Lunch, Dessert, & More Dessert At Sheepshead’s Gourmanoff Bakery
A popular Brighton Beach gourmet market has landed in Sheepshead Bay, with a European bakery selling fancy pastries, fresh bread, and lunch items on Gravesend Neck Road at East 17th Street.
Gourmanoff Bakery, at 1601 Gravesend Neck Road, has been serving macarons, guava cake, Sacher raspberry pastry, and more for about a month. This week, we stopped by for a taste and ended up with a full feast and leftovers.
The bakery is adjacent to their bustling wholesale bakery, said manager Tatiana Zagornaia, who lives in Sheepshead. Though foot traffic is limited on this quiet stretch of Neck Road, they’re still selling out of bread by the end of every day.
While I was perusing the counter packed with tarts, croissants, quiches, and breads, the friendly barista piped in. “Would you like a cappuccino?” he asked, reading my mind. The cup of mid-day coffee was fancier than my usual routine, with a delicate latte-art flower.
I went with something savory for lunch: a three-cheese quiche with biting white cheddar, fluffy egg, rosemary sprinkles, roasted cherry tomatoes packed in a flaky crust.
Since the cafe is spacious and filled with light from the wall-to-wall windows, I grabbed a table up front to enjoy the people-watching.
The quiche and cappuccino combo was so rich and filling it satisfied me for hours, but couldn’t walk away without bringing home some sweet delicacies.
My doggie bag (which was bigger than the entire backpack I brought) included a loaf of dense, round raisin bread — speckled with sweet, golden raisins (and still going strong on day two); a sleeve of handmade macarons; and a sampling of cakes — including a light and layered fruit cake; a mildly sweet raspberry tart (or Ispahan, a gourmet French dessert) with a hint of rose flavor; and an orange pastry that combined macaron, meringue, and cake into a delightful bite.
Needless to say, I had to share my bounty in order to taste them all in time for publication today (my sweet tooth can only carry me so far!)
Check out Gourmanoff Bakery at 1601 Gravesend Neck Road near East 17th Street — for catering the dessert portion of your next dinner party, or simply a mid-afternoon snack. It was a lovely place to sit and relax for the afternoon, full and satisfied from handmade, carefully crafted treats.
P.S. It looks like they’ve since corrected “Artisian” from their banner — which we thought could have been some creative license with the words ‘artesian’ and ‘artisan’. Turns out it was just a blooper.
