Apple season is in full swing — and even if you don’t have time to go apple picking upstate, New York City is ripe with sweet and savory foods that feature the classic autumn fruit. From sweet treats to satiating bites, here are six spots near campus where you can take advantage of the seasonal delights the Big Apple has to offer.
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop: Apple Pie Dumplings | $7
131 First Ave.
Open until 3 a.m. on the weekends, the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop in the East Village is a late-night hotspot for hungry locals and tipsy NYU students alike. While the shop is known for its unconventional savory dumplings — think deep-fried soup dumplings stuffed with pastrami meat or chicken parmesan — the dessert fillings are where Brooklyn Dumpling Shop truly shines. The apple pie dumplings are crispy, caramelized to perfection and served with generous scoops of creamy vanilla ice cream, gooey caramel sauce, cinnamon and powdered sugar. It’s a delectable upgrade to the traditional pie a la mode. I recommend omitting the caramel, allowing the more subtle cinnamon and vanilla flavors to truly be the apple of your eye.
Magnolia Bakery: Apple Crisp Pudding Cup | $5.75
401 Bleecker St.
There are very few 4-ounce foods in the city that I would drop nearly $6 for, but for as long as Magnolia Bakery is selling its apple crisp pudding cup, I’ll be taking a sweet-treat stroll to the West Village every week. You probably know Magnolia, which originally opened on Bleecker Street nearly 30 years ago, for its banana pudding — but its apple-filled autumn special doesn’t fall too far from the tree. The apple crisp pudding features a scrumptious blend of vanilla pudding, apple pie filling, vanilla wafers and cinnamon crumb topping, all tightly packed in a comically small cup. It’s expensive, no doubt, but worth the hype as Magnolia’s first-ever non-banana pudding.
Bite: French Bite Sandwich | $11.50
Multiple locations near NYU
Apples don’t always have to be used for something sweet. Bite NYC, with locations in NoHo and near Union Square, is a casual breakfast-and-lunch cafe with Mediterranean flair, offering a range of soups, salads and sandwiches. Don’t miss the French Bite sandwich — well-balanced in flavor and texture with smoked turkey slices, soft brie cheese, crunchy green apple slices and a subtly-sweet mustard sauce. Bon apple-tit!
Mille-Feuille Bakery Cafe: Chausson aux pommes | $5.25
552 LaGuardia Pl.
Spearheaded by two French pastry chefs, this petite patisserie serves up a variety of quaint pastries, sandwiches and cakes — and its name, which translates to “one thousand pages,” gives a subtle shoutout to the nearby Bobst Library. Mille-Feuille’s chausson aux pommes features a juicy cinnamon apple mixture oozing from the edges of a flaky, golden brown pastry. Located right next to Washington Square Park, this on-the-go apple pie is the perfect fuel to grab before a midday Bobst study sesh.
Migliorelli Farm at Union Square Greenmarket: Apple Cider Donuts and Apple Cider | $5 for three donuts, $4 for one cup of apple cider
Union Square W & E 17th St.
As a first-year, I heard the tales of an airy ball of fresh dough coated in a caramelized apple crumble, warm and ready to melt on my tongue — now, I can confirm that the rumors are true: apple cider donuts will change your life. Migliorelli Farm, a family-owned farm in Dutchess County, sells the donuts at the Union Square Greenmarket. Every year, I wait for the time when I can stroll down University Place, admire Union Square’s orange and red foliage with a sugar-coated apple cider donut in one hand and a cup of fresh apple cider in the other — a quintessential fall experience for NYU students.
Contact Ashley Combs at [email protected].
