Brooklyn Bites: Eight great new school bakeries in the borough

By Scott Lynch

We are living in (and gorging our way through) the Golden Age of Pastry here in Brooklyn, with so many new and exciting bakeries opening in the borough over the past couple of years that it’s almost impossible to keep up.

Not that Brooklynites aren’t accustomed to residing in the bread and pastry center of the universe. The County of Kings has long been home to New York City’s best neighborhood bake shops, whether they be the Polish bakeries of Greenpoint, or the Russian bakeries of Brighton Beach, or the Caribbean bakeries of Crown Heights and Flatbush, or the Asian bakeries of Sunset Park, or the Italian bakeries of Carroll Gardens. Quick aside: In the latter category, Mazzola on Union Street, established in 1933, is my personal favorite, especially for their divine, meat-studded lard bread.

Today, though, we’re taking a tour of the best of the new breed of Brooklyn bakeries, all of which offer an array of pastries — sweet and savory, classic and creative — and, often, loaves of bread as well as a selection of sandwiches. Basically, you can eat at any one of these spots for breakfast and/or lunch every day for the rest of your life, and you’ll always be happy.

One quick caveat before we start: Bakeries can have unusual hours, so make sure they’re open before you go. Also, given how good all of the places on this list are, they often sell out of some things (or all the things) before their listed closing time. Plan accordingly.

8. Je T’aime Pâtisserie, Bed-Stuy 
471 Marcus Garvey Boulevard, between Decatur and Fulton Streets

Strawberry shortcake and lemon meringue pie croissant from Je T’Aime Pâtisserie (Photo by Scott Lynch)

In summer of 2023, when Jatee Kearsley first opened her lovely little bakery at the southern end of Marcus Garvey Boulevard last fall, she told Brooklyn Magazine: “I say there’s a ‘Black girl spin’ to my pastries because I’m Black, and I got flavor. So I just don’t make your average croissant.” No, she does not! And over the past year-plus Kearsley has been killing it in Brooklyn, going viral, slinging at Smorgasburg, living a pastry life beyond her wildest dreams.

Kearsley’s speciality is the stuffed and topped croissant, in flavors like matcha-lavender-lemon-blueberry, piña colada, lemon meringue pie, and, maybe most insanely, a red velvet chocolate chip cookie beast that will satisfy even the most decadent dessert cravers. It’s all delicious, and her shop remains a supremely chill spot to hang out and indulge.

“I picked Bed-Stuy for Je T’aime because this style of bakery is not normal to this neighborhood,” she said. “A French patisserie, in the middle of the hood? What?! But I’m here for the community! I’m here for you guys to not have to travel to Manhattan or Williamsburg or Greenpoint. Like, you can literally come in your own neighborhood and get a fresh baked croissant’.”

7. Paloma Coffee and Bakery, Williamsburg and Greenpoint
The newest, and largest, Paloma Coffee and Bakery is located at 163 Nassau Avenue, between Newel and Diamond Streets 

Hazelnut mocha croissant ($7.50), spanikopita escargot ($8), croissant brownie and praline croissant ($6 each), from Paloma Bakery (Photo by Scott Lynch)

They were already operating two tiny shops — with tiny, tiny kitchens — in the neighborhood, but last spring chef Alexander Zecena and his business partner Reuben Villagomez (both Greenpoint residents) finally opened the Paloma Coffee and Bakery of their dreams, an enormous space near McGolrick Park that was home to Jaslowiczanka Bakery for more than 30 years.

The new Paloma functions as a factory of sorts for all their shops, and the selection is extensive, with some 20 or more different pastries set out daily. On a recent visit I wolfed a decadent hazelnut mocha croissant, coated with Nutella and filled with gooey cream, a croissant brownie that was basically just a whole brownie covered in laminated dough and, on the savory side, a  spiraling spanakopita escargot that was almost hefty and hearty enough to function as an entire brunch just by itself.

6. Bread and Butter, Bed-Stuy 
53 Rockaway Avenue, between Marion and Sumpter Streets 

Apple cider caramel donut ($4.50), pecan bar ($5), coconut ube cheesecake ($7.75), from Bread and Butter (Photo by Scott Lynch)

At the start of 2020, Autumn Moultrie and Brian Villanueva were living that extremely solid fine-dining savory-chef dream: after helping to open The Grill, Moultrie was working on several Major Food Group projects, and Villanueva was cooking at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. The pandemic upended all that, and so the couple, after selling on Instagram under the handle Back Alley Bread for a while, decided to open this terrific bakery in the Ocean Hill part of Bed-Stuy.

No surprise given their backgrounds as chefs, Bread and Butter excels at the savory stuff — always get the loaded-up focaccia here — but the sweets are pretty rad as well, especially the signature honey bun and anything with ube in it. “Our menu’s kind of funky,” Moultrie told me last fall. “We’re not your typical bakery. It’s definitely a nostalgic love letter to our childhood, mixed in with our restaurant experience. We just try to make good food, and make people happy.” Mission accomplished.

5. Sofreh Cafe, Park Slope
216 Flatbush Avenue, just north of Bergen Street (there’s an entrance on Bergen as well) 

Bereshtook ($3), a trio of toots ($5 for three), and a latifeh ($6), from Sofreh Cafe (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Here’s another superb Brooklyn bakery from a stellar Brooklyn restaurant, Nasim Alikhani’s Sofreh Cafe on Flatbush, right across the avenue from her acclaimed Sofreh restaurant.

Alikhani’s food is always awesome, but this casual cafe really gives space for her Persian pastries to shine. The slab of date-studded banana bread is drizzled with salted caramel and tahini. The delicate, cream-filled latifeh is divine. And the trio of toots, those cute little almond confections, plus the chocolate-dipped bereshtook (famous in Alikhani’s hometown in Iran) pack a lot of punch in their pretty packages.

And, yes, Alikhani is making piroshki khamei here, her legendary rose-crusted custard doughnuts, but only on the weekend.

4. Laurel Bakery, the Columbia Waterfront District
115 Columbia Street, at the corner of Kane Street

Assorted sweet and savory pastries from Laurel Bakery (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Yet another outstanding Brooklyn bakery from an equally first-rate restaurant, Laurel opened last spring by the waterfront, and the residents down here were thrilled to have a world-class operation in charge of their breakfast.

The head baker is Craig Escalante, and the place is part of the Redwood group, which includes Place des Fêtes in Clinton Hill and Cafe Mado in Prospect Heights, the latter of which makes full use of all of Laurel’s goodies at the coffee counter. Pick hits here include the pain Suisse, which chef and co-owner Nico Russell described as “like a chocolate croissant, but so much better” (he’s right), the cheesy, snail-shaped escargot, and literally any of the sandwiches, because all the bread is so good.

3. Pan Pan Vino Vino, Greenpoint
120 Norman Avenue, at the corner of Eckford Street 

Brioche feuilletee with cream cheese and guava, $7.50, from Pan Pan Vino Vino (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Back in Greenpoint, about a half mile from No. 1 Radio, is another excellent bakery that’s also an offshoot of a great restaurant. Pan Pan Vino Vino on Norman Avenue comes courtesy of the good folks at nearby Nura.

The pastry chef is Sam Short (who, blessedly, still heads up things at Nura as well), and, among her other great accomplishments here, gives us NYC’s absolute best cookie, a sesame chocolate chip masterpiece which she blasts at different temperatures from above and below in her oven, so you get a soft, almost gooey top and a caramelized, chewy base.

Other recent winners include a peach danish with Thai tea cream, a sungold tomato and goat cheese galette (as at Radio and Thea, seasonal ingredients are put to excellent use here), and, my day-one favorite, a cream cheese and guava brioche feuilletee. And, plot twist, the whole place turns into a wine bar at night, steered by sommelier extraordinaire Mackenzie Gassett.

2. Thea, Fort Greene 
17 Greene Avenue, right near Cumberland Street  

Kataifi croissant ($6), tahini banana bread ($3.75), breakfast bureka ($8), from Thea (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Chef Tomer Blechman already runs three very popular restaurants in Fort Greene: Miss Ada, established in 2017, the glorious “fish and fire” spot Theodora, which opened just last winter, and Nili in Carroll Gardens. And now Blechman gives his neighbors a bakery to swoon over, the stunning new Thea on Greene Avenue.

The not-so-secret weapon at Thea is pastry chef Christina Kavalis, who makes incredible breads (her pitas and za’atar kubaneh for Theodora are unreal) and pastries that, so far, are selling out faster than she can bake them. Get here early, like before 8 a.m., if you want the full selection of stuff. Among the early winners at Thea are slabs of gooey tahini banana bread; the flaky breakfast bureka with egg, spinach and cheese; the chocolate chili babka, served warm in “a really nice thick slice;” the seedy Jerusalem bagels; and a truly rad pastrami sandwich.

But the star of the morning show, and probably the best single pastry I’ve had all year, is Kavalis’s twice-baked kataifi croissant which crackles on top and comes stuffed with a pastry cream from a Greek dessert called bougatsa, which she learned how to make from her grandmother, growing up in Queens.

“It’s been phenomenal,” Kavalis tells Brooklyn Magazine. “The neighborhood’s really showing up and everybody’s so excited. I’m joyous every day. This is my first big opening, so it’s like a coming-out for me and I feel really excited about it.”

1. Radio Bakery, Greenpoint
135 India Street, just west of Manhattan Avenue

Sausage and peppers focaccia ($8.50), glazed croissant bun ($6), stone fruit custard and heirloom tomato croissants ($7 each), from Radio  (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Pastry genius Kelly Mencin opened Radio with her partners (they are all from Rolo’s in Ridgewood) in the spring of 2023 on India Street and I swear there’s been a line out the door here ever since. Don’t let that dissuade you though — Radio is incredible. This is the best bakery in Brooklyn, and everything here is worth whatever the wait may be.

Current personal favorites on the frequently-changing menu include things like BEC breakfast focaccias, stone fruit and custard croissants, sausage and Jimmy Nordello pepper focaccias, a couple of gorgeous heirloom tomato creations, and one of the best turkey sandwiches in town. Here’s hoping Mencin brings back that gooey, creamy vanilla custard croissant this fall. That thing is better than most fancy-ass restaurant desserts.

“We are all overwhelmed by how great it’s been,” Mencin told Brooklyn Magazine back when the place first opened. “I’m just so happy. This is what I live for, just baking and baking and making as much as I can, and getting it out to people.” And soon Mencin and her crack crew will get to feed twice as many people, as Radio adds a second location in the borough, opening, fingers crossed, by the end of the year on Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights.