There’ve been parallel pastry and bread renaissances lately, with some bakeries getting the kind of protracted buzz usually reserved for very fancy restaurants. Post here about NYC bakeries.
ELBOW BREAD, Chinatown
Made a specific trip for this newish spot and was not disappointed. I had all sweet things - I generally don’t get exercised about bread - and a few of them were outstanding.
This is a tiny joint, but the options on a Saturday morning were very plentiful. I had trouble deciding, so I got three things. Well, I wanted three, but when I went rummaging through the bag later, I found there were four - I had changed my order midway through, and apparently the clerk misunderstood me. Oh well, more things to taste.
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Clementine /sheep’s cheese Danish - this was a stunner. I was most excited about the donut, but this Danish took the cake. I meant to try all the pastry I bought one bite at a time, so I could compare them all while everything was at its freshest, but I couldn’t stop myself from eating this entire (enormous) thing on a bench in front of the shop.
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Sour cherry and buttermilk cake donut - definitely called to me, has all the things I love. I generally avoid the buzzy/viral donuts everyone raves about, because they are yeasty (I prefer cake style), too sweet by about 200%, and too busy (three or four flavors at once.)
This wasn’t those things, but it also wasn’t as good as the Danish, even still warm. That said, a very good donut. I ate most of it several hours later and enjoyed it more.
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Malted almond elbow - This was disappointing. Kind of dry and meh. I tossed half of it.
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The thing I didn’t actually want but found in my bag - a chocolate chip cookie with nori on it. This was a great cookie, very much in the style of CCC I prefer, but the nori was dumb.
Would definitely go back.
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I got a fancy pretzel from them when they first opened. Not saying it wasn’t good, but am saying I’m not paying $7 for a pretzel again.
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That Danish looks spectacular!
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It was criminally good.
Other recent(ish) faves include Librae, in Cooper Square, and Sofreh Cafe in Flatbush.
Longtime faves:
-Le French Tart Deli in Cobble Hill. The place where I first tasted kouign-amann. Unforgettable.
-Almondine in Dumbo (first French-style bakery I ever got into.)
-Brooklyn French Bakers (Red Hook). I never was into almond croissants, but one time I was passing this spot soon after it opened, and all they had left was almond croissants, so I bought one. I walked out with in still slightly warm in a paper bag, and ate it on the way to my appointment. Afterward, I retraced my steps to go back to the shop, and I subjected the lone woman working there (apparently the baker herself) to my nearly-tearful recounting of how this croissant had changed my life.
-One of my OG Scandanavian bakery experiences was Konditori in Park Slope - the cardamom bread in particular.
-Balthazar Boulangerie. My favorite scones.
Wishlist:
The Swedish cafe in the basement of The Church of Sweden
La Cabra
L’Appartement 4F - Brooklyn Heights
Smor - East Vill
Fabrique
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I love Librae. After we went there for the first time (about 2 years ago) I told myself it was a must every trip. Have we done it? Nope! But we did try - the line was just too long. Maybe this weekend.
I loved the cardamom bun and caramel hazelnut bun (not as sweet as it sounds) at Fabrique.
And the kouign amanns at Chanson were pretty good.
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We are very happy to live 2 blocks from Apt. 4F. Croissants pretty much every morning. 
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Back at Elbow Ludlow this morning. Two excellent pastries: a sweet potato pretzel with cinnamon sugar topping (optional brown butter sweet butter spread on the side) and a kolache with custard and apples.
The pretzel was warm and DELICIOUS. The spread is definitely gilding the lily, but I’m not sorry I tried it.
I’ve never had a kolache before, but the seasonal apple flavor called to me. This pastry struck me as attractively more restrained than many of the other things in the case; the filling didn’t spill out or gush, it wasn’t tooth-achingly sweet, there weren’t any random trendy flavors competing for the tongue (looking at you, nori and miso and tahini.) Lovely yeasty crumb. Like biting into a nice hug.
A few hours later, I stopped into Hani’s for the first time. I had trouble choosing something, but settled on the famous carrot cake . For bev, I got a delicious pear and cassis iced tea (YUM.)
This was a very nice slice of expensive cake. There was pear jam in between the layers, which I’m pretty sure is a trick I’m going to steal. There were other yummy things on offer, but I couldn’t even finish the generous square of carrot cake.
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