Big Disappointment of the Week: Puddin' by Clio

You see a cute little store called Puddin' in the East Village and your inner child does a cartwheel. You casually walk inside to find that true to its name, this store is indeed dedicated entirely to pudding. Greatly excited, I wasted no time in ordering a chocolate pudding and a butterscotch pudding.

First red flag--no pudding skin. Lo and behold, the texture and flavor tasted like instant pudding--the arch nemesis of my pudding-loving heart. The chocolate pudding was pretentiously dark and had a kind of alcoholic taste that didn't appeal to me at all. The butterscotch was a bland rendition that made me sad; it was nothing like the buttery, caramelly flavor extravaganza of classic butterscotch pudding. The overall experience was like watching a parade with no band.

I like my pudding smooth, with a slightly gelatinous firmness to it. Most importantly, it must have a slow-cooked flavor to it. And not just slow cooked, but slow cooked with a wooden spoon. Jell-O and My-T-Fine were the pudding brands I grew up with and they are the reason why for me the very word "pudding" is synonymous with abounding joy and happiness and goodwill to all mankind. Pudding is the Nutcracker Suite of desserts to my stomach, and I'm always seeking natural homemade pudding that tastes as good as the artificially flavored puddings from childhood.

You would think that a store devoted to pudding would most likely have good, if not excellent, pudding. I mean, why else would anyone think of opening a pudding place unless they were some kind of pudding aficionado or could at least produce something a little better than what can be purchased by the goopy pound at a Korean deli? This little shop may look cute from the outside, but it does not deliver what it advertises. The proof is in the puddin' which, I'm sorry to say, is very disappointin'.

A Nice Spot for Tea

The first time I went to Bosie Tea Parlor, located on 10 Morton Street, it was a Tuesday evening, just me and my Kindle. I loved it right away because here I found a real pocket of solace in this manic city overrun by herds and herds of people. The tea list is extensive, the ambience is genteel and the service is laid-back and friendly. Tea arrives at the table perfectly steeped in a small white ceramic pot without any tea bags or leaves to worry about. I had an Orange-Pekoe tea and a madeleine and read my Kindle for a little over an hour. It was heavenly.

The second time I went to Bosie, I learned that all the pastries, cakes and macaroons are made in-house by French pastry chef Damien Herrgot, who not only boasts a fancy name, that to my ear smacks of powdered sugar, but was a former head pastry magician at some very fine French food establishments in Manhattan. So I had to ask, "Does he make the croissants, too?" Yes, said the waitress, adding that the dough is imported from Paris. Not sure how that works or who actually makes the dough but it still sounded wonderful (although not wonderful at all in terms of what an extremely large carbon footprint that leaves for every batch of croissants). But I wasn't thinking of environmental consequences at the time, all I heard was dough from Paris and so I ordered a pain chocolat and Americano. The pain chocolat was OK, although the dough was a bit dry. Maybe it was jet-lagged from the flight?

On yet another subsequent visit to Bosie, I devoured a deliciously bright lemon tart (pictured below):

This is a real winner. Let's be honest: Lemon meringue is exciting. Lemon meringue, lemon meringue, who made thee? Another great thing about lemon tarts is that they go equally well with coffee or tea.

But wait, there's more! True to its tea-time persona, Bosie Tea Parlor offers cucumber sandwiches and other tidy savory-food options as well, such as panini, quiches and salads. The quinoa salad is pretty good.

If you really want to go crazy, there's a Champagne Tea Service for two that includes one pastry, sandwiches, macaroons, scones, tea, and a glass of champagne. For the less wild and crazy, there's The Standard Tea Service which is the same minus pastry and champagne.

Bosie Tea Parlor is a better cafe than most in NYC because it is refined yet welcoming. It has also managed to achieve a bohemian, parlor atmosphere without becoming a filthy gas stop for mangy city nomads. Also, the lighting doesn't dim at night, it stays on bright enough for you to read. That's a rare find, even in the Village. The great and wonderful DOMA cafe used to be that way, but oh well, that's all history now. Nothing gold can stay.

Bottom line, there are three things I really like about Bosie Tea Parlor: the attention and know-how that's put into preparing a very good cup of tea, the character-rich menu and the contemporary parlor decor. It also makes for a very good hang zone: laptops are allowed until 6pm on weekdays and there's WiFi.

But don't go for the Wifi. Go for tea, the pastries, the tea, the croissants, the tea, the quinoa, and oh yes, the macaroons.