We’re nearing the end of this bunventure and, correspondingly, my sanity. This past weekend I finished (!!!!) all the cinnamon roll places I had on my list (with the exception of Costco, if you’ve got a membership please @ me), coming in at a princely 97 different official ratings and likely 300+ actual rolls consumed in the last ~20 months. You’ll find out about the remaining few next week, but all that is to say coming up with content is hard and it’s mildly surprising I made it to 52 editions of this newsletter before I made a pun as dumb as Bun-klyn.
Although there was one time some years ago where I came up with food related puns for neighborhoods (aka neighborfoods) in NYC. Like:
Eats Village
Lower Beets Side
Red Lobster Hook
Jamaica-n Jerk Chicken
Hell’s Kitchen
Down Under Myfatten Fridge Leftover Pass
Kips Old Bay Spice
Little Italian Meatball
Bed of Lettuce Stuy
Williamsburger
Sometimes people get better, sometimes people get worse, sometimes they stay the same. Time really is a flat circle.
For our next to last (or next to next to last) edition of Bun Stuff, we’re boppin’ around B̶r̶o̶o̶k̶l̶y̶n̶ Bunklyn and having ourselves a grand ol’ army plaza time. Plus, we’ve got some small bites about Schmackary’s no-longer-available bun, the review of August’s Cronut™️, and one of our favorites from last summer makes the news. Who though???? Read on to find out, my bun bud.
Saraghina
Saraghina Bakery is an offshoot of the pizza restaurant of the same name in Bed Stuy, taking that expertise with dough and really honing it on it, as well as providing a small selection of various provisions to keep both your stomach and your pantry well stocked.
Their cinnamon roll is unique in that it comes not with a traditional frosting glaze but rather a crispy coating of butter, cinnamon, sugar, and maybe brown sugar.
Their roll overall tastes more like cinnamon toast in a doughy roll format rather than your more traditional roll, but I’m into it. The dough in the roll I had was a bit gummy or chewy, but not in a bad way. The cinnamon flavor throughout is fairly mild, balanced heavily by the butter and sugar. The lack of frosting would keep Alison Roman happy, but everything else about this keeps me happy.
Le Petit Monstre
Let’s head north a ways to Clinton Hill, where vegan bakery and cafe Le Petit Monstre serves up a surprisingly wide variety of pastries, from donuts to almond whiskey croissants to savory palmiers. Although that croissant was calling out to me, I just stuck with a cinnamon roll (also it was stop 2/3 and I needed to pace myself).
While the roll had potential, I was left somewhat wanting. I don't think it was made fresh that day, so from the start it generally tasted a bit stale. The dough was fairly standard and bready, albeit somewhat tough. There was a thin sugar frosting glaze with a touch of creaminess. The filling had a nice strong flavor, with various bits that were crunchy and caramelized in places. The overall vibes were a standard cinnamon and sugar, with broad overtones of oil. I think this happens with vegan pastries, and feel like it would've been much better fresh. I think the filling could be good and maybe less oily if it was new, but not in the state I had it. If you’re in the neighborhood I’d stick with Petee’s a few blocks away, or head down to Leland if you need to stay vegan.
Coffee Land
Let’s go south, to Crown Heights. Coffee Land is a small coffee shop focusing mostly on the coffee but offers a selection of pastries. Their cinnamon roll, sourced from Brooklyn Patisserie, is a pleasant addition.
The dough is light and flakey like a croissant, but unfortunately mine came in a muffin wrapper which ended up sticking to a bunch of the dough. There's a small dollop of cream cheese frosting atop, which was very creamy. While there was a good amount of filling, it unfortunately wasn't very gooey and had a fairly mild flavor. The middle bit was a delicious cinnamony/creamy/croissanty bite, but the rest was just ok. It's decent, and maybe the best actual roll you can get in the area, but needs more gooey filling, more frosting, and definitely make sure to get it warmed up.
Brooklyn Artisan Bakehouse
Let’s go deeper into Crown Heights, past the end of the Citibike stations into Weeksville, where you can find an outpost of Brooklyn Artisan Bakehouse (shoutout to bun bud Lindsay for the recommendation!). My recent visit saw a tray of delicious looking cinnamon rolls sitting out, and I had to order one.
The cream cheese frosting is perhaps the best looking frosting I've ever seen, and tastes as good as it looks to boot. It's very thick, and very cheesy. The dough of the roll is light and flakey, and heavy on the butter. Unfortunately, there's almost no cinnamon filling - barely enough to give it that little bit of savoriness but not enough to make it bitter. This is a hard rating, because honestly the dough and frosting are really incredibly but it’s missing like, the most important part. Where's the cinnamon filling??
Bien Cuit
Last stop on our Bunklyn Bunventure is Bien Cuit, a French bakery (could you tell??) that doesn’t have cinnamon rolls but does have delicious other treats.
My recent trip I got a cinnamon sugar roule, which is basically just a croissant dipped in cinnamon and sugar. It’s pretty much what you would expect, but damn did it taste good. The croissant dough was not too buttery but was a nice amount of chewiness, and the cinnamon/sugar gave a good sweetness to round it out. Simple and delightful.
The other treat I got was a vegetarian breakfast sandwich, with egg and pesto and a leafy green of some sort on maybe the best croissant I’ve had in a while (ok since Dominique’s last month but this is number two). Incredibly flakey, and if that image doesn’t make you want one yourself I don’t know what to tell you.
Small Bites
Buns No More - Schmackary’s
Schmackary's has some very unique and interesting cookies (that ship nationwide!), but unfortunately that creativity doesn't extend to their cinnamon rolls. Served in the mornings, they look incredibly beautiful with a latticed standard frosting on top, but once you take a bite all the fun stops.
The dough is very dense, almost like a scone, and the cinnamon filling is almost powdery like what you would get from a vending machine roll. This roll was too far into shelf-stable artifice to be great. Maybe it’s for the best they decided to focus on their cookies tbh.
August Cronut
This month’s cronut is pineapple and coconut, filled with a pineapple jam and creamy coconut ganache. I honestly was a bit skeptical on how this was going to taste given a recent bad experience with a pineapple/mango soda, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
The pineapple jam was deliciously tart and relatively mild, and the coconut gave it just a bit of tang to make it all just ever so summery. Maybe not quite as good as last month’s lemon poppyseed, but this one definitely brings all the summer vibes and is absolutely worth checking out.
Millers & Makers Makes Media
Because Google knows I am obsessed with cinnamon rolls and pushes content onto my home screen about them non-stop (I’m not complaining), I saw this piece in the Bushwick Daily about Millers & Makers and their very unique sweet potato cinnamon roll (covered way back in the first edition). It’s a good read about one of the owners, Josh Pickens, and some of the gentrification in the neighborhood, and just quality local journalism. Check it out!