Reporting on food trends is a tenuous game, I know. A dish having a “moment” is usually a blip on the cybertimeline for a food that’s probably existed for some time. It’s clear that a trend has made it beyond my algorithm when my chronically offline friends start asking if I’ve heard about Dubai chocolate. Yes. Yes, I have.
The sign that a trend has reached its apex, though, is when we get a brick-and-mortar business that specializes in that food exclusively: a tinned fish emporium, a cafe that serves more than 14 flavors of tiramisu and, the new opening that inspired this week’s dispatch, an all-cinnamon-roll bakery.
Now I’m not, by any stretch, a morning person. I’m more like an anthropomorphized mug that says “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.” I tell you this not because I think it’s charming (it’s not), but to emphasize my ringing endorsement of the three morning buns below. They’re not just good — they’re worth sacrificing an extra half-hour in bed for.
Beyond the cinnamon bun
Sunday Morning is the aforementioned oops-all-morning-buns bakery that opened at the end of January. Schticky? Undeniably. But delicious? Actually, yeah!
They put out 10 flavors of buns daily (don’t be fooled when you look at the case; they can only fit seven flavors on the counter), including guava and cheese, blueberry lemon curd, and pistachio mascarpone. These are the Cinnabon-style buns that epitomize the genre for Americans: towering, gooey, fork and knife required.
Contrary to the name, this is not a place to go on a Sunday morning. In fact, don’t even bother coming on a weekend, when the line wraps around the block before the doors open, rolls are limited to 2 per customer and they sell out completely by about 1:30. On a school day, though, you can breeze in and find a place to sit with a cup of coffee.
A cinnamon roll for adults
While it technically is in the same category of food as the buns above, the one at Nick + Sons Bakery on McCarren Park is a different species entirely: unfrosted, with flaky outer layers and, once you unwind a few layers, an only-slightly-sticky center. What they lack in stickiness and height, they make up for in tenderness and a craggly powdered sugar top, inspired by a roll a co-owner (Nick Heavican, one of two Nicks) fell in love with in Iceland.
It pains me to write this, but you’ll want to go very early on a weekend, as they usually sell out, they tell me, around noon.
The best of both worlds
The cinnamon buns at Red Gate Bakery are tender and gooey, but not the kind you need to wrestle with a fork. There’s a thin layer of salty frosting on top, with only enough sweetness to serve as a foil to the floral Burlap & Barrel cinnamon in the roll. I cannot and will not shut up about these.
That being said, there are a few logistics to keep in mind: They typically sell their classic cinnamon buns only on Wednesdays and Thursdays, while on Fridays and Saturdays they sell special buns. (In the past, they’ve had Earl Grey grapefruit buns, pickled PB&J buns and Mexican hot chocolate buns.)
I’m gathering signatures on my petition to make cinnamon buns a dessert, not just a breakfast, but in the meantime I guess I’ll keep setting alarms.
One Reader Question
I know this is probably a little dorky but I would like a recommendation on a NYC Italian restaurant that will remind us of the on in the first Godfather movie. — Robert Matheson
Bamonte’s, Bamonte’s and, I can’t stress this enough, Bamonte’s. There is no more delightful place situated under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway than this famous red-sauce Italian restaurant. It’s been open since 1900 and is still run by the same family (if you stay late enough, you’ll see Lisa Bamonte counting cash at a white-clothed table). This food isn’t going to blow your mind (expect veal cutlet Parmesan, baked clams, cartoonish spaghetti and meatballs). On the other hand, you can have a glass of Montepulciano where many of New York’s most infamous mobsters have sat … allegedly.
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