Saturday, January 23, 2010

GiGi's Cupcakes


Welcome to Cupcakes of America! I cannot tell you how much it pains me to write a negative blog post as my first restaurant review. I recently enjoyed a trip to Nashville last weekend visiting a close college friend. While there, I noticed a cupcake place - GiGi's Cupcakes. Its sign and and cute appearance caught my attention. My friend later informed me that one is opening up in Memphis soon. So, what do I do when I get home Sunday afternoon? I, naturally, google the place and find out when and where it will be opening in Memphis. It opened this Friday and Jon and I decided to give it a sweet visit today, its second day of operation. I have to admit, being a Muddy's lover, I was skeptical from the beginning. Jon and I walked in and there were probably eight other customers in there. I'll start with the positives. The decor was nice, clean, and happy, but not as charming as the homey feel of Muddy's. The cupcakes had creative and enticing names. There was a wide range of flavor selections. The staff was very friendly. The cupcakes looked a little large, but they did also look delicious on display. It does have the conveniences of a take-out menu with pictures and detailed flavor descriptions. See our selections above. I opted for the Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip. For those who like specifics, it's a devil's food cake with dark chocolate chips topped with a white cream cheese frosting and chocolate chips. Jon opted for the Grasshopper, today's special. It was a chocolate cake with mint frosting. Now on to the negatives. As you can tell from the pics, there is an absurd amount of icing. Be careful, if you eat it all, it may put you into sugar shock. I was not able to finish it due to the queasy sugar feeling creeping up. The cake was a little too dry for my taste and I think that was the reasoning for the pound of icing - to compensate for the lack of fresh, moist cake. I do suggest they put out a pitcher of water for those eating inside so they can hydrate as they consume the sugar. If you do go, I recommend you split one. Jon and I ate the cupcakes around 3pm today and we're still full 5 hours later. GiGi's is a chain and it feels and tastes like a chain. Since we do not have much of a "cupcakery" selection in Memphis, I must compare it to its competitor - Muddy's Bakery on Sanderlin. As I hinted to earlier, I prefer Muddy's without a doubt. If you're looking for decent-sized, homemade, and moist cupcakes, go to Muddy's. If you're looking for large, commercialized, and dry cupcakes, go to GiGi's. I also favor Muddy's decor - it's homey, warm, and welcoming with an eclectic assortment of benches and tables and fun wall decor. GiGi's didn't even have one seat - just a bar where one can stand and munch. I give GiGi's 1.5 stars - don't really want to go back, but will go if my friends are just dying to try it.

2 comments:

  1. thank you, neel, for supporting muddy's with your blog post. a good friend of mine works at muddy's, and was just telling me the other day how sad and unfortunate it is to see a competing chain open up just down the street from a beloved local business. it's pointless, really. everyone knows that muddy's is the ONLY place to go for a perfected cupcake. and yikes, that icing looks disgusting. you can't even enjoy a cupcake when it's only 1/3 cake, 2/3 death by sugar.

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  2. i LOVE this!!! i love a blog, i love to eat, and i live in memphis. kudos to the scruggseys! my food background is much like neel's - went to school in a small town and thus, local eateries are a favorite of mine. jon, i too love desserts a LOT. so, this post on cupcakes is very helpful. muddy's all the way!

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