BEARD PAPA'S
5/18/20095 Carmine Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 255-4675
New York, NY 10014
(212) 255-4675
One day, while moseying the West Village, my stomach began rumbling as though I bore within it a great waterfall. But despite these pangs of hunger, I could think of nothing that I actually craved. I turned one corner and then the next, looking in shop windows and at menu podiums. Still, nothing. Just then, as I was about to give up and succumb to pizza, my eye spotted something. A pleasant yellow awning that stood out from the rest of the burgundies and hunter greens of the neighborhood. There across the street was Beard Papa's, the cream puff pastry baking brother of the Gorton's Fisherman. Let's have dessert, I said to myself. I figured that it couldn't hurt to give them a whirl.
Beard Papa's, at least the West Village one, is a tiny shop with no seating. This one was run by two girls who were more than happy to put up with my inability to decide which cream puffs to try, and who juggled dealing with me (along with my camera and my ipod falling all over the place) with other customers who were actually ordering things.
I eventually picked three. Chocolate, Vanilla, and Caramel (alas, they were out of the Green Tea one), and took them across the street to Father Demo Square. The benches were all taken, so I sat by the fountain. Sure, I guess that I was pretty much sitting on the street, but with the trees around me and the fountain's mist hitting the back of my neck, it was quite pleasant. I just wish I had more napkins.
So how were the "world's best cream puffs"? Well... uh, they were good. But here's the cold, cruel truth (or my opinion thereof): they pretty much all taste the same. The vanilla and caramel ones were virtually indistinguishable, save that one had been dusted with powdered sugar (see pic). Meanwhile, the chocolate one... was glazed with chocolate. It tasted somewhere between a Boston cream doughnut and an eclair. Ipso facto, if you're an eclair person, you'll love these.
Beard Papa's, at least the West Village one, is a tiny shop with no seating. This one was run by two girls who were more than happy to put up with my inability to decide which cream puffs to try, and who juggled dealing with me (along with my camera and my ipod falling all over the place) with other customers who were actually ordering things.
I eventually picked three. Chocolate, Vanilla, and Caramel (alas, they were out of the Green Tea one), and took them across the street to Father Demo Square. The benches were all taken, so I sat by the fountain. Sure, I guess that I was pretty much sitting on the street, but with the trees around me and the fountain's mist hitting the back of my neck, it was quite pleasant. I just wish I had more napkins.
So how were the "world's best cream puffs"? Well... uh, they were good. But here's the cold, cruel truth (or my opinion thereof): they pretty much all taste the same. The vanilla and caramel ones were virtually indistinguishable, save that one had been dusted with powdered sugar (see pic). Meanwhile, the chocolate one... was glazed with chocolate. It tasted somewhere between a Boston cream doughnut and an eclair. Ipso facto, if you're an eclair person, you'll love these.
The puffs run about $2 per.
PS - Don't forget to watch the Beard Papa story, a cartoon chronicling Beard Papa's journey from small, neighborhood baker to global confection kingpin. Apparently, Beard Papa started baking cream puffs in large part to quell potential riots by the town's pastry-addicted children. Plus, it would appear that Osaka is in Madagascar. Now bow down before the puff!
PS - Don't forget to watch the Beard Papa story, a cartoon chronicling Beard Papa's journey from small, neighborhood baker to global confection kingpin. Apparently, Beard Papa started baking cream puffs in large part to quell potential riots by the town's pastry-addicted children. Plus, it would appear that Osaka is in Madagascar. Now bow down before the puff!
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