Alex Ilyashov
For more years than I can recall, my birthday confection of choice (or perhaps habit) has been a lusciously simple and rich buttercream chocolate cake from Bruno’s Bakery, perched on the edge of NYC’s NoHo neighborhood. As April 25 neared, I’d begin to pester my mom about “the cake,” without a second thought to the myriad other delicious desserts lining the streets of NYC. It could be the luxe, lingering thickness of said buttercream. Or maybe it’s the sheen of the dark chocolate glaze, dappled by curvaceous script-y plumes of frosting.
Perhaps I’m so endeared to this particular cake because it reminds me of the exact moment I became aware of Ruth Reichl, the revered NY Times food critic and current Gourmet magazine editor. Her lush description of a spectacular chocolate cake at some chi-chi restaurant or another was embedded in the a.m. NPR radio line-up that defined my childhood mornings (yup, I was one of those NPR and PBS kids…). It was in that moment that I became equaled enamored with food writing and great chocolate cake.
Bruno’s Bakery might be a bit of a hike from Bobb, but the decadent sweets beckoning from the windows and stacked near the registers of Noyes Street eateries are just a stroll away. Admittedly, I can’t leave Al’s without a scrumptious cup of soup, be it their wonderous Saturday tomato or the meaty barley variety, and/or a sandwich (my latest favorite being the moist rosemary and olive bread, thick-cut roast beef, gruyere, grain mustard and garlicky b
