A sweet neighborhood gem

With decadent boutiques like La Patisserie des Reves and Hugo & Victor opening alongside an astounding number of cupcake cafes, it’s sometimes nice to revisit old favorites—patisseries that are top-quality and inspiring, enchanting and artistic, patisseries that never fail to seduce and impress and that are (lucky me) close to home. Patisseries like Pain de Sucre.

Opened in 2004 by Pierre Gagnaire’s former pastry chef (Didier Mathray) alongside the internationally experienced palate of Nathalie Robert, the two have been making magic happen in the form of flavored marshmallows (cassis, pistachio, caramel… red pepper!??)…

… and chocolate bars studded with wild berries, flaky coconut or slivers of almond.

And even though they create a world of macaron flavors, and offer lovely and inventive desserts of mousselines accented with fruit compotes and crumbled biscuits and dark chocolate…

…along with spectacularly tempting individual desserts, from raspberry and lemon tarts to almond-grapefruit-chocolate ganache cakes…

…I can’t help but be most wowed by their tarts.

Square, not round, relying more on clementines and limes than apples and pears, flecked with crushed pistachios or speared with rosemary sprigs, these are masterpieces you don’t see often.

Tasty, too.

And bonus points: Pain de Sucre is open on Sundays you can have the ultimate finale to an indulgent spring weekend.

14, rue Rambuteau, 4eme

Morning at Momofuku

The thing with Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery is to go in the morning. That's when things are warm and fresh out of the oven and the crowds are nil.

Bennie and I met there for breakfast, looking forward to the banana and blueberry cream cookies, respectively. Sadly they weren't there. But we didn't starve.

Ben got the pork and egg bun.

I got a loaf of banana green curry bread.
It was super moist and banana-y on the inside, a nice crunch of crust on the outside. Washed down with melted marshmallow cereal milk soft serve.

Even though I consumed my day's calories before getting to work, I took some cookies to go.

207 Second Avenue, entrance on 13th Street

Pretty, sweet pastries

My friend Cheryl lives in the wild west of 48th Street. She has often told me about Domus, and I finally went and fell in love. So I knew I had to carry on westward to scope out the patisserie she told me about: Dousoeur de Paris.

This wee salon, run by two sisters, serves breakfast and lunch, coffee and tea. But of course I went for the sweets and suggest you do, too. Mini tarts, macaroons, marshmallows, chocolate éclairs, chocolate mousse, petit cakes and more are just begging for your attention.

Enjoy a private moment or tete-a-tete in the salon. Or bring them chez-vous and the soeurs will wrap your pastries as only the French can do.

652 Tenth Ave at 46th
212.315.4543

Cupcake heir

If, as Jennifer 8. Lee recently suggested in the New York Times, the cupcake is going to go the way of Krispy Kreme, what, dear God, will replace it? Here are five worthy contenders.

Sandwich cookie
Why? It's different from an ordinary cookie. Duh, it's twice the fun. Plus, whatever's sandwiched in the center has the same sugary appeal of a cupcake's frosting. It could be caramel (Treats Truck), peanut butter (Bouchon Bakery) or your basic vanilla cream (Milk & Cookies).

Brownie
Caky, fudgy, transportable, easy to eat, decadent, classic, a throwback to childhood... really, what doesn't the brownie have going for it? Especially when you think about Baked's amazing specimen with caramel and fleur de sel, or dried cherries inside a chocolatey Fat Witch brownie.

Marshmallow
This retro throwback is getting gussied up with all kinds of gourmet flavors and labels. Three Tarts makes sublime treats ranging from rosemary to espresso, master chocolatier Pierre Marcolini offers chocolate-covered marshmallows and, yes, even Trader Joe's is on it, serving up vanilla and peppermint varieties of the fluffy snack.

Chocolate chip cookie
Ah, where to begin. A good old American classic, like the cupcake, the chocolate chip cookie never gets old. Never. I prefer them in their purest form (hel-lo, Jacques Torres), but I won't turn one down if it has nuts (Petrossian), champagne (Ruby et Violette) or double the chocolate (Levain).

Red velvet cake
Like the cupcake, red velvet is basically cake dolled up differently. Instead of personalized pieces of a whole cake like the cupcake, red velvet claims its stylish independence with food coloring (Amy's Bread, Sweet Revenge) or, in the best samples, beet juice (Daisy May's).

Who should inherit the declining cupcake's adoration? Weigh in with your opinion.

5 best ways to pretend summer is going nowhere

You can eat ice cream until the cows come home. Or change it up with a few tastes of summer, from the nostalgic to the effervescent.

S'mores cupcake from Chikalicious Dessert Club:
Campfire memories, transferred to a beautiful, rich urban treat.

Marshmallows from Three Tarts:
Light, frothy and refreshing, perfect for the front stoop.

Strawberries & Cream cupcake from Kumquat:
A springy, fruity, two-bite treat.

Chocolate milk from Ronnybrook:
Chug it like a milkshake, without the brain freeze. Smooth and chocolaty satisfaction.

Mango ice shower from Beard Papa's:
Shaved ice, fruity sauce and chunks of sweet mango. Then again, a cream puff is awfully light, too.

Sweet tarts

Basil marshmallows?

Yes, and they're delicious.

It all started when Three Tarts' Sandra Palmer and Kiyomi Toda-Burke made a chocolate banana parfait. The sweet little dish called for marshmallow sauce and mini marshmallows for the top, which the pastry chefs made themselves. “We thought, ‘Oh, we can make all sorts of flavors,’” Sandra explains. So they took the marshmallow project into a six-month test kitchen period and now have more than a half dozen gorgeous flavors.

“Most people go with vanilla because that’s what they’re most familiar with,” Sandra points out. Indeed, the vanilla marshmallow takes you back to camp days when you scarfed down handfuls of these things.

But the other flavors are where the Tarts’ marshmallows get interesting. The mango pops with high tropical flavor. The yuzu is sharp and tart. And the basil is like a nice summer day: herbaceous, light, and frothy. Still to taste: chocolate, raspberry and passion fruit.

164 Ninth Avenue at 20th
212.462.4392