I met Sarah at Café Grumpy and managed to keep from talking about how the Food Network hadn’t contacted me back about my Next Food Network Star Audition Tape (link). Of course, she’s a recipe developer for them, so she really has nothing to do with casting. Of course, she may be able to pull some strings if I ever decide to apply again. Our conversation was interesting enough to garner some interest from a literary agent, so I could have my first book deal coming out of this, who knows.
We sat down, I ordered a Cappucino and Sarah had a hot chocolate (details on why in the video) and they brought us some scones. We had two, the Chocolate Chip Scone (pic) and a Rosemary, Lemon, Sea Salt Scone (pic). Sarah lit up when she tasted this. She loved the flavors together. I thought the salt inside had a sparkley mouthfeel, and while that’s not a word and it’s certainly not a word supposed to describe food, Sarah agreed.
We got the Pumpkin Blueberry Cheesecake (above) and Zucchini, Chocolate Chip, Strawberry (pic) muffins. I thought someone tripped carrying a batch of ingredients and this is what they ended up with. Turns out that I am not a very intelligent recipe writer because I loved both of them. Sarah commented on the muffin:
“I hate it when they have a crunchy crust and a soft inside,” she said.
“Isn’t that exactly what the mark of an excellent muffin is?” I inquired?
What both of us loved the most was the Mounds for Grown-Ups (above – I named it this) which is a half chocolate covered macaroon. I would just get three of these and call it a breakfast. They were the big hit. Dark chocolate and a crispy coconut together rivaling the Samoa. Yes, I said it, it is just as good as my favorite Girl Scout cookie. If you knew how much I loved Samoas, you’d understand that this is a pretty big deal for me to claim this.
But the thing that struck me the most about it was the atmosphere. They don’t allow laptops, so people are actually talking here. I spend more time in Starbucks than Starbucks’ employees (this month) so I need that option and wanted to say but couldn’t, but I think it really worked here. You get more of a community feel here than in most coffee shops I’ve seen. If I lived anywhere within a half mile of Café Grumpy, I’d want to know about it.
Our experience on film.
Guest Writer: Sarah Copeland
The IRL Arts Foundation and The Wandering Foodie thank Café Grumpy for providing this meal.
Café Grumpy
224 W 20th St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 255-5511
