Maialino

My first week as an overnight baker at Maialino has come and passed. I didn't think I would take to working overnight as easily as I have. The overnight baker is responsible for production of all breakfast breads such as croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche loaves, and bomboloni to name a few. Most of the service breads for dinner come from Sullivan Street Bakery and Grandaisy. I had the chance to try the pizza bianca along with Maialino's Ricotta Ravioli (in a brown butter sage sauce). It was an awesome accompaniment to the ravioli. Whatever sauce you can't pick up with the ravioli, you can use the bianca to mop the plate up with! My personal reccomendations so far are the Brioche Caramellato and Budino di Olio d’Oliva. The Caramellato is based on the well loved Monkey Bread. It's baked in this really rich amazing toffee after being coated with butter and cinnamon sugar. The Budino di Olio d'Oliva is an olive oil muffin. Sounds a bit weird, right? Well it's delicious. Trust me.

I haven't taken any pictures of the stuff I've made but here's a picture of the bread station in the restaurant. The glass case on the lower left hand of the image is where all the breakfast pastries are displayed while the cubby holes along the wall are where the service breads are displayed. Oh, and as a side note, if you love coffee, try the coffee at Maialino. I'm not that into coffee but even I loved it!

Image was taken by John Lei for the NY Times.