Feast (NYC): Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery, specializing in cupcakes and featured years ago on Sex and the City, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. In a food culture where bakeries, cafes, and faddish shops (a restaurant that serves only BLTs?) come and go in just one season, that’s an impressive milestone. And after risking diabetic coma for yet another cupcake from their shelves, I’m not surpised that Magnolia has been around for so long.

The shop is tiny, but I’m sure the rent isn’t cheap for its West Village space. At 8pm on a Saturday night, the line snakes out the door and customers have to dance around each other, picking their cupcake from the window box display and impatiently licking at the icing while they wait to pay. You can also get birthday cakes, mini-cheesecakes, whoopie pies,  tshirts, aprons, and coffee, but a reliable source tells me the lattes takes forever and aren’t that good.  Eh, it’s probably better to have two hands to savor your dessert, anyway.