Paradiso (105 Avenue B btwn 6th & 7th)

You can imagine my excitement when I found out that a new daytime eatery/coffee shop/bakery was opening up in the spot that used to be Bang-On (seriously, sunglasses & overpriced t-shirts? No thanks!) Since opening, Paradiso has become the new go to spot to get myself out of the house.

There are about ten different sandwiches there, either served on an Italian bread, or pressed in a ciabatta from Balthazar Bakery. I've only tried the asiago & prosciutto one, but I've heard great things about the rest of the offerings.

They also have different flavored shakes of which I've had the strawberry & the chocolate. Both good. The coffee is nice & strong & I think is a much better value for money here than at 9th St. Espresso or other coffee shops in the area.




There's free Wi-Fi (although not that many seats, but I've never seen the place fully packed) & the owner is super nice. So if you want some baked goods (cookies, muffins, croissants, etc), good coffee & excellent sandwiches, check out Paradiso!

Other goodies:

A close-up of my prosciutto & asiago sandwich:

Chocolate Bar Closes!

You may have (but probably didn't) read about my love for Chocolate Bar on 7th St. in the East Village. Well shortly after my post, the shutters came down & they were never open. I can report now that they've officially closed & are moving back to the West side. Boo!

Source: EV Grieve

Chocolate Bar (127 E. 7th St.)

[Updated; now closed!]
Hidden among the boutiques & boarded up stores on 7th street between Ave. A & 1st Ave. is Chocolate Bar, essentially a candy store for grown-ups. I was walking down the street yesterday in the freezing cold & decided to stop in for a much needed hot chocolate.

As soon as you enter the small store, the delicious smell of chocolate hits you right in the face; Yum! I ordered my hot chocolate & looked at some of their wares.

Candies in awesome Anime-style & graffiti wrappers, cakes & other morsels of goodness. There's a small seating area in the front, but I got my drink to go. As someone who grew up on Nesquik & Swiss Miss, I can honestly say that this is the best hot chocolate I've ever had (I'll admit that I haven't been to Max Brenner's yet, but that place has a totally Starbucks vibe). It was incredibly rich & the texture was amazing. You could immediately tell that this was made with real chocolate & not granulated, freeze dried crap. I didn't have much time to check out the rest of the menu, but bet your ass I'll be going back there again.