Avenue Bakery Opens To Upper East Side Fanfare

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Opening weekend for Avenue Bakery, the Upper East Side's newest cafe and bakery, was a major hit.

The new corner bakery and cafe at 1477 Second Ave., on the corner of East 77th Street, had a long line of eager sweet tooths stretching around the corner towards Third Avenue before their doors even opened on Saturday morning.

"We must have had over 200 people on line," said co-owner Misha Punwani, 29, who runs the shop — plus a number of Playa Bowl franchises, including one on the same block — with her dad, Raj.

Those who got there early we treated to a free pastry — all of which are kosher and made in-house — with the first 100 getting a free mini cake. Some also got commemorative coffee mugs, a zip-up tote and a DJ played some jams — until complaining neighbors got the police to shut it down.

It was a Saturday morning on the Upper East Side, after all.

"The feedback has been great from customers," Punwani said, who noted that there's been an "outpouring of support we received on during our grand opening weekend."

"People are still coming in and saying how excited they are," she said. "We're just so happy to hear that and see their excitement."

Amid the excitement, some items amid the cake slices and pastries are already standing out as neighborhood favorites.

"Our carrot cake has been flying out like crazy," she said. Young kids are digging the cake pops.

Other popular items have been cupcakes, stuffed croissants, the Avenue Napoleon — with blueberries and strawberries — and full-sized cakes and pies.

That last one Punwani attributes to Super Bowl Sunday.

"We actually had a customer come in earlier just to stop by and say: 'I got a couple of cakes for my Super Bowl party and everyone was asking me where I got it from, because they ate it up like no other,'" she said. "That made us excited and really happy to hear."

Other hits are the various unique drink offerings, like their piccante mocha, piccante hot chocolate and the frozen hot chocolate.

Punwani says there's even more planned for the near future. Some of it is in response to immediate community feedback.

"The number one thing we've been hearing is: 'are you going to serve some savory items as well?'" Punwani said.

Already in the display case is a new tomato focaccia and bagels with cream cheese, with a tuna salad, egg salad and avocado toast launching soon.

Their hours will expand too, eventually keeping their doors open from 6 a.m. until midnight.

"We're going to have a mocktail menu too," said Punwani.

The subdivided space was recently home to Zazzy's Pizza, Nook Room and café Innocent Yesterday's, all of which closed last fall.

Before the space was subdivided in early 2021, it was home to a large Le Pain Quotidien.

Now the corner has been restored to its pre-2020 status as an inviting café and bakery — and will soon have some outdoor seating as well.

"We had a vision in mind," said Punwani, a self-admitted huge coffee lover, "I think it came to life pretty well."

But for Punwani and her father, who have worked alongside each other running their franchise businesses for years together, what Avenue Bakery represents to them is freedom.

"It's been nice to have that creative freedom to really bring all of our ideas to life and set our own template and our own design," Punwani said. "It's nice to just be like: 'Okay, this is yours from scratch — how are you going to establish everything?'"

"We're already learning a lot about what's working," she said. "I just think this part of the Upper East Side was missing a relaxing, welcoming, laptop-friendly place where anyone can sit and have a cup of coffee."