Balthazar Bakery - it's French

At the corner of Spring and Crosby, (which makes more and more directional sense the more we explore SoHo - where the numbers disappear and every alley has a name) is Balthazar Bakery.  On our visit, the window display was laden with baguettes that extended like arms from a bread wheel that threatened to kiss us with its face as we tried desperately to locate the door to the bakery.  It's as though only a secret password would allow admittance to the shop of sugar and sweet.  Once actually inside the bakery, we were squished into the front of a very small, but very vibrant shop where our eyes were dazzled by what Dan affectionately calls "food pornography."  Everything looked appetizing with the colors of the decorated desserts as enticing as their smell and taste.

Frightfully expensive, the desserts were arguably worth every penny.  I continued on my cupcake craze, purchasing the only cupcake available that day: chocolate cupcake base with banana cream flavored frosting.  I'm not one to mix any sort of fruit flavoring with desserts, but the banana flavoring only enhanced the cream frosting.  And this was, in fact, cream frosting - not the hollow sugar-base that most cupcakeries use to distract you from the fact that your cupcake's cake is, indeed, stale.

Dan stole the show, though, by drifting from the cupcake tendency over to what the French call "noisettes."  I had to defer to Dan for the pronunciation of that word and I still don't think I got it right.  It was a cream filled pastry with a pie crust base and topped with mixed fruit.   I was, once again, put to shame for turning up my nose at fruit and dessert mixed together.  I will never doubt the combination again.

Balthazar also serves brunch and meals that take you through till dinner, but with the prices as high as they are, I would wait for mom and dad to come into town and take you out.  ;)