When Ellie and I were in Los Angeles I
planned each day around the food we would eat that night...and this is pretty much how I plan every vacation, visit, break, weekend, whatever...I am a foodie... die hard, to the core, the type of girl that would drive 50 miles for the best, the most authentic, the most creative, the most unique gustatorial selections available...I have never denied this fact. And I believe the best way to experience another place is to eat as they do there...eat what they do there...clam chowder in New England, schnitzel in Vienna, fish and chips in Liverpool, shawarma in Beirut, street dogs in NYC...so let's put it this way, on that Left Coast trip Ellie and I completely blew off visiting the world-famous Avenue of the Stars so we could get cupcakes at Sprinkles in BevHills. So there you go. At any rate, when we were in Los Angeles we had passed a cart that was selling "churros," which are essentially Mexican crullers, long and ridged and coated with sugar...and Ellie want
ed to try them...now, I almost never deny my children the opportunity to try something new, but this specific time Ellie had just scarfed all kinds of garbage at Universal Studios...you know, popcorn and soft serve and Diet Coke...and I told her that we were in LA, no doubt Ground Zero for the best Mexican food in this country, and that we would get churros at another street corner, on another day....forgetting fully that we had about 36 hours left...and we were staying in the lily white enclave of Brentwood...not a churro in sight...oh, I could have found vegan red velvet cake, at least 17 varieties of organic egg omelets and an entire grocery department dedicated to cave-aged cheeses...but no churros. And the kid wouldn't let me forget it.
So flash forward to this weekend...the lead-in to my kids' truncated spring break...a break that I, again, have fully planned around what we would eat and when and wh
ere we would be driving to get it. Oh, I am fully aware that it is gorgeous out...and the kids could be riding bikes and playing tennis or whatever, but we have our own set of priorities over this way. So, having never forgiven myself for the churros denial in LA, I decided we would kick off this week of foodie adventure on the search for East Coast churros in New York City. First I googled and found on Chowhound that churros are most available in Jackson Heights and Washington Heights and some place up in the Bronx....and without a tour guide, I wasn't going to any of those neighborhoods...but...churros are also a hipster food here in the Big City apparently, because the most raviest of rave reviews were for the foodie mecca, artisanal doughnut bakery, DoughnutPlant on the Lower East Side. This guy, this doughnut chef guy revolutionized the art of doughnutry back in the late '90's with an old family recipe that gave birth to these delicious combinations like fresh strawberry and pistachio and vanilla bean made with all natural ingredients...and they became the standard by which all other upscale doughnuts are judged. You have all had a DonutPlant doughnut with your iced latte in the past 15 years at Dean & DeLuca or Agata & Valentina and 
Citarella and Zabar's...or maybe that's just me, but regardless...
"Can we go tomorrow?" she asked...
planned each day around the food we would eat that night...and this is pretty much how I plan every vacation, visit, break, weekend, whatever...I am a foodie... die hard, to the core, the type of girl that would drive 50 miles for the best, the most authentic, the most creative, the most unique gustatorial selections available...I have never denied this fact. And I believe the best way to experience another place is to eat as they do there...eat what they do there...clam chowder in New England, schnitzel in Vienna, fish and chips in Liverpool, shawarma in Beirut, street dogs in NYC...so let's put it this way, on that Left Coast trip Ellie and I completely blew off visiting the world-famous Avenue of the Stars so we could get cupcakes at Sprinkles in BevHills. So there you go. At any rate, when we were in Los Angeles we had passed a cart that was selling "churros," which are essentially Mexican crullers, long and ridged and coated with sugar...and Ellie want
ed to try them...now, I almost never deny my children the opportunity to try something new, but this specific time Ellie had just scarfed all kinds of garbage at Universal Studios...you know, popcorn and soft serve and Diet Coke...and I told her that we were in LA, no doubt Ground Zero for the best Mexican food in this country, and that we would get churros at another street corner, on another day....forgetting fully that we had about 36 hours left...and we were staying in the lily white enclave of Brentwood...not a churro in sight...oh, I could have found vegan red velvet cake, at least 17 varieties of organic egg omelets and an entire grocery department dedicated to cave-aged cheeses...but no churros. And the kid wouldn't let me forget it.So flash forward to this weekend...the lead-in to my kids' truncated spring break...a break that I, again, have fully planned around what we would eat and when and wh
ere we would be driving to get it. Oh, I am fully aware that it is gorgeous out...and the kids could be riding bikes and playing tennis or whatever, but we have our own set of priorities over this way. So, having never forgiven myself for the churros denial in LA, I decided we would kick off this week of foodie adventure on the search for East Coast churros in New York City. First I googled and found on Chowhound that churros are most available in Jackson Heights and Washington Heights and some place up in the Bronx....and without a tour guide, I wasn't going to any of those neighborhoods...but...churros are also a hipster food here in the Big City apparently, because the most raviest of rave reviews were for the foodie mecca, artisanal doughnut bakery, DoughnutPlant on the Lower East Side. This guy, this doughnut chef guy revolutionized the art of doughnutry back in the late '90's with an old family recipe that gave birth to these delicious combinations like fresh strawberry and pistachio and vanilla bean made with all natural ingredients...and they became the standard by which all other upscale doughnuts are judged. You have all had a DonutPlant doughnut with your iced latte in the past 15 years at Dean & DeLuca or Agata & Valentina and 
Citarella and Zabar's...or maybe that's just me, but regardless... So, I was thrilled...churros at DoughnutPlant, who knew? And a dozen doughnuts on top of that, it's a win-win...so the plan was set...I woke Ellie at 7:30 this past Sunday morning and off we went, breezing in, barely another car in sight (thanks, beloved Blue Laws...)...joggers by the river, the sun shining bright over the GWB...in less than 30 minutes I was making a left onto East Houston Street from Thompson, heading to sweet cakey heaven on the Lower East Side. Now, I have lived here all my life...for six years just a little West of this very neighborhood...and I am down this way all the time...just last week in fact, for "Holey Thirsty" at Nancy Whiskey (so fun, btw...)...but still, I blanked on where Grand Street was...stupidly. So there I was, driving down East Houston, looking at the 
cross streets: Bowery, Allen, Chrystie, Forsyth, Mott...this was where I was supposed to be...but where was Grand again??? Yet as I questioned myself I continued to go straight and...(oh...whoops...sheepish giggle...), I hear myself saying: "Oh, sorry, Ellie...but by mistake I got on the Williamsburg Bridge." And she goes: "Does it go to Virginia?" and as I am thinking: it might as well...I say, "No, Brooklyn..." And the two of us sat in silence as we digested the truth...Brooklyn's great and all...lots to offer, some of my dearest besties are from there...and I bet they had churros there...but I had no clue how to get around Brooklyn, so heading away from Manhattan into the trendster borough was not on my list of things to do that day...this week...this month... And when I saw signs for Queens and the Bronx, I knew I had to abort this mission asap once we crossed this bridge...in the meantime, I was having flashbacks to walking over the Manhattan Bridge during the Avon Walk a few months ago...the subway car rattling by with a deafening rumble... Who knew this hunt for churros would become an interborough adventure??? I prayed there would be an easy U-turn once I hit Brooklyn...an easy off to the local streets, because I had no interest in traveling the BQE...I wanted a tres leches doughnut now!!!
cross streets: Bowery, Allen, Chrystie, Forsyth, Mott...this was where I was supposed to be...but where was Grand again??? Yet as I questioned myself I continued to go straight and...(oh...whoops...sheepish giggle...), I hear myself saying: "Oh, sorry, Ellie...but by mistake I got on the Williamsburg Bridge." And she goes: "Does it go to Virginia?" and as I am thinking: it might as well...I say, "No, Brooklyn..." And the two of us sat in silence as we digested the truth...Brooklyn's great and all...lots to offer, some of my dearest besties are from there...and I bet they had churros there...but I had no clue how to get around Brooklyn, so heading away from Manhattan into the trendster borough was not on my list of things to do that day...this week...this month... And when I saw signs for Queens and the Bronx, I knew I had to abort this mission asap once we crossed this bridge...in the meantime, I was having flashbacks to walking over the Manhattan Bridge during the Avon Walk a few months ago...the subway car rattling by with a deafening rumble... Who knew this hunt for churros would become an interborough adventure??? I prayed there would be an easy U-turn once I hit Brooklyn...an easy off to the local streets, because I had no interest in traveling the BQE...I wanted a tres leches doughnut now!!! And then...we were coming off the bridge and I threw a Hail Mary out there and took some 90 degree angled turn off of the exit ramp...and right there in front of me was a sign directing me back to the Manhattan side. So it seems I am not the only person who blindly hit Brooklyn while traveling East Houston Street in search of any variety of things delicious and naughty... Phew...we were back in Manhattan in no time and still I couldn't figure on where Grand Street crossed East Houston...oh, what's that you say? Grand doesn't cross.jpg)
East Houston?! Of course it doesn't!...Grand is parallel to East Houston, so I just may have ended up in Montauk waiting for it to intersect the road in front of me...what a dumba**!! Ok, ok...so thanks to a call to Rob, I turn the car in the proper direction and drive down Grand, skirting past the Chinese merchants and their bicycles and mopeds all askew, littering the narrow streets...
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East Houston?! Of course it doesn't!...Grand is parallel to East Houston, so I just may have ended up in Montauk waiting for it to intersect the road in front of me...what a dumba**!! Ok, ok...so thanks to a call to Rob, I turn the car in the proper direction and drive down Grand, skirting past the Chinese merchants and their bicycles and mopeds all askew, littering the narrow streets...And in seconds I was pulling up next to our destination...at the end of a set of stores...all unassuming with it's sleek steel and black signage and handwritten specials on a blackboard perched out front on the sidewalk. "There it is!" I yell out to Ellie as I double parked and threw on the hazards -- yes, as I said I will do anything for a foodie adventure...even risk being hauled off by the towtrucks.... And so we enter the shop...about third on line (nice!) and I see churros listed on the menu hanging above the register...yay! But then...it became clear as I observed our fellow doughnut shoppers place their orders -- the varieties available that day are the varieties you see right in front of you...and all I saw was Valrhona chocolate, vanilla bean, creme brulee, banana pecan, coconut cream, tres leches (thank god!!) and blackout...a few others too, but definitely no churros in sight...I decide to block Ellie's view of the counter until we get up close, and I whisper to the girl behind it: "Do you have churros on the menu today?" She looked unsure, but stuck her head in the passageway to the kitchen and asked a group of Latino guys in white aprons...and then she turned back to me and said: "We only have churros during the summer."
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have no idea how scared I was to tell Ellie...I seriously thought she would throttle me right there...like: "Mom, you woke me at 7 a.m. on a v
acation day, almost lost us in Brooklyn and drove around this neighborhood for 20 extra minutes to get here...and they have no churros!?!" But she didn't...worse, she just gave me a silent grimace and shook her head, almost imperceptibly. Oops...another screw up by Mom for her to tell all her jaded teenage friends about someday. Oh well, this is the risk you take when you are on a foodie mission...sometimes they just don't have anymore of what you want...it's an important lesson to learn early, I'd say...right??? In any case...we stocked up on the sweet goodness anyway, 12 sticky, glaze-y doughnuts tied in a giant rectangle box...and I grabbed an extra vanilla bean for Ellie to eat in the car... As we exited she said: "Well if they only have churros in summer, then I suggest they take them off the menu the rest of the year..." I can't say that I disagree...
acation day, almost lost us in Brooklyn and drove around this neighborhood for 20 extra minutes to get here...and they have no churros!?!" But she didn't...worse, she just gave me a silent grimace and shook her head, almost imperceptibly. Oops...another screw up by Mom for her to tell all her jaded teenage friends about someday. Oh well, this is the risk you take when you are on a foodie mission...sometimes they just don't have anymore of what you want...it's an important lesson to learn early, I'd say...right??? In any case...we stocked up on the sweet goodness anyway, 12 sticky, glaze-y doughnuts tied in a giant rectangle box...and I grabbed an extra vanilla bean for Ellie to eat in the car... As we exited she said: "Well if they only have churros in summer, then I suggest they take them off the menu the rest of the year..." I can't say that I disagree...So we hopped into the car, thankfully remaining un-towed...and as I pulled back out to East Houston, this time heading West and away from the Williamsburg Bridge, I handed Ellie her vanilla bean do
ughnut...and it took some coaxing as she was still sulking a little about this non-starter of a churros mission (only I would sit there begging a kid to eat a doughnut, saying: "please try it, Ellie...this is an award-winning artisanal doughnut!!"...). Eventually she took it and after a few minutes she cheered back up, licking her sticky fingers and exclaiming: "This is really good, Mommy..."...which is what I wanted to hear her say all along...
ughnut...and it took some coaxing as she was still sulking a little about this non-starter of a churros mission (only I would sit there begging a kid to eat a doughnut, saying: "please try it, Ellie...this is an award-winning artisanal doughnut!!"...). Eventually she took it and after a few minutes she cheered back up, licking her sticky fingers and exclaiming: "This is really good, Mommy..."...which is what I wanted to hear her say all along...So on the ride home I profusely promised to bring her back in to any one of the restaurants serving churros that her father found through google as we were making this trip (Five Points...la Boqueria....Bar Jamon...I mean, damn!...I almost got us lost in Williamsburg trying to find a place that didn't even have churros and I could have just made a brunch reservation...!!!)
"Can we go tomorrow?" she asked...
"Oh, no, honey, sorry...tomorrow we are taking Tim to Max Brenner's for the chocolate pizza..."
I told you I had the break already planned out...
Photos:
1. Ellie and I head out on an LA foodie adventure...no churros on that trip, but the Lobster Cantonese was a winner...
2. Our first LA tacos...all upscaled and out-authentified with their grilled shrimp and mango salsa...
3. Greasy, crunchy, sweet and delectable...burros on a cheap paper plate -- food of the gods...
4. A little sticky circle of perfection, DoughnutPlant's vanilla bean deliciousness...
5. The creaky Williamsburg Bridge giving me flashbacks...
6. Mecca of cakey sweetness on the Lower East Side... We're not worthy!
7. Our actual plate of doughnuts and quartered up and shared with the boys...licking the screen for another taste of that banana pecan bit of heaven...
8. Me and Ellie...always having fun, even when I am force-feeding her sweet, fatty treats... Bad Mom!
9. Our next destination, chocolate pizza on 14th Street...the object of my perfect, darling 8 year old's food fantasies...mmmmmm....
