what a waste of butter.
Strudel, for starters, followed by hamantaschen.
You know, I’ve seen the Arcade babka many times but haven’t tried it–usually during the week I’m on the “no, I must be good” trip and on weekends, when I do my pigging out, they’re closed. For that reason, I haven’t tried any of their viennoiserie (sp?) either. But some day soon I’ll have to break down and buy some in the name of science.
Bisous Ciao for macaroons. Go during happy hour for 3 for price of 2 deal.
After reading about Kayser, I just had to drop in to the Bleecker St. location to see what all the fuss was about.
It’s very Parisian, with multiple choice overloads. 
There’s one even closer to you on the corner of Greenwich and Harrison–the old The Harrison space. Oddly it doesn’t show on their website but I’m pretty sure it’s still there (been a while since I walked by). Too bad for you that Arcade Bakery is closed on weekends, you could have hit that too.
birdbath for chocolate chip cookies
Yes. Their Mississippi Mud Pie is very good too, at least if you believe (as I do) there is no such thing as too over-concentrated chocolate…
-Dennis
Has anyone tried Aux Merveilleux De Fred in the West Village? I have walked by it a few times and always a line. They seem to specialize in a Meringue and whipped cream concoction that sounds wonderful.
I tried petite shell again. I don’t love that super flaky, almost choux-like dough they use for the rugelach. To me, it leads to a rugela that is overdone on the outermost layers while still underdone in the inside. The filling in the chocolate / Nutella was indeed excellent.
Not my kind of rugelach, but I can see why someone might like it if their grandma got them hooked on a different recipe with the superflaky dough.
I can see that. I’m a huge fan of chocolate croissants and would agree that Petite Shell is kind of a hybrid between a croissant and traditional rugelach. I actually like that hybrid element, but I guess as they say, that’s what makes horse races.
Saved me the trouble, Sarah.
I finally got around to eating a Black Seed bagel.
I was born in Brooklyn, and still live in the metro area. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. These bagels are flater than a normal bagel. When my daughter said Do you mean Flagel, I said no. They’re roughly half the size height-wise. For those of you that never had a Black Seed bagel, they feel like a twisted street bagel. I thought this was unusual. These bagels have a bigger hole in the middle, and you know what that means don’t you? Less surface area to put your butter/chreamcheese/whitefish salad…
After all of the above, this bagel tastes like every other bagel that’s offered in the city. There are still distinctions, but this bagel didn’t qualify. On the other hand, if you’re looking to lose weight, this is the bagel for you. Cost $1.50.
That said, Black Seed is a pass for me.
Babka thought…I like Breads best (though I dislike chocolate babke and theirs is very chocolately; I am a cinnamon-raisin guy). I used to like Moishe’s ok, but…they use a heavy hand with the almond/vanilla…and…I liked it less and less.
What are the other good places for cinnamon raisin in THE CITY.
I bake my own a couple times a year (from a NYT recipe) that I like better than anything I can buy in Philadelphia. This city is not a babka city…and good bowties are hard to find, too, so I buy Stern’s in the supermarket.
But, always looking for a good (ie, yeasty) cinnamon raisin babka…and stumbled on one in Washington Heights recently picking up some Poire Cidre on a drive north (at Vines on Pine) …at Gideon’s Bakery.
I haven’t been in a while (since the long-time assistant took over the shop and Claude retired) but the croissants and most everything else at Patisserie Claude on Bleecker used to be my hands down favorites. I no longer work nearby and am rarely in the hood early enough to swing by, but I can do some recon and report back…
I agree. I tried one about a month or two ago and threw half of it away. Not worth the calories.
Wow, that’s a name from the past. I used to go there all the time but somehow with all the fancier bakeries opening up over the last 20 years they slowly fell off my radar. Please do report back and I’ll try and stop by myself. That was known as the place for French expats back in the day.
Also looking forward to your report. Claude retired some 6+ years ago, iirc. In addition to those very good croissants, he also made some mean French tarts (the apricots were my favorites). He was always grouchy but was super nice to the ladies that patronized, my wife included, such that he would sell them the fresh ones that are just about to, have just, come out of the oven.
I’ve not had Millefeuille’s and am looking forward to trying out, but I thought Ceci Cela’s croissants were quite good. Not Paris-good, but good enough for NYC.
Someone brought us four pastries from there the other day. The first chocolate one had an excellent choc filling, but I found the crust a bit too hard. Similar for the second choc one, which also had a kind of pastry cream inside the choc that was a little too heavy for my tastes. Then there was a raspberry one with pastry cream (I think that’s what it was), similar. Then a white one with berries (blackberries IIRC) that was superb. The meringue was meltingly delicious, and the filling just the right weight.