White Christmas lights deck the trees outside of Café Lalo, so that passers-by can’t walk down Broadway or Amsterdam at 83rd Street without becoming intrigued. Is it a typical New York restaurant scenario of “all that glitters is not gold”? Not this time. Café Lalo is just kind of perfect. The only downside to this eatery is having to decide what to order out of one hundred plus cakes, pies and tarts! Go to rejuvenate (and perhaps caffeinate) after a stressful day at work or school, celebrate a birthday, or catch up with old friends. Thanks to the décor – floor-to-ceiling French windows and fin de siècle posters – you don’t have to have any imagination to pretend that you’re in Paris.
My first time there I split a slice of German chocolate cake with my friend Carlyn. We both agreed it was the best German chocolate cake we’d ever had! The cake, which had the taste and consistency of a rich chocolate pudding, was topped with particularly gooey coconut-pecan frosting.
Tonight I tried the chocolate peanut butter mousse cake, which has four layers: chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, peanut butter mousse, and chocolate ganache. The mousses were airy yet intense. This cake is what happens when a Reese’s bar decides it wants to become a cake. Oh, and then decides to change its nationality from American to French.
Leaving the cafe and venturing into blustery February night was difficult, but made easier by my new knowledge that a little piece of Paris exists on the Upper West Side.
Leaving the cafe and venturing into blustery February night was difficult, but made easier by my new knowledge that a little piece of Paris exists on the Upper West Side.
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