Robicelli's

Thank you, Francis Lam, for going on the record and standing up for my personal fight against the tyranny of traditional pants, and in that, my unending love of my precious  Pajama Jeans.

If you’re still one of those people who scoffs at Pajama Jeans, I’ll have you know that not only are they the best fitting, most comfortable pair of pants that I have ever owned in my entire life, but I actually did a photoshoot for a fancy ladies magazine this past week, and no one knew that I was wearing Pajama Jeans until I mentioned it at the end of the shoot. Seriously, the infomercial does not lie- I constantly get complimented on these damn things.

You know what happened next, right? EVERYONE in the studio had to come and touch my pants. People want to touch my pants, like, all the time.

If you are curvy and want your ass to look spectacular (really- these pants have the ass-magic), want to be ridiculously comfortable, and constantly have strangers petting your pants like you’re some sort of adorable dog, then you should go down to Walgreens or wherever they sell pants in a box next to the Shamwows and Oxiclean, and change your freaking life.

(Before I continue, I have to stress that I am NOT on the Pajama Jeans payroll, nor have I ever received anything from them for being their biggest cheerleader on the planet. THOUGH I CAN BE BOUGHT, PAJAMA JEANS PEOPLE!)

Anyway, after walking around in last nights one billion percent humidity and staying completely cool and comfortable from the waist down, I decided that it was time to invest in several more pairs. And that is when Matt tells me that if I buy more Pajama Jeans, he’s going to go back to wearing Hawaiian shirts all the time. Because Jerkface McGoo obviously never wants me to be happy again.

You may remember how this spitefest began last October when I first bought the pants.  And yet while I have managed to wear the Pajama Jeans only when I’m writing or on days where it was too unbearably hot for real jeans, wouldn’t you know Mr. Too-Good-For-Boxed-Pants wears basketball shorts ALL THE TIME! And guess how many times he’s played basketball since last October? ZERO, that’s how many! 

So now we’re upping the threat level to Hawaiian shirts, buddy?  Well, winter’s just around the corner, and THESE are happening:

Yeah, that’s right Matt- SWEATER PANTS. And unlike Pajama Jeans that are obviously just for moms like me that have given up on life and are 6 minutes away from having a complete collection of seasonally-themed vests, these sweater pants are high fashion! Yup, they’re made by Charlotte Ronson for Free People, and start at $200! I mean, why would I want to stick with dumb old Pajama Jeans that cling to my every curve in the best possible way, when I could be like all the cool girls online who are wearing Hammer Pants and sweaters on their legs!

So it’s your call, Matt. I’ve got $200 and my Sicilian stubborn streak all ready to go. Just say the word and it’s Hammertime.

And for the rest of you, you should also know that Pajama Jeans are the perfect pants for foodies.  Really- as much as you stuff yourself, the pants will continually contour to your expanding belly and move easily as you walk it off. And while you’re laying back, feeling the freedom of a life without oppressive pants, and eating some of these bad boys, you’ll always be able to think of me, and how devastatingly awesome I am.  You’re welcome, America.

Clockwise from front: North Fork, Kahlua Banana, Horchata, McFadden

NEW! Kahlua Banana: Chocolate Kahlua banana cake, Kahlua coffee buttercream, Kahlua chocolate sauce

North Fork: Chocolate cabernet cake, blackberry cabernet buttercream and compote

Horchata: Horchata cake, pudding and buttercream, cinnamon sugar rice krispies

McFadden: Victorian lemonade cake made with Pimm’s, lemon ginger buttercream, hand candied lemon peel

Ok yes, another Wednesday without a guest blog post. Pretty much the second I said I’d do it, then all of a sudden I had a billion things to talk about. That’s always how it goes, isn’t it. 

Today is the very last day for Vendy Award nominations, and for the first time ever there’s a brand new “Market Vendor” category! Exciting stuff, huh? Now there’s only a few hours left to get your choices in, and here’s what I’m asking:

DO NOT NOMINATE US FOR THE VENDY AWARDS.

No, this is not reverse psychology or some other nefarious ploy. I know some of you already have put our names in, and we’re appreciative- we really are - but seriously, do not nominate us. Even though DeKalb Market has the word “market” in it’s name, we’ve got four walls and appliances and electricity. It was a creative use of real estate for sure, but it’s really not a “market” as much as it is a mall. 

As a 4th generation New Yorker I’ve been eating from street carts all my life, and have been watching the Vendy’s since it’s inception. It’s a way for us to celebrate the little guy, and though we’re personally still a small business, we’ve been fortunate enough to have so much amazing press (and we’re insanely grateful for every iota it) that I don’t feel right being in the mix.  I still nominate people like the Halal Cart on 86th and 5th in Bay Ridge who makes street meat so good I think about it at least once a day, or my favorite taco lady on 60th and 4th in Sunset Park whose praises I constantly sing even though I’m 90% positive she hates me for absolutely no good reason. Maybe its because she speaks no English and that one time I tried to hug her came off less like affection and more like “batcrap crazy”.  Alright, now that I’m thinking about it maybe that is a good reason. Whatever- once you taste her hotsauces you’ll want to hug her, too.

But let’s say you disagree with my point about DeKalb, and point out the fact that no matter how homey we’ve made our shops, we’re still working out of shipping containers on Flatbush Avenue. Then I’d like you to nominate the following:

Our friends at Nile Valley Eco Juice and Salad Bar! Owners Brian and Mollica are West Indian immigrants living in Mill Basin, and two of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.  They’ve got a six year old daughter and a brand new baby, and yet they are working 7 days a week, early morning to late at night, building their business (and often with the baby strapped to one of their chests).  

I’ve been in the food business 10 years now, and I’ve met very few people who have the level of commitment to their business as they do.  Which should be evident as I’m enthusiastically raving about a restaurant that is vegan, raw, and gluten free. Seriously, I’ve been a sponsor at Meatopia for three years, I had White Castle cater my wedding, and I invented the Chicken n’Waffles cupcake for crying out loud.  But vegan or not, they make some of the best Carribean patties I’ve ever had, and they deserve a nomination based on that.

And how about throwing another nomination over to a legend?

That handsome man in the center is Cuzin Todd Jones, proprietor of Brooklyn legend Cuzin’s Duzin (mini doughnuts!).  Cuzin had his first shop at the famous Albee Square Mall, which got torn down to make room for City Point. Then City Point got stalled and DeKalb Market opened in it’s place, introducing a whole new demographic to Todd’s ridiculously delicious donuts.  And now DeKalb is getting torn down, which is making me wonder if Todd is bad luck.

Todd also has a heart bigger than the sun, and is constantly giving back to the community through fundraisers and charity events. He’s a role model as both an entrepreneur and as a human being. And his donuts are so good that I’m sure most of the people who work at Metrotech will be petitioning City Point to open Cuzin’s Duzin version 3.0 in their fancy schmancy new building, because Downtown Brooklyn really wouldn’t be as wonderful without him in it.

If you feel like you don’t know these guys well enough to nominate them, well, maybe you should make a trip to DeKalb today to check them out.  And swing by our shop while you’re at it- we’re doing 2 for $5 on cupcakes today, AND we’ve got a brand spanking new flavor! AND it’s delicious! Because, you know, why would we make anything that was less than delicious? “Buy these cupcakes- they’re perfectly adequate”. That’s just dumb!

Clockwise from front: Estelle Getty, Horchata, Kahlua Banana, North Fork

NEW! Kahlua Banana: Kahlua chocolate banana cake, Kahlua coffee buttercream, Kahlua ganache

Horchata: Horchata cake, pudding and buttercream, cinnamon sugar rice krispies

North Fork: Chocolate cabernet cake, blackberry cabernet buttercream, wine simmered blackberries

Estelle Getty: Amaretto cake, cheesecake buttercream, crushed amaretti cookies

Side Note: Happy birthday in heaven Ms. Getty! We love you!

So…..just because our apartment flooded, we have to live with my parents, we’re opened a new store and Matt was rushed to the hospital with a severe kidney infection DOES NOT MEAN WE DON’T STILL BAKE THE CUPCAKES!!!!  BOOYAH!!!!

However, this does mean an extraordinarily short blog post today. It’s one of those weeks where the universe piles as much as it can onto your shoulders just to see if it can break you, and you have to push back in hopes that if you survive you end up with a big bag of gold or your own private unicorn or something.

I’m going to try and post a few more things today if I can carve out the time, but right now I’m going to sleep.  In the event the posts I want to write don’t happen, just know that Matt and I love all of you very, very, very much.  Thank you for being there for us this week.

Clockwise from front: Key Lime Cheesecake, Bananas Foster, Liddabit, North Fork

The North Fork:  Chocolate cabernet cake, blackberry cabernet buttercream, cabernet simmered blackberries

Key Lime Cheesecake:  Graham cracker cake, key lime curd, key lime cheesecake buttercream, graham cracker crumbs and lime zest

Bananas Foster: Banana rum cake, rum-salted caramel buttercream and drizzle

Liddabit: Chocolate cake, salted caramel & nougat buttercream, peanuts, ganache, caramel drizzle

Available at:

CAFE AT SAM’S BAKERY- 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

BAGEL SCHMAGEL:  Third Avenue btwn Bay Ridge Pkway & 76th Street, Bay Ridge

THE CUPCAKE STAND: Fifth Avenue between 60th and 61st, Sunset Park

CRESPELLA CREPE & ESPRESSO BAR- 321  7th Avenue at 9th Street, Park Slope

BLUE APRON FOODS- Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope

TAZZA CAFES- Henry off Atlantic and Clark off Henry, Brooklyn Heights

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck *Whoopie Pies only*

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side 

BATTERY PLACE MARKET:  77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

I’ve gotten about a million billion questions this week, so instead of writing something quirky about time travel or something equally awesome, you’re getting some FAQs.  That’s what happens when you ask too many questions, nosypants.

“How often is the store at DeKalb open?”

Seven days a week, folks!  This is NOT the Flea or a weekend only dealie or a pop-up. We are there every single day…..except Christmas. And Thanksgiving. Probably closed for New Years, too.  And Good Friday.  But if you guys need us on Arbor Day or Cinco de Mayo, you bet your ass we WILL be open!

“What are your hours?”

Right now, Sunday from 10-7, Monday through Thursday 11-7, and Friday and Saturday from 10-10.  If we decided to change the hours we’ll let you know- we’re still figuring this out.

“Are you baking at the store?”

No- the store is a little over 140 square feet, meaning that even if we wanted to do it, there’s no way it could happen.  Our kitchen just happens to be about a 10 minute drive away, so this is what we do: we go in during the night shift, bake til the wee hours of the morning, then go home and go to bed.  Early morning, our neighbor Mike wakes up, drives to the kitchen and picks everything up, then drops it off at the store right before opening.  Andrew stock the cupcakes in the case and runs the shop, while we go back to the kitchen to bake.

“Who is this ‘Andrew’ you speak of?”

This guy:

Andrew is a good friend of ours, a father of two kids the same ages as our boys, and the holder of a Master’s degree in quantitative statistical something something I forgot.  Anyway, he’s one of the smartest (and funniest) guys we know, but he finished his degree right after the economy went to hell, so he graduated into a world with zero job prospects.  But did Andrew sit back and complain, and just idly wait until something that met his ridiculous qualifications came along? HELL NO! Andrew isn’t one to sit back and do nothing, and so he came to work for us at our old store, and was without question one of the greatest people we ever worked with.

It’s funny that when a store closes, we just look at it as a “thing”- as if it had no human impact. When we closed, like the many Bay Ridge businesses that have shuttered in the past 3 years, a lot of people lost their jobs, and Andrew was one of them.  We are so, so lucky that we were able to hire him back, because he’s been such an important part of Robicelli’s since the very beginning, and it wouldn’t feel right if anyone else was running that store.  

And remember, the more you support not only us but ALL the small businesses in your neighborhood, the more jobs you create.  That does a lot more good for the economy than just bitching about the government on Facebook all day.

“When will you and Matt be there?”

For the first month at least, we’re going to try and ensure one of us is there on the weekends while the other one stays in the kitchen and bakes.  However, we didn’t plan for the near-destruction of our apartment when we drafted up the plan for the store, so we’ll more than likely be plotting our schedules on a day to day basis until the flooding situation has been resolved.  But you will have to believe me that Andrew is just as good, if not BETTER then Matt or I, so you’ll definitely want to go down and spend lots of time with him.  

“How are you deciding on what flavors to do?”

We are making this up as we go along.  Right now we’re buying a bunch of inventory for select flavors, and making them for a few days until we run out of the correct ingredients.  We keep picking up different things during the week to work with, so even though you’ll see our usual rotation flavors there, we’ll have those flavors for more days than our wholesale shops do, and you’ll be seeing lots of off-rotation flavors as well.

We’re also going to be sending most of our new flavors to DeKalb first rather than just releasing them straight to the public so we can see how they play out.  Also, all our “wilder” flavors, like El Guapo, The Iona and Chicken n’Waffles will be at DeKalb on a semi-regular basis (in fact- the Elvis is returning for this weekend!).

“How do I know what flavors you’ll have at DeKalb every day? Will you post them here?”

I’m working on setting up a new site specifically for the DeKalb store, and by working on it, I mean putting it on my to-do list and then sleeping in front of my computer with my eyes open.  In the interim, all flavors will be posted each day on our Facebook page, so make sure you’re a fan (and remember there’s a link right below our name on this page).  

“Will you be having some sort of Grand Opening party or something?”

I promise you that we’re going to have LOTS of great events not only at our shop, but at DeKalb as a whole.  We’re going to have something pretty spectacular come next Thursday, so keep your eyes peeled…………..

“Where are the pictures of the shop?”

I haven’t had any time to upload them. You got some? Show us on Facebook. Besides- stores not done yet…….I still have to get artwork together, install the baseboards, install the back counter………..IT NEVER ENDS!!!!

“This is an FAQ, but you didn’t A my Q! Was it not F enough?”

Again, head over to Facebook and ask me.  I’m taking questions all the time over there.  And screwing around a little.  Come on, it’s ME we’re talking about.

“What are today’s flavors?”

I’m glad you asked!!!

Clockwise from front: The North Fork, S’Mores, Estelle Getty, Key Lime Cheesecake

The North Fork: Chocolate cabernet cake, blackberry cabernet buttercream, cabernet simmered blackberries

S’Mores: Chocolate cake, speculoos pudding, toasted marshmallow buttercream, ganache, graham cracker crumbs

Estelle Getty: Almond cake, cheesecake buttercream, crushed imported Amaretti cookies from Sicily

Back After Two Years in the Vault! Key Lime Cheesecake: Graham cracker cake, key lime curd, key lime cheesecake buttercream, graham cracker crumbs and lime zest

AVAILABLE AT:

ROBICELLI’S AT DEKALB MARKET: 332 Flatbush Ave Extention off Willoughby, Downtown Brooklyn

HOM- Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

BLUE APRON FOODS- Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope

BATTERY PLACE MARKET:  77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

JOE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY-  W. 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck *Whoopie Pies only*

Well it’s official………all you jerks on Twitter who have been complaining about getting sick during the summer have given me your sinus mumbo jumbo, and I want to die.  GYYYAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Fortunately, I didn’t have to bake tonight- Matt and the apprentices covered it perfectly.  So I did the only logical thing one can do when it feels like your eyeballs are about to explode out of your face and rattle around the room like a couple of ping pong balls filled with killer bees on methamphetamines- I scheduled as many meetings as I possibly could and ran around the city all day.

I finally got to pop my head into our new location downtown- Battery Place Market- and holy crap is it nice in there! (how’s that for an endorsement, huh?) Delicious Stumptown iced coffee, free wi-fi…..AND I learned that not only do they deliver breakfast lunch and dinner downtown, but they will also deliver cupcakes!  Take note of THAT next time you’re ordering lunch, Financial District!

Then in the early evening I was invited to Google headquarters to hear more about their new service Google Places.  I was really stoked about this, because we never get invited to ANYTHING fun where we don’t have to work a teensy bit, nor are we ever given appetizers or complimentary pens, which are pretty much our two favorite things ever.  However, right when I got there was when my sinuses blew up, and then during the important part of the presentation I got a phone call I really had to take, so I’m still not entirely sure what went on.  Important part, however, is I got to chill with Danny Macaroons, who’s one of our favorite people in the whole world and destined to become our BFF whether he likes it or not.  

Now that I’m home I’m popping some Mucinex and going to spend an hour or two poking around Google Places to find out what’s up.  So if for some reason when you get to work all of Google has mysteriously crashed, it’s probably because of me. Apologies in advance, Google.  But thank you for the lovely tote bag!

Time for cupcakes!  TWO flavors returning from the vault from last year- working on ways to make them year round flavors if they take off.  If you like them, let us know what you think!

Clockwise from front: Dom DeLuise, Chocolate Cheerwine, Apricot Chardonnay, The North Fork

FLAVORS:

The North Fork:  Chocolate cabernet cake, blackberry cabernet buttercream and compote, cabernet reduction

Apricot Chardonnay:  Apricot chardonnay cake & buttercream, chardonnay simmered Turkish apricot

Chocolate Cheerwine:  

Chocolate Cheerwine cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate Cheerwine ganache and Cheerwine simmered cherries

Dom DeLuise:  Pistachio cake, ricotta buttercream, roasted pistachios, candied citron, miniature chocolate chips

Available at:

CAFE AT SAM’S BAKERY- 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

NEW! BAGEL SCHMAGEL:  Third Avenue btwn Bay Ridge Pkway & 76th Street, Bay Ridge

THE CUPCAKE STAND: Fifth Avenue between 60th and 61st, Sunset Park

CRESPELLA CREPE & ESPRESSO BAR- 321  7th Avenue at 9th Street, Park Slope

TAZZA CAFES- Henry off Atlantic and Clark off Henry, Brooklyn Heights

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck *Whoopie Pies only*

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side 

BATTERY PLACE MARKET:  77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

JOE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY-  W. 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue