Just opened: Apiary in Larchmont (where Sweet Teez was), selling prepared foods and gourmet items, with a sunny table near the door. “You’ll be seeing a lot of us,” said the mother with kids ahead of me, ordering soba noodle salad, Moroccan lamb, roasted asparagus, organic corn and black bean salad, Tuscan tuna, and organic lentil salad. Me, I was drawn in by the sign that said “Try Our Fresh Pretzels.” But by the time I looked around at the raw cheeses from Sprout Creek Farm, Srichicha jam, snickerdoodles, and Adirondack Creamery ice cream, I’d forgotten all about them.
Here’s what caught our fancy:
Banana pudding—Thick and creamy, with whole vanilla wafers and banana slices
Gosling’s ginger beer—Gosling’s Black Seal rum is considered the only one for making an authentic Dark & Stormy (and you won’t find it here) but Goslings makes its own ginger beer as the perfect complement (and you don’t find it everywhere)
Mushroom Napoleon—Sandwiched between grilled portobellos: cooked spinach, roasted red pepper, and a thick, creamy slab of honeyed goat cheese
Chocolate chip cookies—Small and unassuming but excellent, jam-packed with chips
Lobster roll—Classic top-split hot dog bun chock full of fresh-cooked lobster; one of the chefs has worked at Ed’s Lobster Bar in SoHo
Owners Teresa Hsiao and Joerg Zehe, along with partner Kim Nee, have cooked for eateries such as Matsuri, Bolo, Maloney & Porcelli, and Magnolia Bakery. Apiary’s tagline is Eat Serve Learn—the “Learn” referring to cooking classes and parties, “Serve” including being able to order an entire holiday dinner from them and pick it up at the curb (without parking).
On the way out, I noticed the pretzel sign again and went back in. “The pretzels!” a woman and I exclaimed in unison. “That’s what drew us in here in the first place.” They’re cooked to order, with a choice of regular or bacon. How a cooked-to-order, bacon-wrapped pretzel could fail to be my thing I’m not sure—I believe I’m a purist, preferring to experience those things on their own—but it might be yours.
Apiary
157 Larchmont Ave
Larchmont
(914) 834-3572