Red Gate Bakery

"Walking in the East Village, blink and you might miss this tiny storefront from baker Greg Rales (look for the “Be Gay, Eat Cookies” A-frame out front). Cake is the specialty here, though they have been growing in popularity for their oversized weekend-only special cinnamon buns and olive oil cakes as well. They always have several whole cakes you can order, and one type of cake available by the slice at any given time. You might stop by to find a classic like yellow birthday with chocolate sour cream frosting or lil’ pudding (their riff on a devil’s food cake), or you might find a rare slice, like a chips n’ dip cake or latke cake." - Mike Chau

"At Red Gate Bakery, Greg Rales does exactly this and does it better than anyone else." - Charlotte Druckman

"The red velvet bread is available at NYC’s Red Gate Bakery throughout February." - Tanay Warerkar

"East Village pastry stop Red Gate Bakery is back for one-day only this weekend. The bakeshop’s burnt chocolate cookies, brown butter carrot loaves, and coconut banana cake are available for pre-order until 11:59 p.m. this Thursday, April 30. Orders can be picked up at the bakery this Saturday between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m." - Luke Fortney

I wrote a comically long Yelp review ranking all their cookies at one point, but the short version is that they are all good. Cocoa Au Lait and Buttermilk Rancher are my fave. Their cake slices are amazing, get the pistachio strawberry one if they have it

NYC bakery hitlist