07/11/14 9:49am
ODDFELLOWS

Cornbread with salted caramel syrup and burnt sugar.

Last Saturday was sweltering. It was even hotter if you were waiting on line to view Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby,” at the soon to be demolished Domino Sugar Factory. As we left the domain of the massive sugar sphinx-mammy I tasted  a few grains of what I presumed to be some ancient turbinado sugar that was laying on a girder. Back outside in the heat I pondered whether that was a good idea, and my crew and I decided to chill out with something sweet and cool at the nearby OddFellows Ice Cream Co. (more…)

03/25/13 10:02am
A DIY kit for roti saimai, Thai spun sugar spring rolls.

A DIY kit for roti saimai, Thai spun sugar spring rolls.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

 

Sugar Club is one of my favorite Thai markets. There’s tons of snacks and prepared foods to heat up and eat in or take home. Much as I love the place I never thought the combination grocery video store deserved such a sweet name. That is until I came across roti saimai ($4).  Essentially a spun sugar spring roll, roti saimai, is a popular Thai street food.

Sweetest spring roll ever.

Sweetest spring roll ever.

The package contains a ziplock baggie of gossamer-thin spun sugar along with a few spring roll wrappers. Warm one of the wrappers in the shop’s microwave for about five or six seconds. Then pile on some of the pale green candy floss and roll your own. Bite into it and join the sugar club. It tastes sort of like cookie dough and reminds me of the sugar sandwiches a childhood friend sued to make. Sweet!

Sugar Club, 81-20 Broadway, Elmhurst, 718-565-9018