A cupcake worthy of a spoon

Last weekend, my Mom and sister came to visit, and we went into Manhattan for the day.  It was definitely a day of food (separated by lots and lots of walking all around the city).  When my husband and I lived in West New York, for the first many years, we didn't really explore the city.  During the last two years though, we changed that and really delved into what the city had to offer.  What I discovered is that the best thing (at least in my mind) about Manhattan is the food.  Last weekend, I tried to show that to my Mom and sister too.

We started off the day wandering around Chelsea Market, stopping for coffee and a loaf of bread at Amy's Bread, looking at all the bakeries with wide hungry eyes and checking out the fresh fish.  It was enough to make anyone's stomach start to growl.  When we reached the end, our stomachs were definitely telling us it was time for lunch.  My hair dresser back in Philadelphia always tells me how his favorite restaurant in Manhattan is Pastis.  So we decided to give that a try.  We ended down to the restaurant.  When we got there, the restaurant was so crowded but we were seated right away.  We sat down, our water glasses were filled and then we looked at the menu.  It was brunch.  I don't understand brunch.  In the city, on Saturdays and Sundays, so many restaurants forgo their lunch menus from the week and enter "brunch" mode.  They might have the best lunch menu, but I for one never get to enjoy it because I have to work during the week (foreign concept I guess).  I get relegated to "brunch."  Some places will at least put part of their weekday lunch menu on their brunch menu.  At Pastis, this was not the case.  At Pastis, brunch was waffles and eggs, true breakfast food.  My Mom, sister and I were not having any of it.  Besides, the restaurant truly was jammed, and there were people hovering over our table.  So we put the menus and got up and left.  We headed up again back the way we came to a a spot more our style - Company.  Company is a little pizza restaurant with one of the best Margarita pizzas I have had in a while.  We started with a little white pizza with just bread, olive oil and parmesan.  It was tasty.  Then we each had a glass of wine and a margarita pizza.  No one's plate had a crumb left.  It was a good thing though that our next stop was completely across town.  We walked over to Chikalicious for a triple chocolate cupcake, the absolute best cupcake I have ever had.  I have been professing my love for these cupcakes to my Mom and sister every since my first one two years ago.  I'm happy to say that they weren't disappointed.  It's a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate ganache and a thin chocolate frosting.  It is truly an out of world experience tasting this cupcake, true bliss for the tongue.  It was a great end to a true foodie day!