Saturday, November 04, 2006

Lolita Had a Little Goat

I am always on the hunt for new little boutique food places, so in the months leading up to the opening of the Grocery Market + Cafe I was as excited as a deli addict waiting for their next fix of hard-to-find cheeses. And when that blessed day came I was most pleased. Grocery has a great little set up, with one part dedicated to serving unusual sandwiches, both cold and grilled, soups, smoothies and other impressive lunch type items. This is the side you would call the "Cafe". The "Market" section is the perfect place to grab yourself a treat, find some special bits and bobs for a dinner party or get a lovely gift for the foodie in your life. With the shelves lined from everything from cookbooks to homemade frozen cookie dough and a selection of pre-cooked dishes it's hard to walk out empty handed.

My latest purchase there was for my first contribution to the Cupcake Showdown. They have a menu of five types and I grabbed a couple that looked chocolatey and icingy and caramelly all at the same time - The Little Lolita. What I failed to do was read the full description of what the Little Lolita had tempted me with: chocolate-ancho cake, goat's milk caramel, cream cheese frosting and chile toffee peanuts. As much as the cupcake was overall very well made and the ingredients thoughtful, I just couldn't get away from the goaty taste left from the caramel. My mother felt otherwise, so perhaps it was just my immature palate sabotaging me. I may just be better suited to the Plain Jane: madagascar bourbon vanilla cake, vanilla bean frosting and vanilla dots. Whatever your choice, it certainly won't be average.

And so to the scoring:

Appearance- 9; Cakiness- 9; Icing- 3; Sweetness- 6; Freshness- 10; Overall flavor combination yumminess- 4

Total: 41

Grocery Market + Cafe, 101-105 S 13th Street, (215) 922-5252

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