"Exotic pastries are the specialty at this Lower East Side bakery, where owner and baker Ry Stephen dreams up unexpected croissant pairings. Favorites include the NYC, filled with lox, cream cheese, and capers, and the Spinach Pie Twice Baked, with spinach, olive-oil-baked broccoli rabe, sautéed onion, chili, béchamel, and cheddar cheese. There are plenty of sweet creations, too, like the rhubarb, strawberry, and basil cruffin (a croissant-muffin hybrid), or the spiced peach-apple pie brioche doughnut, filled with peach-and-apple pie filling and whipped cream, topped with piecrust crumbs and white chocolate. Even pastry obsessives can usually find something here they’ve never seen before."