We’re sympathetic to those who have not been here for a proper British Tea. We had the pleasure of experiencing a traditional British comfort food restaurant, appropriately named Tea and Sympathy. There are basically two types: “low” tea and “high” tea.
Scone with Raspberry jam and clotted cream
Anna Maria Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and a dear friend of Queen Victoria, can be accredited with introducing the concept of “afternoon” or “low” tea to upper-class households. Her butler at her request, to bring only tea, bread, butter, perhaps even a few scones to her chambers around 5 pm, the time of day when we all feel slightly peckish, but not ready for a full meal. Eventually, the Duchess, enjoyed this on a daily basis, to the point where she invited her friends, essentially creating a new social ritual.
High Tea, the origins of afternoon tea show clearly it was the preserve of the rich in the 19th century. For workers in the newly industrialized Britain, tea time had to wait until after work. By that hour, tea was generally served with heartier dishes, such as meat, fish, egg dishes, substantially more than just tea and cakes. Workers needed sustenance after a hard day of labor, this meal is more often hot and filling, accompanied by a pot of good, strong tea to revive them from a day’s work.
We had the sheer pleasure of pairing our delights with the UK’s choice for sparkling wine from Chapel Downexclusive only to Tea and Sympathy here in New York.
After years of being served at Buckingham Palace (including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding), Chapel Down was introduced to NYC with a partnership with the quintessential British restaurant Tea & Sympathy in Greenwich Village.
Tea & Sympathy has been serving traditional British comfort food to the West Village since 1990. Their traditional menu offers classic British favorites including Afternoon Tea, Bangers and Mash, and even the beloved Shepherd’s Pie. Now customers can pair the experience with a bottle of either Chapel Down’s rose or Bacchus-based Brut sparkling wine.
Chapel Down Rose Sparkling WineScrumptious Fish and Chips from A Salt and Battery
Tea & Sympathy opened its doors in 1990 and has been a staple for Brits living in the US and us American’s who truly love all the UK’s favorite foods. Next door you can find A Salt & Battery one of the best fish and chips shops in all of NYC!
Tea & Sympathy Store
Afternoon Tea
High Tea
In this episode, Sam enjoys a superb British Afternoon Tea. This meal came on a two-tier platter with tea sandwiches including egg salad, chicken salad, and tuna salad sandwiches.
These sandwiches were delicious, comforting, and light.
Sandwiches the British way
This lunch also included various cakes and baked goods like the sticky toffee pudding cupcake and scones with clotted cream. We also had the pleasure of trying Tea and Sympathy’s signature black tea. It was delicious!
Gluten-Free Lunch with Tea
Marley tried the Absolutely Fabulous Salad, one of the gluten-free lunch options at Tea and Sympathy This mixed green salad is complete with chicken, avocado, a hard-boiled egg, bacon, tomatoes, and a delicious vinaigrette dressing.
GF Salad with Chicken, Egg, and Bacon
Tea and Sympathy are currently searching for a new place to purchase gluten-free bread from. They’re hoping to offer a gluten-free Afternoon Tea option soon!
Visiting Tea and Sympathy felt like visiting London. It’s an experience you don’t want to miss. When you visit, be sure to check out the adorable shop next door that sells British treats, teapots, and more.
Sunday dinner Roast Beef and Yorkshire PuddingTea & Sympathy famous car
For the last episode of Downtown Highlights, click here.
If you’ve ever visited an outpost of the chocolate wonderland that is Max Brenner, you’ll recognize Oded. He leant part of his name and his image to the venture, which he started as a small chocolate shop in Israel and eventually sold to a company that turned it into a global chain. But Oded has been out of the game for a while, as contentions litigation with his former company required him to disassociate himself from chocolate for five years.
Brenner, who resides outside the city with his two young kids, continued to fuel his passion for chocolate in that time by writing, traveling, and researching. The result is Blue Stripes Cacao Shop, an inviting cafe on 13th Street, just off University Place, minutes away from the original US location of Max Brenner.
I sat down with Oded in his bustling shop filled with students and families to talk about how his new project came to be, his history in the field, and what he sees as the future for cacao, plus to taste some cacao and hot chocolate.
Downtown: How did you pick Union Square?
Oded Brenner: It’s not that I looked for a place necessarily near Max Brenner. There were a few things I wanted. I really wanted a place that looks like this, meaning that has the industrial look, the bricks the high ceilings, all this; however, I didn’t want to be in a very remote place like Red Hook or somewhere else that would be too quiet for what I’m doing. I wanted traffic. I also wanted a side street. I didn’t want to be like in the heart of Union Square, and this place was exactly everything. It is a side street, it has traffic, I wanted a side street in a very happening area. There’s a lot of traffic the students, etcetera, but with this location, to find this look here in the area, it’s close to impossible.
Downtown: So you did a lot of research in Jamaica?
OB: Not only in Jamaica, but what I did was, there was a guy that invited me actually to see coffee in the Blue Mountains, and then when I was with him for a few days, he told me that in the past they were growing cacao in the Blue Mountains but they were not really successful with it and that it was not an amazing crop for them. When I was there he started to show me a lot of local traditions. One is sold in the market, it’s basically beans that they grind by hand and then you take it and grate it and make the purest hot chocolate.
Downtown: Do you do that here?
OB: Yes of course, it’s what we call the wild chocolate. We do it in a more New York cafe style. We have this unique grinder that I did for this and you just grind the chocolate on the spot.
Downtown: Is that where you started working with the cacao pulp, too?
OB: We saw the plantations and fruits, and he opened a cacao pod, and I said, “wow, it tastes so good.” It was just an inspiration for a whole world which is the pod and the flower and what we do with them.
Downtown: What normally happens to the pulp?
OB: Normally, they use the pulp to ferment the beans, so they do nothing with it. They ferment it for somewhere between 24 and 72 hours so most of it dries and they just wash it off. We now take it instead of it being used for fermentation.
Downtown: Do you think this could exist outside of New York or back in Israel?
OB: Yeah, no doubt, because it’s not a niche, it’s a very real thing. When people start to discover the cacao from the pod to the way we grind it, they understand that it’s an amazing product, it’s delicious, it’s healthy.
Downtown: Do you think you’re going to start a trend?
OB: I would be very surprised if not. If you look at the hours of the day, we kind of open and show all kinds of ways you can use cacao. You come to a store like this, it’s not a chocolate store. You come in the morning, you can have cacao fruit bowls in different flavors, you can have energy shakes and all these things. Then you can come for lunch and in the afternoon it’s dessert, in the winter it’s hot chocolate, summer it can be indulgent drinks like the milkshake or this healthy stuff. It really kind of opens the essence or meaning of what a cacao shop is. I don’t think anyone tastes cacao and says, “no, I don’t like it.” So, when you see a product that has this health benefit but on the other hand tastes so good, I would be surprised if it didn’t turn into like a very important thing.
Downtown: Do you think that you’re making “Instagram dishes”?
OB: Not really. First, we were doing it before Instagram was known. I obviously see the trends, I recognize it in this, but I’m not thinking of dishes and thinking let’s do something that’s crazy. I also don’t believe in it, that it’s sustainable. I don’t believe that it will stay for long. We’re trying to create an everyday consumption. We’re trying to create something that people will love and want will.
Downtown: Is your goal to open more cacao shops?
OB: Yeah, of course the idea is to open more stores like this. I’m a businessman so I want to make more of those and turn it into a substantial business, but I also really, really believe that it’s a fantastic concept. It’s aligned with where the world is going today. I love the direction of people eating more healthy, vegan, less meat, and this story is exactly there and bringing something that is fun, innovative, and new, exploring the other layers of the cacao fruit and the tree, it’s fantastic, and I would be disappointed if people don’t like it.
Downtown: So you got into all of this through a government class after you finished your military service?
OB: I didn’t have this attraction to make pastries or become a chef in any way. In Israel, there is this program where you go, you take these courses. and you get kind of allowance or something from the government. I wanted to write stories, literature, so for me it was a good arrangement where I could go to the classes, be there for a few hours, get this allowance, and go home and write. You know, life has its own plans. I picked pastry. I looked at the other courses, and it seemed to me like the easiest. I did it, and you know life is taking you to a path, which was traveling in Europe. I did the course, and then I came to like this way of life, so I started to travel in Europe, in Paris, in Germany, in Austria, and I came back to Israel and started a little small chocolate store. As a storyteller, I didn’t write but chocolate was for me a tool to express myself and kind of tell my life story and I didn’t know how far it was going to go, meaning that in the beginning there was chapter one which was Max Brenner and then the litigation and now me writing the stories for my daughter and now this, so it became a real story.
Trip.com is an innovative planning tool that tailors recommendations for places to stay, eat and play to your specific tastes. It also allows you to share your great experiences with people who have the same interests as you; people in your “tribes.”
Trip.com’s TripPicks This Week feature empowers you to discover and take advantage of great events, openings and exhibits throughout the city each week.
Here are some exciting events and sites to check out this week in Downtown New York, courtesy of Trip.com. Visit the Trip.com site or download the app for more upcoming events.
Thursday, Jan. 19 – Sunday, Jan. 22 (check site for times)
Sometimes coloring outside the lines makes for great — and some would argue pure — art. The Outsider Art Fair brings together artists from across the world who share one defining quality: the guts to march to the beat of their own drum. Tickets start at $20.
Nose, sip and savor six different scotches at six different downtown bars during NYC Scotch Walk. Whether you like yours neat, on the rocks, or with a splash of water, you’ll meet plenty of fellow scotch enthusiasts to share a drink with. $55.
We all indulge in a little binge watching, but is the entertainment industry’s fantasy world the source of our societal problems? The answer may surprise you. Think Olio presents, “Inside the Entertainment-Industrial Complex: How Guilty Pleasures Take the Edge Off Reality” with J. Ward Regan. You may want to cancel your Netflix subscription…$20.00, with complimentary drinks.
Last Vegas may be sin city but the original sinner is New York. Join New York Local Tours as they take us through the streets of New York on a History of Vice and Murder Walking Tour. Explore the seedy past of Lower Manhattan and the legendary gangsters, “crooked cops” and “corrupt politicians” that shaped the city’s history and identity. Tickets are $25.
Trillfit’s annual Brunch-n- Burn event is a wellness party where participants sweat it out in two Trillfit classes (a“Beyonce-worthy” cardio dance class followed by a yoga class with a live hip-hop and R&B soundtrack by DJ Nick Bishop) then enjoy a complimentary spa treatment and close out with fancy brunch bites. Don’t forget the gift bag on your way out! $50
Ladurée Soho (SoHo) – Wednesday, Jan. 18 from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Check site for participating stores: Saturday, Jan. 21 – Sunday, Feb. 5
The Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival KickOff Cocktail party ($35) this Wednesday will preview “all of the festival’s inventive hot chocolates, along with savory bites.” After that, stop by FIKA NYC, Lafayette Grand Cafe & Bakery, La Maison du Chocolat, Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery, BAKED, Almondine, Sugar and Plumm, Dominique Ansel Kitchen, Epicerie Boulud, The St. Regis New York and Patisserie Chanson to try out unique hot chocolate concoctions and help raise funds for Valrhona Clean Water Project.
Established in New York City in 1987, L.A. Burdick Chocolate was largely-inspired by travel to France and Switzerland by founder Larry Burdick. He and wife Paula — a graduate of the Fashion Institute Of Technology — co-founded the company, as known for both its pure chocolate and its hand-made delicacies. Beyond its online and mail-order offerings, L.A. Burdick now has stores in New York, Boston, nearby Cambridge, and Walpole, New Hampshire; its New York operations are now run out of SoHo on 156 Prince Street.
Beyond the quality of its ingredients, one of Burdick’s trademarks is its seasonal and limited-edition items. Not only does L.A. Burdick have specialty chocolates available for Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, but such is also made special for St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the birthday of Robert Burns each year. More about this was uncovered via Q&A with Michael Klug, Burdick’s Head Chocolatier, and Cathy Watson, the brand’s Chief Operating Officer.
How does your new store in SoHo compare to other L.A. Burdick locations?
Cathy Watson: The new location is set up with the same structure as our other locations. It is a bit more compact as it is the smallest square foot store, but it gives us the opportunity to focus on the chocolates. After all, that is who we are.
Michael Klug: All of our store locations have the same flair of old-world Europe, with warm wooden tones on our displays and a welcoming feeling that I would best describe as “ cozy comfort.” However, our Boston location is our largest store with a very generous display of chocolate products and extensive seating capacity. Our Cambridge location is a favorite institution among college students around Harvard Square. The seating and display is more limited.
The SoHo location is our smallest store location, but reflects the same style as all our other stores. Walpole, where we are headquartered, is similar in size than our Cambridge store, with a little larger display option for products. We also have in Walpole our largest loose bonbon display. The café in Walpole shares its store with a local restaurant/bistro that is similar in furnishing style, but does not belong to our company.
To you, what makes L.A. Burdick different from other chocolatiers?
CW: Integrity. Love. Passion. All the ingredients necessary to stay true to who we are and the commitment to continue to give the customers the freshest, highest-quality product consistently for 30 years.
MK: This is a very wide question, and all other chocolatiers are so different from each other in the first place. We stand out by having an extremely strict commitment to freshness; we give our fresh bonbon assortments a shelf life of two weeks. We don’t use any preservatives, artificial ingredients, food colorings or molds. All of our chocolates are very detailed, garnished, are truly handmade and we use only highest-quality ingredients. Our signature chocolate mouse is present in each bonbon assortment and gives our exquisite elegant look a unique charming touch, that separates us easy from all other chocolatiers.
In addition, we focus on the chocolate flavors in our creations and have them being paired with their individual seasonings but not dominated. You will always be able to taste the finesse of the chocolate that is used in our Fig, Raspberry and Ginger bonbons, for example. At last, our hot drinking chocolate stands out as one of the most decadent, rich, complex hot beverages that can be found.
Where are your chocolates sourced from? Or is that a secret?
MK: We source our chocolate from Central and South America, the Caribbean Islands and Madagascar. We only source chocolate that meets our highest criteria, where we want to taste the quality of the cocoa upfront and not the sugar profile that is added to the cocoa. This is a wide problem with mediocre chocolate, that even in a high cocoa percentage chocolate the sugar flavor can be upfront the cocoa flavor. It is due, in these cases .to the large particle size of the sugar crystals.
Do you have a favorite product from L.A. Burdick?
CW: That is difficult, I don’t believe I do. I have many favorites, and depending on how I am feeling will depend on what I may choose.
MK: I personally love the single-source chocolate bars and our chocolate assortment boxes the most. The variety of different creations in the boxes offer me a quick satisfaction for every type of chocolate mood I am currently in.
Are there any holiday-specific products being offered by L.A. Burdick?
CW: Yes, we make handmade chocolate snowmen. They come in a wood box of nine, tied with ice blue French-wired ribbon and handstamped with a silver wax seal.
MK: We have for every holiday a large selection of chocolates. Right now we offer chocolate snowmen, German Christmas Stollen, tuxedo penguins for New Year’s, Hanukkah decorated wood boxes for chocolate assortments and chocolate mice assortments. January, we celebrate Robert Burns’ birthday with a wonderful single scotch whisky assortment. We have a special Asian-inspired chocolate assortment for Lunar New Year. Valentine’s-themed chocolate boxes, which included handcut chocolate heart bonbons. Easter chocolates in a very large variety…Mother’s Day features our chocolate bees and a 10-flavored fruity, floral spring bonbon assortment. Hand-dipped chocolate Elephants from April to August to support the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Halloween-based chocolates with chocolate ghosts, bats and chocolate assortments presented in a coffin box. Thanksgiving, we do handmade chocolate turkeys.
How do the current offerings of L.A. Burdick compare to what the store sold decades ago?
CW: The offerings are still to this day made the same way, and we have many of the same offerings, chocolate mice included. Michael has created other bonbons over the years to add to the collection, as well as creating specialty assortments for holidays…Other whimsicals have been added throughout the years. Snowmen, bunnies, ghosts…
MK: We always create new chocolate bonbons and products, but our style of how they are made and what characteristics dominate them is unchanged. We always look for very thin-shelled handmade chocolate products but our variety is more than doubled of what we did 20 years ago. Some products are still the same, like our classic mice and some of our bonbon like the Baton Framboise, Brazilia and Richelieu. But the variety offers so many options that were still not available back then like, turkeys, snowmen, special seasonal assortments, pate de fruit plain and chocolate covered and many many more.
New store aside, what is coming up for L.A. Burdick?
CW: We will continue to grow the company by putting in new stores in strategic locations, also continue to grow our mail-order business. In this business, when you talk about what is coming up, it’s really about continuing to source and making sure you are always getting the best ingredients. From the use of local farms for our cream and butter, to knowing where the beans come from that create the couverture used for our bonbons. There are so many companies that begin taking shortcuts to show a better profit, and we have to continually be certain that the products and ingredients that we purchase are always the best and will not allow ourselves to purchase anything but. This would mean, changing vendors if the vendor cuts corners.
MK: We will be expanding our retail program to Chicago this coming year, celebrating our 30th anniversary with the presentation of some special bonbons and drinks. Probably adding some more single-source options if we find cocoa sources that meet our standards.
Have you always been passionate about chocolate? Where did you work before L.A. Burdick?
CW: I have always had a sweet tooth — it is my downfall — and I have always loved business. So for me, this was a match made in heaven. I was in the restaurant business for many years before coming to Burdick’s. In fact, I bought a restaurant when I turned 21 instead of going to school. I taught myself how to be successful with a lot of hard work early on.
MK: I was passionate about food since my teens and so fascinated with it that in my early 20s gave up law school in Germany and did a formal education in the German cooking apprentice program. I was fortunate to learn 3 years in two-star Michelin restaurant in Cologne. From there I worked as a cook and pastry assistant under Eckart Witzigmann in Munich — if you Google him that will easy tell how special that experience was for me — and then was the pastry chef for Dieter Mueller’s restaurant in Bergisch Gladbach, which also achieved 3-star Michelin.
I moved to New York in 1993 and was pastry chef of Lespinasse under Gray Kunz and pastry Chef of Chanterelle under David Waltuck in 1997. After working for two years at The Mark Hotel in New York, I became Head Chocolatier at L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates in 2002. So my passion for food and chocolate goes hand in hand, but my base from savory food in my early years in the gastronomic world I consider my strongest asset as a Chocolatier. I always see our product as a delicacy and food product, and not as candy .
When not busy with work, how do you like to spend your free time?
CW: Hmm…This can sometimes be a problem because I am tied so closely with my position. But I love to travel, go antiquing, and just sit and look out at the ocean. Something low-key and calming.
MK: I always like to travel and taste the food of the world. Sadly that doesn’t happen too often, but cooking at home, enjoying fantastic wines especially reds from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Piedmont and whites from Germany, Loire, Alsace and Austria. I also enjoy fly fishing and classical music. But most of my time is occupied with my family life — my wife Ann-Michele and son Valentin.
Any upcoming concerts or events for you?
CW: Personally? Unfortunately this time of year comes with no plans except a huge family gathering at my house Christmas Eve. I have had it for the past 15 years ever since my dad passed. I don’t have any concerts or events scheduled, I begin thinking of those things in the spring.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in New York?
CW: I personally don’t. When I am there, it is all business and I step out to grab a bite. But I love it when I go with Michael, because he is such a foodie that he always has a great place to go.
MK: I have to say since living in Walpole, New Hampshire since 2002, my exposure to the New York restaurant scene is limited. But I do love my dear friend Anita Lo’s Annisa very much. Also for casual great Germanic/Austrian fare, Erwin Schroettner’s Café Katja, the only place were you get great white asparagus when in season.
Finally, any last words for the kids?
CW: Children that are introduced to our chocolate at a young age learn about “real” chocolate. I know a few that have grown to become chocolate snobs and will not eat any other chocolate. It gives them a taste of a high quality product. They love the mice, penguins and snowmen!
MK: Good chocolate is not about cocoa percentage, only about great cocoa.
This holiday season, Ocean Prime New York wants everyone to get into the spirit with a delicious cup of warm hot cocoa as the most famous holiday tree in America turns on its lights. On Thursday, Nov. 30, in honor of the lighting of the 84th Annual Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree — just mere blocks from Ocean Prime New York — the restaurant will be hosting a complimentary Hot Chocolate Station for one night only.
All who stop by are invited to pour themselves a delicious cup of gourmet hot cocoa to go and customize their cup with treats like Mini Marshmallows, Peppermint Sticks, Cinnamon Sticks, Whipped Cream, Cayenne, Cocoa Powder and Powdered Sugar. The Hot Chocolate Station will be available starting from 3:00 PM and will end at 10:00 PM.
Just in time for the holidays, Everlane opened its latest concept shop, Cashmere Cabin, on Nov. 11. Open through Dec. 23, the cozy cabin aims to have something for everyone on your shopping list, including men’s and women’s Grade-A cashmere sweaters, Australian merino wool coats, and new — stocking stuffer sized — leather goods.
The one-stop shop will have custom gift-wrapping, hot chocolate for customers to warm up, a limited-edition Pintrill gift with purchase, and treats from Everlane’s favorite neighborhood spots, to name a few of the reasons why to visit it at 392 Bleecker Street. There will also be a special two-day event on Dec. 10 and 11 in which guests learn more about monogramming, calligraphy and customizing gift tags.
Cashmere Cabin will be open from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM from Monday through Saturday and between 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM on Sundays. Additional information can be found on the Everlane website.
