The Best Bakeries in New York, Where They Still Bake It All Themselves
Cannoli filled to order, croissants that sell out by ten, babka by the loaf and currant rolls still warm: the bakeries that make everything in their own kitchens, and the one thing to get at each.
35 dishes · 35 kitchens
Plenty of places in New York sell pastry. This guide is about the ones that make it: bakeries where the cannoli shells, the croissant dough, the babka and the bread all come out of their own ovens, many of them run by the same family for generations, and a few new ones where the line on the sidewalk says they got it right.
It is organized by what you are craving: the old Italian pastry shops, French-style pastry and the morning croissant chase, bread worth carrying home, cookies, cakes and doughnuts, and the bakeries of the city's immigrant neighborhoods, from Guyanese pine tarts to Filipino ube. Every pick names the thing to order.
Two rules that hold almost everywhere: go early, because the best things sell out, and bring cash just in case, since a few of the older shops still prefer it.
The old Italian pastry shops
Cannoli, sfogliatelle and lobster tails from family bakeries, some of them more than a century old.
- 01
Cannoli and a cartoccio
Villabate Alba · BENSONHURST, BROOKLYN
The Alaimo family brought their trade from a town outside Palermo to 18th Avenue in 1979, and the cannoli are piped with sheep's milk ricotta from Palermo. Add a cartoccio, a fried spiral filled with sweet ricotta, and in summer gelato in a brioche.
- 02
Espresso and a cannoli
Ferrara Bakery & Cafe · NOLITA, MANHATTAN
On Grand Street since 1892 and still run by the family, five generations on. Have your espresso and cannoli at the counter, then walk it down Mulberry Street.
- 03
Sfogliatella and a cannoli (or a lemon ice in summer)
Court Pastry Shop · CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN
Court Street's Italian pastry shop has been filling cannoli since 1948 and has barely changed, which is the point. The cases also hold lobster tails, rococo and seven-layer cookies by the pound.
- 04
Cannoli or a lobster tail with a cappuccino
Fortunato Brothers · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Three brothers from Naples opened this Williamsburg café in 1976 under the apartment where they lived, and the next generation runs it now. Sit down with a pastry, and take a rainbow cookie cake home.
- 05
Lard bread, and a cannoli filled to order
Madonia Brothers Bakery · ARTHUR AVENUE, BRONX
The oldest bakery on Arthur Avenue, opened in 1918 and four generations in. The olive loaf and lard bread go home under people's arms, and the cannoli are filled while you wait so the shells stay crisp.
- 06
S-shaped rolls and a lobster tail
Zeppieri & Sons Italian Bakery · PELHAM BAY, BRONX
A Pelham Bay family bakery since 1968 that started out baking only bread, and the bread is still the quiet star. Buy a bag of the S-rolls the bakery calls famous.
French pastry and the croissant chase
Laminated dough, delicate cakes and the morning lines that come with them.
- 07
The DKA (or the Cronut)
Dominique Ansel Bakery · SOHO, MANHATTAN
The Spring Street bakery where the Cronut was invented in 2013. If the line is long, regulars will tell you the DKA, a caramelized kouign-amann, is the better pastry anyway.
- 08
The rotating special croissant
Radio Bakery · GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN
From the team behind Rolo's, with no pre-orders, so there is always a line on India Street. The special croissant sells out early; the chocolate croissant has chocolate worked into the dough itself.
- 09
Almond croissant
Almondine Bakery · DUMBO, BROOKLYN
DUMBO's French bakery, keeping the neighborhood in baguettes and croissants since the early 2000s. Carry an almond croissant down to the water at Pebble Beach.
- 10
Green tea crème brûlée, or the weekend dessert flight
Patisserie Tomoko · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Japanese desserts made with French technique in a small Williamsburg shop. On weekends the dessert bar serves a three-course seasonal flight paired with wine or sake.
- 11
The original pastel de nata
Lisbonata · CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN
A Crown Heights bakery that does one thing, Lisbon's custard tart, baked in a kitchen you can watch through the windows. Eat an original warm and take a mixed box for later.
Bread worth carrying home
Loaves, babka and the bakeries that taught New York to care about bread.
- 12
Chocolate babka, by the loaf
Breads Bakery (Union Square) · GRAMERCY & UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN
The original of the bakery known above all for its babka, half a block off Union Square. Buy it whole, and make it a Greenmarket morning.
- 13
A crusty loaf and a slab of Roman pizza
Sullivan Street Bakery · CHELSEA, MANHATTAN
Jim Lahey, who gave home bakers the no-knead method, opened Sullivan Street Bakery in 1994. Take a square of pizza for now and a loaf home, or carry both up to the High Line.
- 14
A loaf for tomorrow and a slice of layer cake
Amy's Bread (Hell's Kitchen) · HELL'S KITCHEN, MANHATTAN
Amy Scherber opened this narrow Ninth Avenue shop in 1992 with five employees and a commitment to hand-made bread. It is still the original.
- 15
Morning pastry and a loaf
Winner · PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN
Opened in Park Slope days before the city shut down in March 2020, and now a neighborhood institution. Go before 10 on a weekend for the full pastry case.
Cookies, cakes, cupcakes and doughnuts
The sweets New Yorkers line up for, from the city's most famous cookie to a seventy-year-old doughnut counter.
- 16
Chocolate chip walnut cookie, warm
Levain Bakery (W 74th St) · UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN
The six-ounce cookie that made a small 1995 bread bakery world-famous, at its original West 74th Street home. One cookie genuinely feeds two on a Central Park bench.
- 17
A cupcake or banana pudding
Magnolia Bakery (Bleecker Street) · WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
The original 1996 Magnolia, on the corner of Bleecker and West 11th, where Sex and the City sat Carrie and Miranda outside with cupcakes.
- 18
Bienenstich and an oatmeal marshmallow cookie
Rudy's Bakery and Cafe · RIDGEWOOD, QUEENS
A Ridgewood landmark since 1934 that began as a German bakery. Sit down with a coffee and a slice of the bee-sting cake, and take the cookie for later.
- 19
Strudel and a regular coffee
The Hungarian Pastry Shop · UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Across from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine since 1961, feeding Columbia students and novelists. Apple, cherry or cheese strudel, and a table for an hour.
- 20
Boston cream pie (no chocolate)
Yeh's Bakery · FLUSHING, QUEENS
A long-running Taiwanese bakery in Flushing known for its sponge cake: tender sponge and a cloud of whipped cream. Carry it across to the Queens Botanical Garden.
- 21
Sour cream glazed doughnut
Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop · GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN
Frying on Manhattan Avenue since the early 1950s, with a long counter, vinyl stools and staff in paper hats. Go early; the best flavors are gone by mid-morning.
Bakeries from around the world
The neighborhood bakeries of the city's immigrant communities, and the newer ones putting their flavors in fresh shapes.
- 22
Currant rolls
Allan's Bakery · FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN
Allan and Gloria Smith started out selling pastries from a station wagon at cricket games in 1958, and the family has run this Little Caribbean bakery for three generations. Buy currant rolls by the half-dozen, and a beef patty.
- 23
Pine tarts, cheese rolls and plait bread
Sybil's Bakery & Restaurant · RICHMOND HILL, QUEENS
The Little Guyana bakery the neighborhood lines up at every day; take a ticket and wait your turn. Have pepperpot with plait bread, then take pine tarts home.
- 24
Alfajores and a cortado
La Gran Uruguaya Bakery · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS
A Uruguayan bakery-café in Jackson Heights with long cases of alfajores and medialunas warm from the oven in the morning.
- 25
Warm pandebono
Seba Seba · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS
A Colombian bakery and counter diner started by two brothers in Jackson Heights. Order the chewy cheese bread warm with an agua de panela.
- 26
A slice of Bangkok Thai tea cake
Chim Chim · GRAMERCY & UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN
A small Thai bakery in Gramercy with Southeast Asian flavors in the case: Thai tea, coconut pandan, butterfly pea, taro with salted egg. The Thai tea cake is herbal and not too sweet; whole cakes are pre-order only.
- 27
Portuguese egg tarts
Tai Pan Bakery · FLUSHING, QUEENS
A Hong Kong-style bakery by the Main Street station. Buy egg tarts by the box and eat the first one on the sidewalk.
- 28
Morning breads, or a fruit cake for a birthday
Canaan Bread · MURRAY HILL, QUEENS
A Korean bakery baking since 1990, opening early on Northern Boulevard. Fill a tray with whatever just came out of the oven.
- 29
Leche flan doughnut
Kora · SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS
Born as a pandemic pop-up and now a Sunnyside shop with weekend lines: Filipino flavors in French and American shapes, with ube running through the case.
- 30
Ube and calamansi baked doughnuts
Purple Dough · WOODSIDE, QUEENS
A Filipino-American dessert shop in Woodside where almost everything is some shade of ube purple.
- 31
Torta cebuana and kapeng barako
Kape't Torta · ELMHURST, QUEENS
A small Filipino panaderya on Queens Boulevard: a buttery little Cebuano cake with dark Batangas coffee, and a box of ube pandesal to take home.
- 32
Croissant and coffee
Patisserie des Ambassades · HARLEM, MANHATTAN
Little Senegal's café-bakery in Harlem for nearly two decades, a reminder that Dakar is a francophone city. Pastry from the bakery side, lunch in the dining room.
- 33
A classic potato knish
Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Hand-rolling knishes on East Houston Street since 1910, baked rather than fried, fresh every day.
- 34
Mochi donut and a cinnamon roll
Ceremonia Bakeshop · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
A small South Williamsburg bakeshop with a cult following for its mochi donuts. The chorizo breakfast burrito is the sleeper hit.
- 35
Ube morning bun
Dolly's · BEDFORD–STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN
The purple, sprinkle-topped bun that made this Bed-Stuy bakery a social-media favorite, with a line before the door opens. Check its Instagram first; days and hours change.
Order ahead: bakers with no storefront
Some of the city's best baking never had a counter. These makers bake to order, so plan a few days ahead.
The OG key lime pie
Cait's Key Lime · No storefront, order ahead
Caitlin Hubner started baking key lime pies in Brooklyn as a pandemic hobby and has sold well over 20,000 since, all without a shop. Each pie is made to order: a graham cracker crust, a smooth, sweet-tart lime filling and whipped cream with fresh zest. The OG is seven inches and serves four to six.
No storefront: pre-order through @caitskeylime on Instagram, where order dates and pickup spots in Brooklyn and Manhattan are announced.
Every kitchen here was confirmed open as of 2026-10-27. Menus change — confirm a dish is on before you make the trip.
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