The $100 Donut
Gold on the outside, purple on the inside , if you want to know... Wait, you're going to hallucinate: IT'S A DONUT! New York's latest craze . The last cronut. Although yes, to try this one, you have to have a solvent economy or proof of whims, because each Golden Crystal Ube Donut costs the sonorous number of 100 dollars (some 92 euros at the current exchange rate).
100 dollars!? Yes, 100 dollars, is what you should pay for a donut whose dough is made of ube (a type of purple sweet potato) and crystal jelly (no, champagne, “fucking Cristal”, as Tarantino would say, “the rest tastes like pee”), covered with a golden glaze of more Cristal and, finally, adorned with edible 24-carat gold leaf , Sure. Put that way, $100 may not seem like much anymore. Or if.
New Yorkers don't seem so impressed with the price . If they are not mounting queues for kilometers to achieve it, it is because you can only order online on Thursdays . And there, the waiting list is already considerable.
And who is the creator of this golden eccentricity? The chef Bjorn De La Cruz , chef de cuisine and co-owner of the Williamsburg Filipino restaurant, ** Manila Social Club **, who makes them in person every Friday an hour before the lucky ones pick up their orders from him.
How did he come up with it? For some time now, De La Cruz personally prepared orders for Ube Donuts each week. These purple buns already had many fans . One day, while he himself was eating one paired with Cristal, he had the idea of mixing the two ingredients. And at Christmas, as a gift for his employees, he decided to combine the sparkling drink, with ube and gold. He came up with the idea of uploading it to Instagram. "And it turned out that people wanted to buy it," says the chef.
Yes, that's the way New Yorkers are . They sleep in shoeboxes, but they won't be left without trying the latest trend in town: a jewel donut. Although he makes it very clear that gold does not add anything to the taste, only to our sense of sight. It is the perfect representation of that mother phrase: “You eat through your eyes”.
But now New York food critics have arrived to confirm that, in addition, it's good. They are confirming this, absolutely surprised. The last to do it was Adam Platt , the guru of nyc magazine , who came to this local Williamsburg full of prejudices about what he was going to eat. It's too many years trying hyperinflated bullshit in the city. "It's very sweet, but I like the texture," he said. “I like the crisp finish, and I have to admit I enjoy this little finishing touch from Cristal”.
He compared him to Jeff Koons , for its spectacular nature. But also because despite the taste, quality and originality, he doesn't think it's worth $100. De La Cruz disagrees, of course. And don't blame the gold (although each $80 gold leaf is only worth to cover four donuts), but the Crystal.
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