Burrow House

"GO HERE: for all of pastry chef Ayako Kurokawa’s weird, charming, buttery masterpieces. ORDER THE: cakes. You know the ones. Kurokawa’s gained quite a following for her quirky, yet minimal and delicate aesthetic—apple-caramel cakes draped with thin sheets of shaved apple, frosted blue eyeballs dotting pineapple upside-down cakes. But even her simplest ones, like strawberry shortcakes and cocoa-dusted chocolate cakes, hold their own among the borough’s big names in baking. (However, if cakes aren’t your thing, crumbly linzer cookies swiped with raspberry jam, jagged black pepper-scallion scones, and ginger-cinnamon braids paired with faintly smoky hojicha still hit the sweet spot.) THE VIBE IS: relaxed, with occasional freneticism if a handful of architects or stroller-pushing locals swing by. “Intimate” is how a broker might describe the space. Inside, there are only two wooden chairs, a narrow counter by the window for standing, and three leather ottomans outside, so there’s not a lot of room to spread. The dark wood display, cobbled together furniture, and pale hues evoke both your parent’s basement and a stylish cafe in Tokyo’s old Asakusa neighborhood. PRACTICAL STUFF: Open Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closed on the weekends. Kurokawa and her baked goods stick to a militaristic schedule. Breakfast rolls out between 9 to 11 a.m. Then cookies and cream puffs start sliding into the shelves right around 11:30 a.m. But the cakes don’t debut until around 2 p.m., so plan accordingly. —Elyse Inamine" - Condé Nast