New Bakery, Coffee Shop Moving Into Next-Door UES Storefronts

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A Yorkville block will become home to not one, but two new businesses in the coming weeks, as a European bakery and a Brooklyn-based coffee shop both prepare to open up in the same building.

Green Lane Coffee, which opened its first location in Greenpoint, Brooklyn last fall, plans to open a second cafe at 1582 First Ave., near the northeast corner of East 82nd Street. It will open in February, according to signage that recently appeared in the small storefront window.

Meanwhile, one door down, Les Gateaux de Marie will open up a small bakery as its first-ever brick-and-mortar location. (The European bakery is currently based out of a commercial kitchen on First Avenue near East 50th Street.)

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Owner Marie Simic told Patch that her baked goods will transcend national borders. A native of Serbia, her desserts are also influenced by French, Italian and Hungarian cuisines.

Vegan and gluten-free items will also be on the menu, said Simic, who co-owns the business with her husband. Simic said her products appeal even to those who typically avoid baked goods, since hers are lighter than the buttercream-heavy cakes often served in the U.S.

"People who don’t like to eat sweets, when they try it, they’re so surprised," she said. "I prepare stuff with less sugar, more healthier stuff — with fruits, with dark chocolate."

She will open near the end of this year or the start of 2022, pending electrical work by her landlord, she said.

The two new businesses are unrelated to each other. Green Lane's storefront was most recently home to the women's clothing boutique Pachute, while Gateaux de Marie is replacing a Kumon tutoring center.

Other new and upcoming Upper East Side restaurant openings include the relocated Cafe d'Alsace, an outpost of Vanessa's Dumpling House and a "Middle Eastern tapas" spot on First Avenue.