Food & Drink in Bound Brook

Cutie Pies NYC is a one-woman show. “I do just about everything except churn the butter right now,” says Alice Cronin, the baker behind the Brooklyn-based confectionery. Cronin has been familiar with the ways of the oven since age 5, when she mastered her grandmother’s chocolate-chip cookie recipe. Since then, however, she’s moved on to more sophisticated desserts, having honed her skills while maintaining the cookbook section of a Montclair, New Jersey, bookstore. Working to a soundtrack of Cibo Matto, Los Amigos Invisibles, and fittingly, Cake, she now rolls cream-cheese rugelachs, laces peach pies with thyme, and gels vegan cream pies using agar. Of all the desserts that she makes, Cronin’s favorite is her coconut cream pie. She’s not alone: the dairy-rich dessert took home first place at the City Reliquary’s pie contest in 2011. “I’m not sure if it has anything to do with nostalgia—I watched loads of Gilligan's Island reruns when I was little—or the way it riffs on the rich, steeped-in-diner-chic desserts that harken back to old-school decadence,” she says of her fondness for coconut flavor. “It tastes rich and creamy, but the texture is surprisingly light.” Cronin crafts myriad variations on sweet and buttery flavors, and she experiments with savory elements, too. Soon, she’s set to unveil a savory guacamole and corn-nut-crust pielette. Taste Cronin’s gourmet baked goods for yourself by placing a custom order, or look for her at these New York City markets: Smorgasburg Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in East River State Park at N. 7th St. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Tobacco Warehouse at 30 Water St. Bust Magazine Craftacular and Food Fair Saturday, May 4, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Pearl Street Plaza (Pearl Street at Water Street)

By Brendan Fitzgibbons Dogs can pant to cool themselves down, but humans? All we’ve got is ice cream. Lucky for us, New York offers no shortage of chilly treats, from handcrafted scoops and smooth sorbets to fruity popsicles and milky, refreshing floats. Sit back, lower that body temperature, and enjoy these five spots for sweet treats. Ample Hills Creamery Prospect Heights | 623 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn One lick of Ample Hills’ ice cream, and you might wish you were on a hill of it. This Prospect Heights shop makes their sweet treats by hand using local and all-natural ingredients. Their menu of more than 20 ever-changing flavors includes options like The Munchies—stuffed with Ritz crackers, mini M&Ms, potato chips, and pretzels—or Salted Crack Caramel, which mingles saltine-based “crack cookies” with salted butter-caramel ice cream. The eclectic selection means that Ample Hills is that rare ice-cream shop where the adults are often just as excited as the kids. The ice-cream maestros recently opened a second location in Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5, as well as mobile carts that rove around Pier 1 and the Carousel. Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain Carroll Gardens | 513 Henry St., Brooklyn The employees at Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain are jerks—but that’s only true in the sense that they wear the word on their T-shirts. The store has a vibe that’s as friendly and welcoming as any establishment in Brooklyn, with delectable treats and floats to boot. The jerks’ signature drink, the Brooklyn egg cream, tastes like a chocolate water fountain of fizzy hope. If you’re really tired or need to be revived from cardiac arrest, you can also try the Wake Up Call, a coffee soda with coffee and a hearty glob of ice cream. Get a sneak peak of Brooklyn Farmacy’s new cookbook, The Soda Fountain, on The Groupon Guide. Cones West Village | 272 Bleecker St., NYC The multicolored scoops on the sign of this tasty West Village shop could be mistaken for a double rainbow. But the façade is only a taste of the wide range of Argentine gelato flavors available inside. Spread out in a massive cold case, they all look like they’re on trial for their sugary goodness. Try the coffee mocha chip, ginger, or tiramisu, and don’t forget the silky sorbets in flavors like cantaloupe, mango, and even chocolate. This is gelato that’s so good, it can even stand in for a trip to the bar: the whiskey-flavored gelato is so strong that customers have to show their ID. People’s Pops Multiple locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn Remember the popsicles you used to make as a kid? People’s Pops are not those popsicles. The menu reads more like a list of a sorcerer’s potions than a list of frozen-treat flavors: blackberry and lemon verbena, organic lemon and mint, rhubarb and star anise. Each People’s Pop is packed with the freshest local fruits, so enjoying one is like licking a deliciously cool farmer’s market. The artisanal shop began as a one-day experiment, but has since blossomed into four permanent locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with pop-up stands at Smorgasburg and the Brooklyn Flea on the weekends. Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Multiple locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn Everything about Van Leeuwen ice cream is classy. Just saying the name “Van Leeuwen” feels like you’re floating on a superior ice-cream cloud. At three locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, employees scoop out flavors made with hormone- and antibiotic-free milk. Van Leeuwen also has a traveling truck that would make any normal ice-cream truck want to go back to ice-cream-truck school. Try the espresso and earl grey flavors, or ceylon cinnamon, which has a spicy, dusty kick. Van Leeuwen also keeps special flavors on rotation, including a sweet, sticky black rice flavor for the adventurous tongue. Shop Groupon for coffee and treats in New York City. People's Pops photo by Bethany Bandera. Brooklyn Farmacy photo reprinted with permission from The Soda Fountain by Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain, Inc. copyright (c) 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House LLC. Photography (c) 2014 by Michael Harlan Turkell.

BYOB restaurants encourage diners to bring along a bottle of wine from home, but how do you select the perfect pairing for a meal you haven’t even ordered yet? Seth White, sales manager at Union Square Wines, shared the following tips for matching wines with common BYOB cuisines. Sushi “Champagne is probably my best recommendation," Seth says without missing a beat when I asked what to bring to a sushi joint. The key is to let the relatively delicate flavors of the fish shine through, and the freshness of a sparkling wine helps complement the rolls and nigiri. Along the same lines, Seth says that the crispness of a sauvignon blanc can have a similarly harmonious effect. BYOB Testing Ground: Cherin Sushi | East Village Thai Dealing with spicy cuisine can be tricky, and in those cases, Seth warns against selecting a fuller-bodied, tannic wine, which can intensify the incendiary flavors and overwhelm the rest of the dish. To play it safe, he suggests choosing a lighter, fruit-forward red such as a low-tannin pinot noir or a beaujolais. The slight sweetness of an off-dry riesling can also balance out spice for diners who prefer white wine or detergent-commercial actors who already spent the day spilling red wine everywhere. BYOB Testing Ground: Amarin Café | Williamsburg Barbecue and Burgers "Syrah, especially from the northern Rhône Valley, tends to have a smoky, meaty quality itself," Seth says. That makes it an ideal choice for a platter of pulled pork. Zinfandels also work well with grilled meats, and they share syrah's medium-bodied structure and relatively full flavors. "Zinfandel and a burger—can't beat that," he says. BYOB Testing Ground: the pulled-pork sandwich at Queens Comfort | Astoria Pizza Seth says the toppings matter, but it's the sauce that he comments on first. Since tomato sauce lends its own small burst of acidity, you'll need a wine that has the natural acidity to match. "I tend to pair [Italian wines] with pizza," Seth says, calling out sangiovese-based Tuscan blends and barberas as particularly good choices. Of course, the toppings are important. Seth says that pies with fatty meats like sausage can stand up to a slightly more robust southern Italian red, whereas vegetarian pizzas might not require something quite so bold. BYOB Testing Ground: Bellini Italian Restaurant & Brick Oven Pizza | Upper West Side