Bluestreet Dessert Cafe

Dessert.  If you read my blog, you know I'm a dessert girl through and through (I eat dessert after every lunch and dinner, without fail, my blog has a label just for desserts and I review exclusively bakeries and ice cream shops on Thursday, etc).  So of course when a new dessert cafe opened in New York this May, I was going to pay attention.

"Coffee • Crepes • Waffles • Desserts. Your day-to-midnight cafe in NYC."

Note though that Bluestreet is a dessert cafe, not a bakery, a point I didn't quite realize until I visited.  The main attraction is their crepes, which they do make there and smother in Instagram worthy sauces, but most of the other desserts from the extensive lineup seem purchased from elsewhere.  Still a cute place, but not where to go if you want homemade desserts (other than the crepes and waffles).

Exterior.

The exterior was quite eye catching, with bright blue color (for "Bluestreet"?) and clear "COFFEE" and "DESSERT" signs.  In the summer, the whole front opens up, making it really quite inviting.

Inside.

Inside has table and long display cases, and an open prep area where you could watch them assemble items like crepes.

Nice Decor.

The place is really pleasantly decorated, is well kept, and clean.  I used the bathroom when I was there, and it too was aesthetically pleasing and clean.

Baked Goods / Chocolate.

The pastries looked decent, relatively glossy and flaky looking croissants, muffins with a homemade look, soft looking cookies.

They also sell several styles of $$ Dubai chocolate bars.

Cakes / Cookies.

On the bottom two rows of this case were cakes that didn't really look housemade.  I can't imagine a bakery making them in house putting in the little paper separators like that.  I suspect these are frozen and thawed, from a wholesale distributor. It was also notable that only one item in this entire case, on the middle row, said homemade (the carrot cake). The top layers were cookies and more cakes.

Mousses / Baklava. 

The most attractive looking items were here, as they carry a bunch of those fruit mousses that are shaped and colored to look like real fruits, and come wiht names like "Strawberry Bliss" (for the strawberry shaped one), "Blueberry Dream" (for the blueberry), etc.  This section also had tons of styles of baklava, and some other cookies and bars.

Dubai Chocolate Cake. $8.90.

"Rich chocolate cake layered with pistachio cream and crispy kadayif, finished with a glossy chocolate coating."

I ordered online in advance, so I didn't realize that the time I was picking something that didn't look homemade.  Yep, I went for the Dubai chocolate trendy cake.  I know, I know, but I really like crispy kadayif, and was in the mood for chocolate, so this sounded promising.

The cake was ok, but not really anything special. The chocolate cake bottom layer was a bit dry, not necessarily the freshest.  But the pistachio cream was sweet and creamy, I loved the texture from the crispy kadaif, and the fudge was fine.  This cake was definitely carried by the toppings, not the cake itself.

I did finish this (part I had with ice cream to balance the rich fudge) and liked it well enough, but I wouldn't get it again, and I doubt they make it in-house.  3/5, higher end.