Contrast is at the center of many popular culinary trends. There's also a strong emphasis on contrasting textures within a single baked good. For example, soft milk breads and laminated doughs that have been hard-baked create exciting combinations.
Trader Joe's cinnamon raisin bread was soft, very sweet, and decadently moist. Each slice contained just the right amount of luscious, rich cinnamon sugar swirls and pops of juicy raisins.
I ended up moving back to New Jersey and outfitted my mom's garage into a baking studio. And that's when I started doing custom orders and pop-ups and filming TikToks and stuff like that. From there, it was just kind of the snowball effect.
As a European immigrant in New York City, I remember a time, at least 20 years ago, when American bread and pastries, bagels aside, felt nearly inedible. Sourdough was not a thing. Croissants or any kind of viennoiseries were a punchline. There were regional specialties, sure, but broadly speaking, bread culture in New York was bleak.
We really want to lean into Max's delicious savory items and expertise in sort of doing, like, more made-to-order sandwiches. It's something that we haven't been able to do, and I think would be really super fun.
Where larger, electric espresso machines generate the pressure and heat needed for espresso inside their massive housings, the Flair takes a different approach. A large lever sits atop a small stack of brewing equipment, and you use that lever to create the bars of pressure necessary to get espresso. There's a chamber for your grounds and another atop it for hot water.
Onsu, an Asian-inspired bake house and patisserie, opens its doors in Soho on January 15. The sweet treat haven at 55A Dean Street is fronted by chef Michael Kwan, a multi-title pastry champion and the former executive pastry chef of the Dorchester. Kwan's career has also included stints at Ladurée, Hakkasan, and the three-Michelin-starred The Fat Duck. The new spot will combine Asian flavours with classical European style baking.
But crunchy isn't a descriptor of chocolate cake's soft, springy crumb and thick, creamy frosting. However, adding crunch to cake brings even more depth and the perfect contrast to an otherwise soft textural profile. And you can give chocolate cake a satisfying crunch with an ingredient from the breakfast aisle. Cocoa Pebbles is the breakfast cereal that'll enhance both the texture and chocolatey flavor of your next chocolate cake recipe.
Even though we will always defend the viewpoint that the best way to eat Nutella is with a spoon straight out of the jar, this beloved creamy hazelnut spread actually has many creative uses in the kitchen. It's super easy to bake with and handy to have in the pantry when you're craving a rich chocolatey dessert that tastes homemade without taking hours to prep. For example, the easy-peasy two-ingredient chocolate puff pastries.
Referred to cleverly by one Redditor as "hybread," Costco's Blueberry Caramelized Cheesecake Croissant consists of a butter croissant with a caramelized bottom that's stuffed with a cheesecake filling and topped with blueberries and butter streusel. It's hard to pin down just what category of dessert this bakery item falls under, but that's part of its allure. One Redditor proclaimed that it's "seriously a very unique pastry ... Is it a croissant? ... Is it a muffin? ... Cheesecake? ... Positively incredible, could[n't] recommend more highly."
Café Bustelo is a longstanding favorite in the Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican communities as its original brew's exceedingly strong, espresso-style dark roast caters beautifully to Latino coffee tastes. However, over its nearly century-long lifespan to date, Café Bustelo has come to encompass a diverse array of different roasts that are now a staple in households nationwide. Tasting Table tried and ranked 7 Café Bustelo ground coffee varieties based on uniqueness and flavor, and the best Café Bustelo variety, according to our taste test, is the medium roast.
Ilcha, a Korean restaurant in the Marina that's been lauded for its fried chicken, is closing after Valentine's Day, and the SF Business Times has news of its replacement. Coming soon to 2151 Lombard will be Kava, a restaurant serving Nepalese, Himalayan, and Indian cuisines, from Nepalese owner Kamal Kandel of North Beach's Yarsa Nepalese Cuisine. The menu, which will have some similarities to Yarsa, will feature Nepalese curries, momos, chaat, tandoori, and biryani dishes.
In recent years, across New York, modern Filipino spots have emerged: Naks by the Unapologetic Foods team and the now-closed Tadhana, both on the Lower East Side, and Barkada Social Club in Astoria. And now, Bukas Cafe, which continues that wave by presenting a menu so different from the traditional fare at longstanding pioneers like Renee's and Ihawan in Woodside's Little Manila.
Courtesy of Lea Daniel + 13 Architects: Lea Daniel Area of this architecture project Area: 190 m Completion year of this architecture project Year: 2025 Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Fabraca Studios, Frama, Hay Design, Slo Ceramics, The Bowery Company Lead Architects: Lea Daniel More SpecsLess Specs Courtesy of Lea Daniel Text description provided by the architects. Koffiqa reimagines an awkward plan as a spatial journey, using a continuous bar to
CopperLeaf Bakery and Wine Bar, a new cafe located at Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 114th Street in Harlem, is serving up sweet treats and hot drinks this winter. The business officially opened in December 2025, and their most loyal customers have been trudging through the January snow to get a taste of the eatery's pride and joy: their freshly baked sourdough bread. The cafe's drinks are a mixture of traditional and eccentric.
Americans are drinking more coffee than they have in decades. But fewer of them are getting it from Starbucks. The company that revolutionized the United States' coffee culture remains America's biggest player, with nearly 17,000 U.S. stores and plans to open hundreds more. But it's facing unprecedented competition, which will make it harder to win back the customers it already lost.