[Photo: Kathy Chan]

The coffee is Counter Culture, and the pastries are made by a alum of Prune and Amy's bread. I stopped into Bluebird Coffee Shop on a very rainy Saturday afternoon and was lucky to find a seat in the already busy shop, which formerly held Simon Sips.

I was all over the dark chocolate shortbread, crumbly, buttery, more chocolaty than sweet. Within minutes, coffee cake, Irish soda bread, and a hot loaf of pumpkin bread made their way to the bakery case, fresh out of the oven. Remind me that a return trip is in order for the soda bread. The coffee cake ($2.25) was much too sweet, and undercooked in the middle, though I was a fan of the hearty, well-browned crust and an abundance of sliced almonds.

Bluebird Coffee Shop

72 East 1st Street, New York NY 10003 (map)
No phone yet.