Sweet City: Reviews

Good Fun at The Sweet Shop

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:01:37 GMT

Before I start today’s newsletter, I wanted to share a GoFundMe for Jorge, a pastry cook in NYC who was wrongfully detained by ICE. According to the chef Angela Borah, the organizer of the fundraiser, Jorge is still caught in the legal system—in Kentucky—while his family is trying to cover living expenses and lawyer fees.

I know there are so many simila…

Embracing Time With Japanese Wagashi

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:03:45 GMT

Ten years ago, in 2016, I was given an assignment from Michelin to visit Kajitsu, a Japanese shōjin ryōri restaurant in Midtown. It was a one-star restaurant at the time, along with places like Uncle Boons, Betony, and Take Root — all of which I loved, all of which are closed now. What a time it was to dine out in NYC!

In any case, I was going to Kajitsu…

Class is in Session at Brooklyn Granary & Mill

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:00:54 GMT

One thing you should know about me is that I’m an eternal student. If there is ever an opportunity to learn something new, I will take it. As a kid, the superpower I dreamt of having wasn’t God-like strength or teleportation. It was the ability to know everything. I remember sitting with that thought, allowing the expanse of all the things I would have …

Not Your Typical Kaafi Shop

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:03:05 GMT

No one knows how to turn a drink into a dessert better than us South Asians.

Across the subcontinent and its diaspora, the most important part of any day is a break that revolves around a singular cup of chai, or tea. It is served piping hot, rich with milk, redolent of spices, and more often than not, it’s on the cloying side of sweet.

You’ll find sweet …

Hard and Soft at Pavlo Mochi

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:28:43 GMT

When I showed up to meet Pavlo Servetnyk, the Ukrainian owner of Pavlo Mochi, a new destination for mochi desserts that opened in the East Village in April, he was already at the store waiting for me. He was dressed in a spotless white waffle-knit t-shirt, white pants (chef whites, if you will) and a bubblegum pink beanie.

This was my second visit to Pav…

These COPS Are Good

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 12:02:47 GMT

At 10 Morton Street in the West Village, a TV flickers soundlessly in one corner of the room. It’s a CRT TV and the video is shaky. All I see are images of lips, fingers, and a glinting silver cross. “Freedom.” from Kesha’s new album plays overhead.

There isn’t much else inside the room, just a stainless-steel counter wrapped in what looks like chain lin…

American Pie

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:00:59 GMT

If you were to judge the general mood of a city by its restaurant openings, you might think that New York City had regressed into some suburban American fever dream laced with hard-shelled tacos, sloppy joes, and mozzarella sticks.

The foods that restaurateurs are banking on right now are uncomplicated. They are a fast pass back to a time that was also,…

In 2025, We Eat Like Kings

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:02:52 GMT

UPDATE: I wrote the headline for this story perhaps a little too quickly and looking back, I’d like to revise the title slightly by acknowledging that “we” is not universal in that “we” do not all eat like kings. I happen to live in a bubble of privilege and food security, and for that, I will always be grateful!

The luk chup from Sarisa Cafe in Midto…

Masa Madre Takes Its Time

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:03:54 GMT

If you’ve never had piloncillo sugar before, the word that first comes to mind is soulful. It’s a rich and layered taste, slowly unfurling its caramel tones like sticky molasses, ancient and immutable. Piloncillo is an unrefined sugar and for thousands of years some version of it has been used in countries across the world, from Southeast Asia to Mexico…

Irish Soda Bread with a Following

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:03:34 GMT

It was about two thirty in the afternoon on a Saturday when we arrived at Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Shop on East 7th Street in the East Village. I almost missed it; I tend to walk around the city buried in my own thoughts, oblivious to my surroundings. My husband, who notices everything, pointed it out. A hand-written sign was taped to the door, the mes…

Looking Back at Elbow Bread

Mahira Rivers — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:01:54 GMT

The best pastries at Elbow Bread, a new-ish bakery on the Lower East Side, are nothing like a pastry at all. At least, not in the conventional sense. Pastries as we know and love them right now are buttery, flaky, and usually, they’re sweet. You could also argue that some of the city’s best baked goods are vanguards of innovation (see: laminated baguett…

It’s Cozy Season at Le Crocodile

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 13:02:05 GMT

In the winter, when the sun descends from its zenith in the sky, inching beyond the horizon at the ungodly hour of half past four in the afternoon, my body wants nothing more than the warm tones of caramel, toffee, and dates. In other words, for me, it is officially sticky toffee pudding season.

There are a few restaurants that make sticky toffee pudding…

A Cornucopia of Very Good Desserts

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 13:11:23 GMT

There’s a hand-drawn sign affixed to a coffee grinder at Lety’s Bakery and Cafe in Jackson Heights that asks, simply, “What you want?” It’s a picture drawn in navy blue pen of a person with face-framing hair and angular arms tucked behind their back. A blank white sun is shooting its rays of sunlight from the corner of the page.

What you want?

It’s a pret…

Dessert at Kellogg’s Diner Isn’t That Deep

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 12:03:17 GMT

UPDATE: Amanda Perdomo is no longer baking at Kellogg’s Diner. She is running her own pop-up at Strange Delight in Fort Greene. The menu at Kellogg’s has changed and not all of these desserts are still available. :(

There’s a show called The Counter in its final weeks on Broadway right now. (Well, technically, it’s off-Broadway.) According to the synops…

Going Whole Grain at Atla’s Conchas

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 12:02:17 GMT

In June 2025, Atla’s Conchas closed its Harlem bakery with plans to relocate to Vermont.

A Tale of Two Indias, Written in Dessert

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:03:48 GMT

It was only a matter of time before the inevitable conversation happened. My parents were visiting from Hong Kong and we were nearing the end of a very good meal at Kebab aur Sharab, a northern Indian restaurant on the Upper West Side. We had just finished our savory courses and were waiting for dessert.

Nearby, a stranger was consoling a softly crying b…

At Dee Best in Brooklyn, Summer Never Has to End

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 12:01:53 GMT

Sadly, summer did end as Dee Best closed in November. You can still find these zeppole at the OLMC street fairs that hit Brooklyn in July.

Take Note of These Egg Tarts

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:00:41 GMT

UPDATE: August Gatherings has relocated from its original location to 102 Bowery.

At August Gatherings in Chinatown, the egg tarts are palm-sized and quivering. They come two to an order, their middles wobbling with the uncertainty of just-baked custard, hot and loose and threatening to spill if you crack their shells too soon.

“Very hot,” warns one of th…

Gelato, the Way It Should Be

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 12:02:23 GMT

The highest praise I can give any ice cream is finishing a serving of it. If a scoop is too sugary, which I find it often is, encumbered by excess swirl-ins, I’ll have a few bites then politely let it melt into a puddled slurry, or what my daughter and I call ice cream soup.

Soft serve, on the other hand, is as easy for me to eat as whipped cream. With a…

Is This NYC's Most Inventive Dessert Menu?

Mahira Rivers — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 12:01:39 GMT

I don’t know who said this first as it’s now one of those universal truisms, but I’ve heard that applying constraints to the creative process can often result in something more profound than open, unbridled artistry. For Lars Varley, the pastry chef at the East Village fine dining restaurant HAGS, those constraints aren’t just keeping a vegan kitchen, w…