King King in Gingerbread

Ever wondered how King Kong perched on top of the Empire State Building might look rendered in gingerbread?

Can’t say we ever did, either. But King Kong is just one of seven movies interpreted in grand-scale gingerbread in the second annual holiday gingerbread exhibition at Le Parker Meridien hotel.  And the result – an Art Deco gingerbread skyscraper with a frosted ape balanced atop a fondant finial – is scrumptious.

For this year’s contest, teams from local bakeries, sweets trucks and restaurants fashioned gingerbread creations celebrating movies made in New York.  The goods (or perhaps we should say goodies) are on view through January 9, and they’re yummy. West Side Story is depicted by the Treats Truck in gingerbread tenements, “Sharks” and “Jets” scrawled in icing on the walls. Silhouettes of Mad Men-style gingerbread men people Cupcake Café’s aptly named Sweet Smell of Success. And we love the licorice sticks stacked atop the spirit-detection car in Ghostbusters by Tribreca Treats

Big, Stuart Little and A Night at the Museum round out the edible movie

Gingerbread Ghostbusters.

offerings from Buttercup Bake Shop West Side, Rolling Pin Productions and Soutine Bakery respectively. (Norma’s Restaurant at Le Parker Meridien devised King Kong.) They’re all deliciously clever.  But just one will win best in show.

You can vote for your favorite. Tickets cost $1 with proceeds going to City Harvest, a food provider to needy New Yorkers.  When the gingerbread comes down, a drawing will award one lucky voter five nights at the Parker Palm Springs, sister hotel to Le Parker Meridien.

West Side Story (gingerbread detail).

And if seven gingerbread creations encased in plexiglass aren’t enough, the giant Christmas tree in Le Parker Meridien’s lobby is bedecked with gingerbread cookies — inedible, as a large sign warns sweets-loving observers.

Dream on, Hansel & Gretel.

UPDATE: We have a winner!

On January 28, the winner was declared to be . . . . drumroll, please . . . King Kong, created by Norma’s restaurant at Le Parker Meridien. Hmmm. Well, it was a terrific, not to mention towering, concoction. The very good news is $16,373 was raised for City Harvest, $4,000 more than last year.

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