You Say Potato, I Say Potato

Single ingredient food shops have become very popular. It began with all the cupcake shops popping up throughout New York. Today you can find restaurants and stores that sell single themed items like mac ‘n cheese; peanut butter or rice pudding. Now you can add to that list, Pota•topia. Located on Sixth Avenue, near 8th Street, Pota•topia opened earlier this year and offers different kinds of potatoes (yams, Yukons, Idahos) baked, mashed or fried with vegetable, cheese and protein toppings.

Yam crinkles

You can order one of Pota•topia‘s “signature meals,” like “I Think Therefore I Yam,” — sweet potato crinkles topped with Asiago and Parmesan cheeses, parsley, red onion and garlic aioli.  Or you can build your special meal, salad bar style. You pick the kind of potato you want; choose vegetable and 2 cheese toppings; add a protein like chicken, shrimp or egg; and then choose a sauce. There’s a small counter space to eat in the shop, though it seemed most people bought their potatoes as take-outs.

Bagel “Holes”

New Yorkers are very particular about their bagels, and rarely are they happy with bagels produced by other cities. Some people like them big and doughy, like you find at Hot & Crusty. Others prefer a thinner bagel with a crusty outside, like you used to be able to get at the original H&H Bagels.

But Bantam Bagels offers a completely different take on the New York bagel. Located on Bleecker Street in the West Village, Bantam sells mini bagel balls, known as “Bantams,” which look like donut holes. There are “Bantam Basics,” which are plain, sesame, or everything “bagels” filled with cream cheese or butter.

Then there are 14 different specialty bagel combos, some sweet and some savory. They include : “French Toast,” which is a cinnamon nutmeg egg bagel filled with a buttery, maple syrupy cream cheese; “Cookies and Milk” which is a brown sugar walnut bagel with a sweet chocolate chip cream cheese; the Hot Pretzel bagel which is topped with sea salt crystals, filled with mustard and sharp cheddar cream cheese; and the “Bleecker Street,” a pizza dough bagel topped with a thin slice of pepperoni and filled with marinara mozzarella cream cheese.

“Box Lunch,” a plain bagel topped with crushed, roasted peanuts filled with peanut butter and sweet strawberry jam

I enjoyed the “Box Lunch” bite which was the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.I only wish the ratio of filling to bagel was a bit greater.