Fortunato Brothers

Three Fortunato brothers left Naples for Brooklyn in 1970, and in October 1976 they opened a pastry shop on Manhattan Avenue, underneath the apartment where they lived. Skeptics said the corner was too far from foot traffic. Fifty years on, the café is one of the last anchors of Italian Williamsburg, with the next generation now running things and the old-world recipes — Michael, the pastry chef among the brothers, had trained in a shop in Hoboken — still behind the counter.

Take a seat with a cappuccino and a cannoli or a lobster tail, or in warm weather an affogato made with the house gelato, which runs through seasonal flavors from pistachio to pineapple. The cases also hold cheesecake, croissants and trays of colorful marzipan fruit worth a look even if you don't buy. The rainbow cookie cake — the tricolor almond cookie rebuilt as a layer cake — is the shop's newer hit and a good thing to carry to a dinner party.