Breads Bakery cinnamon babka

Breads Bakery

When a man sidles up to you at a bakery and tells you to squeeze the babka, there might be a couple of things going on. Either this is some kind of creepily carb-focused flirting or he’s pretty damned excited…

poseidon bakery galaktoboureko

Poseidon Bakery

Poseidon Bakery is a testament to the deliciousness of homemade phyllo that’s lavished with honey. This family-run Greek bakery opened in Hell’s Kitchen in 1923, and remains one of the few bakeries in the US that still makes their phyllo…

simit and smith

Simit & Smith

In a rather brilliant post from FirstWeFeast.com called “20 Things Everyone Thinks About The Food World But Nobody Will Say,” the writers divulge the sad fact that actually, most New York bagels are terrible. It’s true that finding a good…

Smorgasburg

Smorgasburg

Have you ever had food-induced anxiety from walking into a place where there were too many tasty things to eat? This was the state of Snackish at Smorgasburg, the Saturday-only food fest on the Williamsburg waterfront that features 100+ vendors….

Sigmund Pretzel Shop

Sigmund Pretzel Shop

Looking for a decent soft pretzel in New York City is a little like being thirsty in the middle ocean. There are pretzels everywhere, sold from ubiquitous street carts, but they’re completely inedible. Occaisionally one stumbles across handmade pretzels at…

Greenmarket Peaches

Greenmarket Peaches

Last night I slept under the covers. This is notable because during August my apartment never drops below a steamy 80 degrees (I don’t own an air conditioner, for various reasons). So the end of summer is usually a relief,…

Momofuku Milk Bar

Momofuku Milk Bar

Update: Momofuku Milk Bar now has six locations.  If you were the type of kid who did not feel conflicted at all about drinking milk left over from your bowl of Frosted Flakes, a cup of cereal milk ($4) at…

Minamoto Kitchoan

Minamoto Kitchoan

Wagashi, sweet pastries artfully shaped like fruit, birds, and flowers, have been traditional tea ceremony snacks in Japan for centuries, but they’re rarely seen in the states. Except for one corner of Midtown, at Minamoto Kitchoan, where wagashi are sold…

Macarons at Bouchon Bakery

Macarons at Bouchon Bakery

Update: Bouchon Bakery now has a location in Rockefeller Center Macarons are not macaroons. Those dense, coconut-cluster snacks have nothing on these French confections. One bite reveals the layers–a light whipped cream, sandwiched between two puffed pastries, whose sugary shells…

Butter Lane

Butter Lane

New Yorkers seem to have a bottomless appetite for super-sweet buttercream cupcake frosting, something I could never understand. But that was before I tried French buttercream. The Gallic version is airier and more mousse-like than its sugary American counterpart, and…