DSMia

On a recent (two days ago) trip to NYC, my daughter and I decided to check out the shopping on Bleeker St. in the village and had planned to "stop in" Magnolia bakery for their famous cupcakes, based on recommendations from this board and other sources. The line to get in the bakery was literally winding around the block. It was mind boggling. I like cupcakes as much as the next person but to stand in line for an hour? What are they, magic cupcakes?

MikeT

Because there are people like you who follow every trend and feel they have to do every "must see" in NYC.

Also, people love "what's hot." New Yorkers stand in the cold to smoke, to get into good bars, while waiting for restaurants, waiting for the bus. Maybe it's not as big of a deal for them.

E

Marketing. The Magnolia Cookbook is a big seller at the moment.
I'm not as harsh as MikeT. NYC is an overwhelmingly big and diverse city to visit. Tourists tend to go for the tried and true, the place they read about in their Sunday paper or saw profiled on the Today Show, or read about in Fodor's. So a few places get ridiculous crowds, while other, perhaps equally good or better places, remain known to locals only. C'est la vie.

MikeT

Okay, I was being a little harsh.

One of the interestnig things about these sites is that when people discuss their itineraries, they are full of every "must see" tourist spot at whatever destination they are headed to. If it's a "must see," I tend to avoid it since I know it is going to be overrun with tourists who "absolutely" must get a cupcake or see the guys toss Mackrels or get a red flowered lei.

karens

MikeT - would you avoid the Louvre, Notre Dame,the Met, Yosemite Valley, Old Faithful, a gondola ride in Venice, the Colisseum in Rome? They are all "must see tourist spots".

DSMia

I would never consider a bakery a "must see" tourist spot. I was merely wondering what was so special that people would wait in line so long for baked goods. I guess the answer is, it's the hype.
And yes my 17-year-old does like to visit the trendy places, like most girls her age.

CAPH52

I know what you mean, DSMia. My twenty year old recently visited a friend from home who's going to school on Long Island. When they took the subway into Manhattan, they felt they had to go to Serendipity. Based on things I'd read here and elsewhere, I thought they were wasting their time waiting in line. But they actually really enjoyed it. My daughter ordered chicken livers which she loved. So you never know!

dloech

I live 2 blocks from Magnolia and STILL wait on line - not for the cupcakes - or for the scene - but for the best banana pudding I've ever eaten in my life. Personally - I don't like the cupcakes - but besides the banana pudding they make a mean snickers pie and coconut dream bar.
*** NOTE - when it's crowded - the 'bouncer' at the door will often run through the line and ask if anyone is there for something OTHER THAN the cupcakes - my suggestion - get out of line - and follow him in and try something else!

Fairhope

Down here we don't toss mackrels---we toss mullet!!!!

TarheelsInNj

Those cupcakes really are darn good though! Worth the wait, though not for an hour. The line tends to move pretty fast, and once you get near the front, you're treated to the heavenly smells coming from inside.

Aduchamp1

Magnolia Bakery closed by the NYC Dept of health this week for a very short time.

NeoPatrick

Ouch. Do we know why it was closed? Or are we better off not knowing?

roslaire

.............from earlier cupcake tastings, this week

"Magnolia Bakery, Beeker St., NYC



Author: roslaire
Date: 07/14/2007, 12:23 am
Been there, done that. Have to go back.

This was such a neat little corner shop bakery. We were told we'd have to stand in line and on weekends the line is out the door. We were there on a Thursday eve and people were singing and enjoying being alive in this little bakery. No place to sit. #12 cupcake limit per person, per day. Yes, they are that good. Yumm.

Anyone else, with neat places to eat or be pleasantly surprised in NYC?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: monet77
Date: 07/14/2007, 06:41 am
The Magnolia Bakery was closed by the Department of Health this week. So far, no word (that I have seen) on when they will reopen.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: mp
Date: 07/14/2007, 09:48 am
Magnolia has reopened. The DOH closed it for the first time in 12 (?) years because of the lack of a sink. All part of a recent, controversial crackdown by the embarassed department.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: seetheworld
Date: 07/14/2007, 10:10 am
Lack of a sink? They had NO sink or they did but it wasn't adequate enough?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: mp
Date: 07/14/2007, 10:39 am
sorry for incompleteness there - lack of a sink in the area where the workers ice the cupcakes by hand . . . there is a sink in the other baking area . . .



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: roslaire
Date: 07/14/2007, 04:25 pm
Ironically, or Luckily, we were there Thursday, the day it reopened.

Dessert. Yummy.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: otto
Date: 07/15/2007, 03:43 pm
yeah. the dept. of health has taken it to a whole new level (and not necessarily a good one) since the whole rats in the taco bell thing this winter. it's ridiculous. anyway, magnolia is fabulous. another contender for best cupcakes is "babycakes" on orchard and broome, lower east side. hmmmmmm....



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Author: thebestpuppeteer
Date: 07/15/2007, 04:42 pm
Better than Magnolia's is Martha's Country Bakery in Astoria, NY on Ditmars"

(I don't know how to put a highlighted thread on the webpage)(roslaire)

Aduchamp1

Try Caupcake Cafe two locations
Buttercup

Elizabeth

In fact I haven't ever had a better cupcake than at the Magnolia Bakery and I started going there long before it was famous. I don't go to that neighborhood much anymore so I don't know when's a good time to beat the lines, unfortunately.

Its specialness was the reason for its popularity, a pattern that isn't all that unusual in my experience. If you think you'd like to go there -- do!!

Ma Ma Buddha, the Chinese restaurant near it on 8th Avenue, is very pleasant and good for the money, too.

NeoPatrick

No sink to wash their hands where they icing the cupcakes? Well, at least now we know why the cupcakes have so much flavor.

karameli

You'll rarely have a line at Sugar Sweet Sunshine on Rivington, but it almost always gets a shout in those readers' choice awards. Best cupcake in the city, IMNSHO. I would never turn down a Magnolia cupcake, but when it's my choice, SSS all the way. Yum.

otto

well, there not magic, but they are good. really good. i think it must have started after they were featured on "sex and the city" years ago. i know that's how i came to know of them. ;-) magnolia has great icing, but for overall cupcake my favorite is babycakes on orchard and broom!! and crumbs on 42nd street has some really good ones too.

escargot

dloech: for ALL those reasons you mentioned (and for the cupcakes) I have waited - luckily - the longest wait being I think about 40 minutes. We usually get in line w/ coffee and just chat - the time flies - sometimes we are lucky and wait less than 10..... if we are in the area, we can not resist !

doug_stallings

Magnolia is ok, but I prefer Buttercup Baker on 2nd Avenue in the upper 40s.

Magnolia was closed because they have new owners and had to get a new inspection. The health code changed since the bakery was open, so they were no longer grandfathered in and had to install a extra sink. NOthing to do with cleanliness ... just a technical infraction.