Rice and Riches

This is Rice to Riches at 37 Spring Street. Click here for more photos. This is a story which will surprise you in many ways. First, there's that "only in New York" aspect - where could you expect to run a successful business selling exclusively gourmet rice pudding? In fact, the owner, Peter Moceo Jr., had difficulty renting: ''landlords refused to rent to me, because they didn't see how I could pay the rent selling rice pudding.'' This shop was started in 2003 by Moceo, who grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Inspired by the gelaterias on a trip to Italy, he has created a place with an immaculate decor and meticulous attention to detail: a large window shape like a grain of rice, several flat screen monitors playing pudding animations, curved walls, illuminated plastic orange and white tables, custom reusable containers (including their own spoons), and beautiful pudding display & serving counter. And then, of course, there is the rice pudding itself - superb and highly rated. Jemal Edwards, once a pastry chef at Montrachet and Nobu, has created 18 flavors of the pudding in the custom basement kitchen, a place that Moceo spent a year putting together. The biggest surprise? The owner, a resident of Trump Tower, was arrested in 2005 for running a $21 million sports gambling ring, one of the country's largest. Only in New York...