The Best Bakeries in NYC

There will be a line on a weekend morning at Radio Bakery (at both its locations, in Greenpoint and Prospect Heights), but it moves quickly, and the wait is worth it for things like twice-baked pistachio croissants or chocolate ones with chocolate in the dough, on the inside, and on top. The bakery is run by the same folks behind Ridgewood favorite Rolo’s, and despite having just a few counter stools and sidewalk tables, it’s a great spot to romanticize your morning coffee and pastry ritual.

The Bed-Stuy bakery—formerly Bread & Butter—made a name for itself off a purple sprinkle-covered ube morning bun, with a flaky exterior and a moist, earthy inside. They've kept that around, in addition to massive chocolate chip cookies, and honey buns that will require at least three napkins. But there’s also a freakishly delicious breakfast sandwich with cheesesteak and egg. It’s a hero-shaped sesame milk bread bun, filled with shredded beef, griddled onions, soft scrambled eggs, and housemade Cheez Whiz.

At Hani’s Bakery in the East Village, nobody just gets one thing. Everybody gets a tray, and everybody fills that tray with treats like a classic and excellent chocolate chunk cookie, a four-layer cake inspired by the humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a beige baked potato bun that you could easily miss, but might end up being your favorite thing here. If the person behind the counter throws a malted cinnamon bun onto your tray “because it just came out of the oven,” do not stop them. Hani’s—pronounced honey’s—is having a lot of fun. Whenever you visit, you will too.

Once a beloved pop-up with a 10,000-person waitlist for preorders, this Filipino bakery in Sunnyside makes New York City's best, most meticulously constructed donuts. Made with light and airy fried brioche, they might come garnished with ube chips, or with their cores excavated and replaced by perfect miniature flans. But Kora’s entire menu—also featuring cookies and laminated pastries—is excellent, especially the apple tamarind fritter and the sleeper hit: a savory pain suisse with spam and pimento cheese.

This corner spot in Chinatown used to be home to Mel The Bakery (a former staple of this guide, until they moved upstate). Now, it’s where a former baker from Sadelle’s kneads and shapes exceptional savory items, like an airy bialy with caramelized onions, as well as more sugary things, like rich pecan rugelach and a double-welled, ethereally crisp coconut danish. If you think palmiers are usually boring, try their sweet-and-savory caraway rye palmier.

The conchas at this little East Harlem bakery are gentle-looking pastries, with muted pastel crusts and fluffy interiors. Though understated, they're delicious, and the playlists that Atla’s two bakers make for seasonal variations—like white chocolate sesame or raspberry conchas—quadruple the charm. So does the fact that they mill their own grain, and include all the grainy fibrous bits in their chewy flatbreads, cakes and breads. We especially love Atla's Mexican Wedding Sable cookie—a burst of orange and walnut that pairs well with some hot chocolate stirred in an earthen pot, and some conversation about fair trade coffee with the bakers.

Try to visit Red Gate Bakery on Wednesday through Saturday, because that’s when this tiny East Village spot makes their buns. On Wednesday and Thursday, it's cinnamon buns, with loose, squishy layers packed with cinnamon sugar, and on the other two days it's something special, like pavlova buns, or a chocolate caramel pretzel variety. But don't stop at cinnamon rolls—their chocolate chip cookie is excellent, and it should be available in case you happen to go there on a Tuesday. They also do some beautiful, creative cakes.

You might know Otway as the restaurant in Clinton Hill where you can eat a fried chicken sandwich and drink a bloody mary. But they also have a bakery (four storefronts away) that’s quietly making some of the best baked goods in the city. Try the sticky cardamom bun, and a plain croissant that tastes like it went to Oberlin, began wearing Birkenstocks with socks, and got a little crunchy. They also make chocolate-brown sourdough loaves, and you should get your hands on a croissant dog if you can. There’s nowhere to sit, so grab some pastries and a coffee for the road. Some of the baked goods, including the cardamom bun, are also available at the restaurant.

You won't find a single baked good at the Lower East Side’s Supermoon Bakehouse that isn't technically flawless, so if you're nerdy for laminated pastries, you're going to love this place. They have a rotating menu of croissants, cruffins, eclairs, doughnuts, and a few savory items like the best sausage roll in NYC and some pizza/focaccia hybrids. They rely on a Supreme-style marketing strategy of swaggy packaging and weekly pastry drops, so expect consistently long lines on the weekends. They also make very good soft serve ice cream.

You’ll find the best (and possibly only) sourdough milk bread in all five boroughs at this elevator-sized bakery in Carroll Gardens. It’s chewy, spongy, and slightly sweet, and like everything else here, you might feel compelled to show it off to someone on the street after picking up a loaf. ACQ Bread Co. is open Friday and Saturday from 4-7pm, and it’s worth planning ahead to pick up some sourdough loaves, milk bread, a fermented rye cookie, and homemade jam.

Even on a random weekday with bad weather, there’s going to be a line at La Cabra in the East Village. However, the wait isn't atrociously long. The speciality here is cardamom buns, and these sticky, airy, delicately-spiced knots of dough are second to none. Anything you order from the pastry case will be excellent, but you should also order a loaf (or two) of dark, dense bread and take it home to slather with your finest salty butter. La Cabra has two other locations—one in Soho and the other in Bushwick.

Librae Bakery in Cooper Square is best-known for its inventive pastries that blend Middle Eastern flavors with modern techniques. You've probably seen their sticky, stunning pistachio rose croissant on social media, and for anyone with a serious sweet-tooth it's worth trying once. Their their savory options are excellent too, like the Marmite cheddar morning bun, which is a salt-lover's dream, and the Jerusalem bagel.

At Lady Wong in the East Village, you'll see multicolored cakes and pastries sitting in glass cases as if they're million-dollar watches. That's probably because these baked (and steamed) goods are, indeed, very precious. If you're looking for a snack, there's a large variety of kuih, and you'll also find some elaborate tarts, swiss rolls, and layer cakes. Try any one of these things, and you'll feel compelled to come back once a week. (We suggest the silky, candy-coated taro ube tart.) Before any party or special occasion, stop by for a box of treats that will make your friends and family forgive any past transgressions.

This little Harlem bakery has been churning out some of the city’s crunchiest, most satisfying rugelach since the ’80s. It’s run by Alvin Lee Smalls, who started making the pastry originally from a newspaper recipe. The chocolate, raspberry, and apricot are all nutty, raisin-studded, and topped with sparkly brown sugar (or a stripe of chocolate). The rugelach are the stars, but if you're looking to load up on other baked goods, go for the black and white cookies and crumble-topped pies, or a moist carrot muffin.

There’s no cookie with an identity so inextricably bound to New York as the black and white, and the best ones are found at William Greenberg Desserts on the Upper East Side. They’ve been making these since 1946, so it’s safe to say they know what they’re doing. The cake base has a deep vanilla flavor and manages to be appropriately dense yet implausibly light at the same time. The frosting is on the softer side (if you like the snap of royal icing, this is not the cookie for you), but it’s well-balanced. They also sell the Amerikaner variation, which is essentially an all-white version of a black and white. Crumb cakes, challah, rugelach, and strudel should not be skipped here, either.

This Bensonhurst bakery is so committed to preserving the tradition of Sicilian pastry-making that they actually have a letter of recognition from Sicily (yeah, the island) hanging in the shop. Everything we’ve tried here has been mind-blowing, but the pistachio cookie is a true standout. It’s vibrantly green and seems to be made of pure essence of pistachio. If you like almond cookies, this is sort of like that, but better, because it’s pistachio.

At Artion, a bright, shiny bakery in Astoria, you’ll find textbook perfect renditions of the Greek bakery classics, like galaktoboureko, koufeta, and every kind of baklava—but there’s also Biscoff cheesecake and little mousse cakes shaped like porcupines. These pastries taste better than they look, which is saying something. If you want to go all-in, get some savory things, like their ultra-flaky spinach pie. There are a few small tables, and they also serve Greek coffee drinks.

The best egg tarts in the five boroughs come from Xin Fa Bakery in Sunset Park. Don’t be intimidated if the line is out the door when you show up—they’re extremely efficient here. Get more egg tarts than you think you need. Especially if you’re getting a fresh, warm batch, you’ll want to carve out a few minutes to eat a couple on the street, each one bringing you a little closer to nirvana. It’s also worth trying their sponge cakes and other pastries.

Run by an alum of cult favorite Arcade Bakery, Alf has a loyal following of its own thanks to its much-hyped laminated baguettes (imagine the love child of a croissant and a loaf of bread). But this tiny bakery in the basement of Chelsea Market has more to offer, like a mushroom danish, and sandwiches at lunchtime. While you’re there, you should also grab a lemon sugar brioche and half a sourdough miche to quarter and freeze at home.

If you’ve been traumatized by dry, flavorless conchas in the past, the ones at La Flor de Izucar will fix you. The conchas here are face-sized, light, and delightfully springy, with a perfectly balanced flavor that goes especially well with a cup of cafe con leche or champurrado. This tiny spot in Sunset Park sells a wide variety of pan dulce as well as excellent tacos and tortas, and it’s the kind of place you’ll want to simultaneously keep a secret, and also tell all your friends about.

La Bicyclette is oh so French, not only because they make perfect breads and laminated pastries, but because they sell them when they damn well feel like it. This Williamsburg bakery’s hours of operation are 8am to 1pm Tuesday through Sunday, and on Saturdays the line is usually wrapped around the block for the entirety of that period. Suck it up and wait. You’re going to get a fantastic loaf of bread out of it. La Bicyclette also has locations in Fort Greene and Carroll Gardens.