Best Apple Dishes In NY: Sweet And Savory
By Jessica Allen
New York boasts some 10 million apple trees, making it the most apple-growing state in the whole US! Sample everything these trees have to offer at the spots listed below, from ice cream to drinks to tarts. The state's apples are great year-round, no doubt, but they really shine in the fall.
Autumn in New York
Ample Hills
623 Vanderbilt Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(347) 240-3926
www.amplehills.com
Just the name is enough to make us swoon: Autumn in New York. It conjures golden light, colored leaves that crinkle when you walk through them, the start of sweater weather. At Ample Hills, it's also an apple cider sorbet, loaded with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and amaretto liqueur. Truly embrace the season by purchasing the Fall 4-Pack, which includes Nonna D's Oatmeal Lace, No Sleep Till Pumpkin, and Vanilla Bean, along with Autumn in New York. Everything from mix-ins to the ice cream base is made on site at the Gowanus emporium.
Feelin' Myself
Butter & Scotch
818 Franklin Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11225
(347) 350-8899
www.butterandscotch.com
Are we cheating a little on this one? Maybe . . . Feelin' Myself is a sophisticated take on an appletini. In this case, the drink includes ginger liqueur, scotch, vermouth, and whiskeyjack (itself a delicious blend of bourbon whiskey, apple cider, apple brandy, and caramelized sugar). Butter & Scotch is a bakery and bar in Crown Heights, one of those "why didn't I think of it" spots, where you can order things like birthday cake and milkshakes and booze. Note that a dollar from every drink sold gets donated to Planned Parenthood, automatically, every day.
Fresh Apples Tart
Once Upon A Tart
135 Sullivan St.
New York, NY 10012
(212) 387-8869
onceuponatart.com
Oh, the tart. From this small pastry shell comes a huge range of possibilities and flavors, and Soho's Once Upon a Tart seeks to showcase them all. The Fresh Apples Tart starts with fresh apples (no surprises there), which get encased in Gruyère, thyme, and honey. The result is like taking a warm, homey bite of October. Complete the apple effect by ordering the Apple Almond Tart for dessert, or you can switch things up with a Pumpkin Crumble or Gingered Plum Tart. Either way, you should definitely spring for a scoop of ice cream too.
Rooster Chopped Salad
Red Rooster Harlem
310 Lenox Ave.
New York, NY 10027
(212) 792-9001
www.redroosterharlem.com
Adding apples to salads is, in our humble view, an invention on par with mixing peanut butter and jelly. The crunch of the apples balances the slipperiness of the lettuce, the sweetness of the fruit tempered by the salt and oil of the vinaigrette. We could go on, but we'll let the Rooster Chopped Salad at Red Rooster speak for itself. At Marcus Samuelsson's temple to Southern comfort food in Harlem, apples get friendly with Swiss chard, ricotta salata, spiced walnuts, frisee, and roasted pears. Make it a meal by adding fried or grilled chicken or shrimp.
Salted Caramel Apple Pie
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
439 Third Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 499-2917
www.birdsblack.com
The sisters behind Four and Twenty Blackbirds, a pie shop in Brooklyn, grew up on a farm in Hecla, South Dakota, watching their grandma bake for the family restaurant nearby. These days Melissa and Emily Elsen bake every pie from scratch, including a scrumptious salted caramel apple. Two types of apples get sliced, diced and tossed in a combination of Angostura bitters, pepper, nutmeg, sugar and other good things. This heavenly mixture then gets lusciously topped with the aforementioned salted caramel and baked in an all-butter crust.
