Cupcakes

Who does not like cupcakes? they are cute and yummy! The best cupcakes we've had unfortunately is not in Chicago, it's from Magnolia bakery in New York (made famous by the Sex & the City show) http://www.magnoliacupcakes.com/. It was so moist and just melts in your mouth. We stopped there to eat as part of the Sex & the city tour we took in NY few years ago. Since then, we have been searching for something that would come close to it here in Chicago. I did find the recipe for Magnolia's cupcake and I made it myself and with a few tweaks to the recipe I came pretty close.







The best cupcakes for us in Chicago is Sweet Mandy B's in 1208 W. Webster Ave in Lincoln Park. Our favorites cupcakes are Red Velvet, Vanilla with Chocolate frosting and Banana Chocolate Chip. The price of each cupcake is about $2 and it's a decent size. Kits also likes it there because they serve Intelligentsia coffee and other goodies like cookies, pudding and cakes. The place looks like a real old fashioned bake shop and the yellow walls are cute. The place is open late so we sometimes stop by after having dinner in the city and take some cupcakes home.
Our Rating: 3







Other places we have tried:


Molly's on 2536 N. Clark St, Chicago

Cost $3 each


The cupcakes were more expensive than Sweet Mandy B's and we've only been there once and have not been back since. We thought it was too sweet. The only cool thing about this place is that you can customize your cupcakes so it's really cool for the kids. The place is kinda cool too with the swing like chairs.

Our Rating: 2

Sugar Monkey Cupcakes on 28 W. Chicago Ave., Naperville

Cost $3 each


The outside looks really cute with it's pink and brown walls and awnings. The cupcakes were all cute and the flavors they offer were pretty unique but we were disappointed on the cupcake itself. It was not moist at all, not even close to the ones I make myself at home. While we were there we saw some orders for Giant cupcakes which serves 4-6 for $18 and they looked really cute, something different instead of getting a birthday cake.

Our Rating: 2

Anna Shea Chocolates at the Arboretum in South Barrington

Cost $2.50 each



This place is expensive to begin with but I LOVE their hot chocolate and they always have free samples. I was so excited when I received their email that they now serve cupcakes. The flavors listed sounded so good like the Smores and the chocolate hazelnut cupcakes. Well...to my disappointment, they were $2.50/ea and it was tiny. I told them it's not a cupcake, it's a mini cupcake!!! they wrap it in a tiny white box with a sticker on it. Well that's what you are paying for. The mini-cupcakes were cute and all but again not moist like Magnolia or Sweet Mandy B.

The cupcakes were also not made at Anna Shea, they said they order it from Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago.

Our Rating: 1







Claim Jumper

Cost $2.95 each


They only serve Red Velvet and Chocolate cupcakes and both are really good. The Red Velvet is topped with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting and Bittersweet Chocolate Shards and chocolate sauce. The Chocolate cupcake is topped with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting and Bittersweet Chocolate Shards. We highly recommend the cupcakes for dessert at Claim Jumper instead of the humongous slice of chocolate cake.

Our Rating: 3

Kits and Yvette’s Rating:

3 - Highly recommend, we will definitely go back

2 - Just alright, we’re willing to give it another try

1 - Skip It, we won’t be going back

Feel free to send us your recommendations.

Sunda

Place: SUNDA 110 W. Illinois St., Chicago, IL
http://www.sundachicago.com/#/welcome/
Date: Saturday April 11, 2009
Reservation: 6 p.m.
Occasion: 7th Yr Anniversary
Number of People: 2

This is hopefully the first of many blogs to come. We have always wanted to post reviews of places we’ve been to but never had the time. Kits and I like to try new places as long as they are affordable so let us know if you have any places that you highly recommend. We are not picky as long as the food and service is good and the place has no health & sanitation citations :)
We first read about Sunda on the Red Eye so we decided to check it out. The first thing that caught our attention on the article was the fact that they serve Crispy Pata (what???). We were very curious to try it but since we are having it for dinner at my parent’s house tonight we did not feel like paying $22 for it. We will try it next time for sure. Don’t let some of the dishes on the menu make you think that this is some Filipino Fusion place like Cebu’ because it’s not. This is the latest hot spot by Rockit Ranch Productions (Billy Dec, Arturo Gomez and Brad Young) of The Underground and Rockit Bar & Grill.
The food and service was great and the place has a lounge atmosphere to it. Kits loved the fact that they play ambient music. Calling for reservation is highly recommended for the main dining area although they have a Sushi Bar & Cocktail lounge for walk-ins that also serves a full menu. Since our reservation was early, there was a good mix of people coming in. Some were dressed up and some were very casual. As the Lounge area got filled up we started to see more dressy people show up and while waiting for our car more luxury cars are arriving at the place. I could see how some people might see this as a snobby place but it was not. The Executive Chef Rodelio Aglibot (formerly of L.A.’s KOI) and the General Manager Aeron Lancero walked around and talked to us and other customers and the staff was very knowledgeable about the dishes and its Asian background
We ordered the following and the total bill was $68 not bad for all of these and we were full . The servings were pretty decent if you don’t have a big appetite and sharing was encouraged. This place is still more affordable than Japoinais.
Cocktail: Go Go berry (fresh muddled strawberries, with three olives, mango, st. germain, triple sec, and mango juice) Loved it!
Appetizer: Loompya (cigar-width Filipino-style egg rolls stuffed with pork, shrimp and smoked bacon) Very good! Crispy and not greasy. Salad: Roasted Duck Hash salad (glazed duck, daikon cake,frisee, crispy egg, unagi glaze) this was the best one we ordered, I normally don’t like duck because of the after taste but this was so good. The daikon cake kinda made us wonder what it was for awhile. We had to ask our server what was the other ingredient in the salad because we could not figure out if it was mashed potato or duck fat.
Entrée: Charsiu bbq pork (honey, miso ,palm sugar glaze) and a side of Garlic rice. Yummy! This ain’t no 554 for you Chinatown regulars J The BBQ pork tasted really good but I thought It was on the dry side but Kits liked it. The garlic rice was good and not too garlicky.
Dessert: Deep fried banana cream pie (banana cream pie deep fried covered with toasted coconut) served with raspberry sauce and lemongrass cream sauce. Yummy! Not too sweet.

Kits and Yvette’s Rating: 3
3 - Highly recommend, we will definitely go back
2 - Just alright, we’re willing to give it another try
1 - Skip It, we won’t be going back