Best Bite: January 2025

Cake so good I got a piece to go

I didn’t grow up in a boxed cake household, but I’ve had my fair share of Duncan Hines. I love the tingly taste of canned Pillsbury frosting, and if you tell me you don’t, well, I don’t believe you. And yet, it goes without saying that a cake made from scratch is *usually* always better. But what about a homemade cake that’s intended to taste like a yassified version of the supermarket stuff? That’s what’s going on at Bar Bête in Carroll Gardens, where the yellow cake with dark chocolate frosting and sea salt is so good that I got an extra slice to take home.

Bar Bête has been on my mental list of restaurants to go to ever since I first caught a glimpse of that cake, so it was a big yes from me dawg when my friend Allie asked if I wanted to join her family there for her birthday.

If you haven’t been to Bar Bête, here’s what you need to know: it’s a very cute neighborhood bistro in Brooklyn from chef/owner Marc St. Jacques and partner Joe Ogrodnek. The menu changes often but always manages to marry comfort and innovation in dishes like an anchovy and butter terrine. Surprise surprise, I was most excited about the cake, and I’m deeply happy to report that it tasted as good as it looks all over Instagram.

Yes, sure, this cake is “elevated,” in keeping with the restaurant itself. There’s the flaky salt of it all, which has fully convinced me that salt should be the new sprinkles. But there’s something nostalgic about this cake, too. It’s rich and eggy with a thick swoop of frosting that has the bitterness of ganache and the creaminess of good old Betty Crocker from a can.

Sharing this cake at Allie’s birthday dinner meant that everyone got a bite or two, but a single forkful was simply not enough. I needed a piece for the next day, so a take-home slice is exactly what I ordered.

And when the sun came up, that cake was as stunning in a plastic to-go box as she was on a porcelain plate at the restaurant. Before I dug my fork in, I channeled an old version of myself and had a little photo shoot, getting liiiiiterally every angle.

Just like old times, I worked the cake so hard that it fell on the floor, frosting first. Did that stop me from picking it up, scraping it off, and eating it? As if.

In keeping with the ~theme~ of this month, my honorable mention / second best bite of January goes to: the Samoa Sundae at The Corner Store.

My family went for my mom’s birthday (fun fact: my mom and my aforementioned friend Allie were both born on January 22nd) and we got alllllllll of the Corner Store things. The accoutrements for the Caesar salad—everything bagel croutons and gumball-sized pops of fried cream cheese—were my favorite part.

Okay but the sundae.

Coconut soft serve. Brown butter caramel. Valrhona chocolate fudge. Salted shortbread crumble. Toasted coconut on toasted coconut on toasted coconut. My dad “isn’t a big coconut guy” and even he loved it.

Need I say more?