Katie Katzgrau satisfies her craving for pumpkin at Rook in Red Bank.  (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

What are you craving these days? PieHole‘s asking for a new, occasional feature called Cravings, which we see as a way of shining a quick spotlight on gotta-have culinary yearnings — and, of course, ways to satisfy them right here on the Greater Red Bank Green.

In this one, with pumpkin-flavored everything showing up even before the tree leaves begin turning our world gold and orange, we chat with a woman who dreams of pumpkin flavor all year long.
 Pumpkin cream fills a seasonal plate at Sempre Cannoli. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

“Honestly, the iced pumpkin spiced latte at Starbucks and iced pumpkin coffee at Rook are my favorite things,” says Katie Katzgrau, 29-year-old Red Bank resident (and, we should disclose, wife of redbankgreen webmaster Kenny Katzgrau). “I’m not a huge sweets person, but the pumpkin cannoli dip at La Rosa’s bakery is good, too.”

Katgrau considers the pumpkin coffee at Rook “phenomenal.” Unlike that of the vastly larger Starbucks chain, Rook’s pumpkin flavor is comprised of spices that include allspice, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

“It is a mild, authentic pumpkin that tastes great whether hot or cold,” Katzgrau says.

In Red Bank, Starbucks and Rook Coffee can be found two doors from each other near the corner of Broad and White streets. Sempre Cannoli is at 90 Broad Street, and La Rosa’s Bakery is at 79 Newman Springs Road in Shrewsbury.

Have you got a Craving? Tell us how you satisfy it in a comment, or email us at piehole@redbankgreen.com.