If you’re lucky, you can remember the smell of fresh-baked goods coming from the kitchen. How sweet it was, and what a joy to lick the spoon. Having been blessed with three industrious sisters and a mother who made the best birthday cake I have ever tasted, I was often invited into the kitchen to enjoy holiday cookies, muffins, and even a pie hot from the oven. Fortunately, there are area bakeries that nearly live up to this memory.
For some time, I have been pondering the sweet vs savory divide between the new and the
longer-established neighborhood bakeries. I have also noticed the phenomenon of Crumble at
238 7th Ave. It seems to be what David’s Cookies was to us boomers. Gen Zers are lining up for their hand-sized treats, complete with chewy centers and runny hot chips. A private company based in Utah with 918 stores in the US and Canada, it may prove to be the Chipotle of Cookiedom.
Around the corner on 23rd St near 8th Ave, you will find Big Booty Bakery, where I had a very
nice talk with Jose, the general manager of this family-run Chelsea institution. For 16 years,
Chelsea men have lined up for his signature holiday pies. After sampling Big Booty’s cookies
and muffins, he told me that mini cupcakes and muffins will also be available for holiday gift
boxes. On the savory side, empanadas are available – a shout out to the family bakery they had in Colombia before their immigration to the States.
Proceed west on 23rd to 9th Ave, and you are just around the corner from the Sullivan Street
Bakery, a good attempt at relocating a downtown all-in-one cafe/bakery to Chelsea. Delicious
artisan breads are available by the loaf as well as a great selection of hot and cold beverages. Be warned. Its location close to the galleries and the Highline, as well as proximity to London
Terrace and Penn South, means that it may sometimes be hard to get a table. This is not helped by the remote workers who use it as office space at the start of their day (and who can blame them).
Proceeding downtown to 184 9th Ave, you will find Billy’s Bakery, with a friendly West Village
vibe, a well-stocked shop that’s famous for its cupcakes. Some would say that they were the
trend setters for the cupcake craze. Holiday boxes with their wonderful cookies and cupcakes,
including minis, are available as well as custom cakes, with a two-week turnaround requested.
When visiting the bakery with my sister Nancy (my family’s baker), we agreed that the oatmeal
raisin cookies with apple bits were perfect.
Certainly one of my favorites is Empire Cake at 112 8th Ave. Branded as a “Cake
Shop,” certainly a good one, they cater to holiday and neighborhood traffic for their treats.
Nancy and I found their cupcakes to be the absolute best, with frosting, texture, and flavor all
unsurpassed. My favorites were the red velvet and double chocolate, while the coconut is also
quite good. Nancy (“not a cookie person”) tried a mini black-and-white cookie at my insistence
and agreed with me that it could not be improved upon. They’re also doing more to promote their breakfasts. Empire Bakery does it for me.
For savory, try Fabrique Bakery at 348 W 14th St, a Swedish-style bakery with savory buns and great hot coffee, that’s often quite crowded by its proximity to the Highline. Also on the savory side with foreign appeal, is the Bourke Street Bakery at 162 8th Ave, a New York-based Aussie-style bakery, with roots in Sidney’s Downtown, selling excellent organic sourdough bread, meat pies, and sausage rolls.
After making it through the pandemic, they seem to have found their audience. Give them a try.
Paul Kornblueh
Chelsea NYC
© 2023 Paul Kornblueh
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