West Side menu, please see their website, here.
Posted in NYC Dining, Westside | Tagged Christina Tosi • Compost cookies • Crack pie • James Beard Award • Momofuku crack pie • momofuku milk bar • Stumptown coffee
