Napoleon conquers LWF&D at Andre's

Now that the weather has turned chilly, my dessert cravings are shifting from the summer-long "ice cream ice cream ice cream" to the fall and winter pastry craving. Since I've left Billy's, I've been battling a cupcake craving that's been pretty powerful, and it returned with a vengeance on Sunday afternoon. I was up at AV's place on the UES, so we took a walk through the crisp night air to see what types of pastries we could scare up.

Fate took us to Andre's Hungarian pastry shop, a little spot that had been recommended to me by my friend KS, who used to live in the neighborhood. I'm not the biggest fan of strudel, their signature baked good, but there were some other delectables that looked tasty in the pastry counter crowding the front entrance. I asked the incredibly curt and surly woman at the counter a few questions, and, upon receiving her annoyed answers, ultimately realized we should just pick something and get out of there. And so we did.

We ended up with two rugelach, incredibly sweet, chewy, and tasty with berries and nuts and coarse sugar over the top.

Like little multicolored jewels

And also an incredible napoleon, which towered about six inches high and weighed a good pound or so. AV and I stuffed ourselves with the rich, eggy vanilla custard, until our bellies were distended and we could stand no more. Between the two of us we still only managed about two-thirds of it.

Well, this isn't the MOST appetizing picture I've ever taken...

But was it good? Oh, yes. If you want custard, or cookies, or anything sweet, really, Andre's can supply it in spades. And if you want surly attitude, they can supply that too. But if you've got $6 to spare (warning: Andre's isn't cheap) and a thick skin, grab a spoon and custard yourself silly.

Andre's Bakery

1631 Second Avenue, between 84th and 85th Streets

212-327-1105