Past the busy intersections of Chinatown, and through the romantic red and green lit avenue of Little Italy are the quiet corners of Nolita, where you’ll find Rice to Riches glowing brightly til 1 AM on a warm Friday night.
You don’t have to be a rice pudding fanatic to enjoy the desserts at Rice to Riches. In fact, I’m pretty sure anyone who has ever had an appreciation for any dessert (or has a sweet tooth at all) will find some flavor of rice pudding, or some combination from their wide variety of flavors and sweet toppings (such as buttery poundcake, praline sauce, graham crackers or sweet cherry glaze) to enhance memories of their favorite dessert, whether it be cheesecake, cereal, cookies and cream, or even peach cobbler.
[ Rum Raisin Pudding | French Toast Pudding with Crumbled Graham Crackers ]
I visited Rices to Riches with someone who has a jaw full sweet tooths – so I knew what he decided to order was going to be good. I, on the other hand, have a major salt tooth, and get shivers up and down my spine when I taste too many sweets, so my choice of pudding was a little less wild.
When he finished ordering, out came this giant bucket of: buttery cinnamon french toast pudding, and vanilla bean rice pudding in the same container topped with crumbled graham crackers that tasted just like that magical, but dangerous spoonful of raw vanilla cake batter you had to steal from that big metal mixing bowl – of what was going to be a clean cake – while your mom didn’t know any better and wasn’t paying attention; except you could also taste soft buds of rice and bits of graham crackers that gave this spoonful of creamy, buttery and sweet textures an extra crunch.
My order wasn’t bad either, though I didn’t slather on any of the extra toppings on my cup of Rum Rasin pudding. While most people enjoy a medley of toppings, I like to keep my sweets plain and simple so I can appreciate each component separately. I imagined the Rum Raisin pudding to taste like the haagen dazs ice cream flavor, but was surprised to find that it was even better than that – believe it or not. Who knew the pudding version could taste better than the original ice cream version? In the ice cream version, the frozen raisins are shriveled into tiny, chewy bite sized pieces that are mixed in a thick cream that the taste of rum often gets lost in; where as in the pudding – the raisins soak up the wet milk of the moist pudding, making it taste almost like a soft gummy sphere that bursts with rum flavored juices on your taste buds with every bite, similar to that of a small berry; which made each bite taste like eating cake batter, gummy candy and a very present taste of fine rum all together in a small bowl of early morning joy that’ll instantly wake up your taste buds.
Don’t live close to NYC? Order Rice to Riches online here and have it shipped to you, wherever you may be! 
Rice to Riches
37 Spring Street
between Mott and Mulberry St,
New York City – 212.274.0008
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